Disruptive pedagogies for archival research

In a cultural moment when institutional repositories carry valuable secrets to the present and past, this collection argues for the critical, intellectual, and social value of archival instruction. Graban and Hayden and 37 other contributors examine how undergraduate and graduate courses in rhetoric, history, community literacy, and professional writing can successfully engage students in archival research in its many forms, and successfully model mutually beneficial relationships between archivists, instructors, and community organizations.

Combining new and established voices from related fields, each of the book’s three sections includes a range of form-disrupting pedagogies. Section I focuses on how approaching the archive primarily as text fosters habits of mind essential for creating and using archives, for critiquing or inventing knowledge-making practices, and for being good stewards of private and public collections. Section II argues for conducting archival projects as collaboration through experiential learning and for developing a preservationist consciousness through disciplined research. Section III details praxis for revealing, critiquing, and intervening in historic racial omissions and gaps in the archives in which we all work. 

Ultimately, contributors explore archives as sites of activism while also raising important questions that persist in rhetoric and composition scholarship, such as how to decolonize research methodologies, how to conduct teaching and research that promote social justice, and how to shift archival consciousness toward more engaged notions of democracy. This collection highlights innovative classroom and curricular course models for teaching with and through the archives in rhetoric and composition and beyond.

Teaching Undergraduates with Archives mirrors the evolving practice and academic research on primary sources in the classroom. The result of a national symposium at the University of Michigan in 2018, the volume features case studies, reflections, and forecasts concerning critical thinking, active learning, and archival evidence. The chapters describe collaborations between faculty, archivists, librarians, and students. Ideas behind new assignments and syllabi provide an immediate utility for those who teach with primary sources. Testimonies to the challenges and benefits of robust programs speak to the emerging prioritization of teaching and learning across disciplines with archives and special collections.

"The contributions to this volume capture exceptionally well the passion and the creativity that archivists and special collections librarians who teach and do outreach with primary sources are bringing to their work in this increasingly important activity domain."
-- Martha O’Hara Conway, Director, Special Collections Research Center, University of Michigan Library

"As teaching with archival materials has moved to the foreground of the archival mission for many institutions, this timely, inspiring, and practical volume, which comes out of the multi-day symposium solely devoted to teaching undergraduates with archival materials, is a required reading for anyone who teaches with archival materials, or who would like to. It really captures the spirit and enthusiasm that these authors brought to that symposium."
-- Josué Hurtado, Coordinator of Public Services & Outreach, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries

"Reflecting the increasing priority of teaching in archives and special collections libraries, this book captures a variety of perspectives, insights, approaches, and prognostications that will enlighten, challenge, and inspire a growing community of practitioners."
-- Bill Landis, Head of Public Services, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library

"Building on the momentum generated at the symposium, this book is a treasure trove for professionals in the field who are eager for innovative ideas regarding collaboration and experimentation in teaching with archival material."
-- Elizabeth Williams-Clymer, Special Collections Librarian, Kenyon College

Temptation in the Archives is a collection of essays by Lisa Jardine, that takes readers on a journey through the Dutch Golden Age. Through the study of such key figures as Sir Constantjin Huygens, a Dutch polymath and diplomat, we begin to see the Anglo-Dutch cultural connections that formed during this period against the backdrop of unfolding political events in England.Temptation in the Archives paints a picture of a unique relationship between the Netherlands and England in the 17th century forged through a shared experience – and reveals the lessons we can learn from it today.