Education Resources
Bring Your Class
To the Archives
Bring the past alive with historical treasures.
As educators, you're always looking for new ideas to make learning experiences interesting and challenging for your students. One way to enrich learning is to connect the past to the present. By giving your students an opportunity to research with primary sources, the past comes alive in a way often not possible in today’s digital age. Additionally, your students will develop and utilize skills such as analytical thinking, writing and presentations.
Why Use Archives for Your Class?
Enhance your students' education with hands-on experiences that go beyond traditional classroom instruction.
Spark Empathy
Engaging with the past can encourage students to think differently and develop their own unique interpretations of historical events. Primary sources can inspire creative projects like writing, art, music, and filmmaking.
Critical Thinking
Students develop critical thinking skills by analyzing primary sources and understanding their context. They cultivate information literacy by fostering analysis, interpretation and evaluation of information.
Research Skills
As students learn to navigate physical and digital archives, ask research questions and evaluate sources, they also gain valuable research and presentation skills applicable across disciplines.
Problem-Solving
Researching in archives often presents puzzles that require innovative thinking, challenging students to think creatively and find effective solutions.
Explore Voices of Lived History
Uncover truths with primary sources.
We strive to foster your students’ critical thinking about information, its creation and its historical significance. Our goal is to boost primary source literacy, guided by the Society of American Archivists and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy.
Learn from History in Any Subject
The Archives is a treasure trove of original materials on just about any topic imaginable. The Archives can help with assignments in many disciplines, not just history. The possibilities are limitless! We're open to working with classes from all disciplines and academic levels.
Examples of Class Work
- Graphic Design Class: Evaluate changes in style or presentation by looking at consumer product ads over time.
- Geography Class: Gain a greater understanding of land use patterns using original maps and community plans housed in the Archives.
- Communication Class: Examine differences in media coverage of events such as Lincoln’s assassination versus JFK’s assassination, or the differences in media coverage of elections.
- Environmental Science Class: Analyze unpublished conference proceedings and reports related to the Niagara Escarpment.
- Humanities Course: Compare and contrast a movie about a historical time period with diaries written by individuals living through the event.
Have an idea for using the Archives in your class?
Contact us! Our staff will follow up with you to make your class project, activity or assignment a reality.
Course Guides
To assist students, the Archives can prepare course guides, which offer a curated overview of archival materials relevant to class projects. Each guide highlights key collections, providing students with direct access to primary sources that support their research and deepen their understanding of course topics. The guides provide detailed descriptions and summaries, helping students connect with historical narratives. For examples of previous course guides, explore the listings below.
| Course | Semester | Professor Name |
|---|---|---|
| Heritage Hill Migrant Home Research and Interpretation Project | Spring 2023 | |
| ENG 312: Special Topics - You Are Here | Fall 2022 | Jennie Young |
| HIST 290: Craft of History | Fall 2022 | Vince Lowery |
| HIST 480: History Seminar | Fall 2022 | Lisa Lamson |
| HUM STUD 100: Living the Humanities: Prison Voices | Spring 2022 | R Nesvet |
| ENG 304: Creative Non-fiction Writing Workshop | Fall 2021 | Tara DaPra |
National History Day
National History Day® (NHD) offers students in grades 6-12 the chance to create history projects and compete at local, regional, state and national levels. Through research and creative presentations, students develop critical skills and showcase their work in a supportive, competitive environment.
Need Ideas?
Interested in incorporating original materials into your classroom? Our archives staff is ready to collaborate with you!