Archival Education Program Strategy
Mission
The RAC’s Archival Education Program’s mission is to demystify the archive and build confidence around the use of primary sources. We want to provide a strong foundation for educators so that they are empowered to help students in the development of their media literacy, research, and critical thinking skills.
Values
We work to bridge the gap between the archive and the classroom. Not all schools have the opportunity to connect in person with an archivist, and we believe that by creating open-source materials that are easily accessible, along with opportunities for virtual workshops, we are promoting equity in education.
Center Equity, Diversity & Accessibility
We create a diverse and inclusive environment.We help learners of all types to see themselves in the records, to more deeply connect with human experiences in the past. We believe equity means resources for all. Our materials, resources, and learnings are open-source. They are published in venues and formats that our audiences already use. We adopt culturally responsive frameworks in our work.
Communicate with Transparency and Foster Trust
We are transparent about the sources and limitations of our records. Our visual identity is consistent, clear, and cohesive.
Build from User Needs
We seek to improve on processes and products to better serve our users. We are open to iteration and change. We seek and value feedback.
Empower and Collaborate
We empower ourselves and each other. We are self-starters and create a safe space for our team to grow as individuals and together. We forge meaningful partnerships. We work alongside our colleagues across the RAC and in our professional networks.
Audience
We create educational resources for K-12 educators, undergraduate, and graduate level instructors, archivists, archival educators, and museum educators.
Activities and Products
Open-Source Educational Resources
We develop flexible primary source educational resources targeted to levels spanning older elementary to graduate students. These resources are open-source and include curated scans of primary sources from the RAC’s collections. They can be integrated into remote, hybrid, and traditional classroom settings.
Educator Workshops
We connect with cultural organizations and educational institutions to lead workshops that model for faculty and staff the work being done at the RAC. We expand on our belief in open-source materials by sharing frameworks with professionals interested in creating archival education learning opportunities.
Archival Educators Roundtable
The Archival Education Roundtable was created in 2016 and is a growing community of educators, archivists, and archival education allies who use primary sources for education, outreach, and public engagement.
Public Engagement
The RAC partners with local organizations to create public programming opportunities. We enjoy working with members of the community, learning how their stories connect with and can inform our work, and sharing our resources with lifelong learners.
Partners
To develop our open-source teaching materials, we collaborate with public schools, colleges, and universities. We partner with educators from a variety of disciplines who are focused on project-based and inquiry-based learning.
Pedagogical Goals
Upper Elementary – Middle School (Grades 3-8) Students will:
- Learn the difference between primary and secondary sources
- Be introduced to archives and archival terminology
- Learn about the work of historians, researchers, and archivists
- Make personal, classroom, and community connections
- Engage in document analysis
- Learn about reliable sources
- Learn why and how to cite sources
- Develop research questions
- Develop and hone presentation skills
- Discuss gaps or “silences” in records
Intermediate – Advanced (10th grade – University) Students will:
- Learn about the research process
- Engage in document analysis across multiple collections and with a variety of archival formats
- Engage with primary sources in a variety of ways through close reading, notetaking, and building and articulating an argument
- Debate using evidence from primary source documents
- Engage in role-playing from the perspective of the records’ creators
- Discuss culturally competent description
- Connect sources to context and research in content areas
- Introduce students to foundation decision-making practices and policy work
Adult Educational Outreach Participants will:
- Learn about the RAC/archives
- Make connections to their own lives, histories, and communities
- Engage in document analysis
- Engage in small group and whole group discussions
Primary Source Selection
The primary sources selected for archival education address a range of topics and key moments and movements in American and global history. They connect topically to curricula and/or support targeted skill development in inquiry-based and project-based learning.
We select documents that demonstrate the breadth of our collections, different types of archival formats, and provide opportunities for integrating cultural competency learning.
The number of documents varies, but we believe in a less-is-more, scaffolded approach to integrating and learning with primary sources. As students and program participants advance in their work with primary sources, they will have the skills to conduct their own further research and be smart consumers and responsible sharers of information.
Primary Source Educational Resources
We create open access models in collaboration with our local lab schools and structure the development of primary source sets, workshops, units, and guides over the course of multiweek, scaffolded remote and in-person visits.
Primary Source Sets
Curated set of 4-6 primary source documents and suggested projects related to selected umbrella topics.
Primary Source Workshops
Thematic selection of primary sources integrated with historical background and exercise procedures.
Unit Plans
Detailed lesson-by-lesson description of archival education projects.
Audiovisual Media Literacy Guides
Thematic audiovisual documents with scaffolded questions, analysis, and discussion.
Additional Resources
Society of American Archivists’ Primary Source Literacy Guidelines.