Museums Work: Success Stories of

Students and Faculty in the Archives

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Museums and Higher Education in the 21st Century

Welcome

Robin M. Katz,

Outreach + Public Services Archivist

Co-Director, Students and Faculty in the Archives

@robinmkatz #safabhs

rkatz@brooklynhistory.org

Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)

• Innovative postsecondary education program

which uses primary sources to build document

analysis, information literacy, and critical thinking

skills in undergraduates

Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)

• Three year, $750,000 US Dept of Education

FIPSE grant

• Three schools: City Tech, LIU, St. Francis

• Nineteen partner faculty

– SAFA professional development

• Wide variety of disciplines and types of classes

Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)

• Centered around class visits to the archives

• Over four semesters (Fall 2011 – Spring 2013)

– 1,100 individual students

– 63 courses

– 100 class visits to Brooklyn Historical Society

Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)

• Our Teaching Philosophy

– Goals and objectives

– No show-and –tell

– Actively use materials

– Less is more

– Document Analysis

• Specific vs. generic prompts

– Why did Henry Ward Beecher write this letter?

– Who is the creator? What type of document is this?

Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)

• Lightning Round Case Studies

– Eric Platt, Assistant Professor of History, St. Francis

College

– Leah Dilworth, Professor of English, LIU Brooklyn

– Robin Michals, Associate Professor, Advertising and

Graphic Arts, New York City College of Technology

Understand historical continuity and change

Work with a wide variety of primary sources: • Reexamine everyday items for their historical

importance

Develop analysis and research skills Demonstrate increased awareness of

local history Realize their roles as historical actors

“I was fascinated by the historical

influences of the areas that I frequent

daily.”

“[I] never realized how big Brooklyn was

historically.”

“To see and hold history in my hand

[with the tickets] was just amazing. . . .

Looking at that ticket made me realize

that when I go to a sports game, I will be

holding history in my hand as well. We

don’t realize that every day we continue

to make history.”

… if you have ever seen a daguerreotype image on a book or online is nothing like the actual thing… another difference between them is the exposure time, as we can see on the daguerreotype, the woman looks so serious, and that is because the exposure time was too long (it could have lasted up to several minutes)…

—Regina Torres

Leah Dilworth

Professor of English

Long Island University Brooklyn Campus

New York City College of Technology City University of New York Advertising Design and Graphic Arts GRA 2330 Digital Photography

GRA 2330 Digital Photography Course Goals and Objectives

• Develop visual literacy and powers of observation.

• Understand photography as representation and as a changing set of technologies.

• Recognize the impact of the process of creating an image on its visual form.

The Brooklyn Historical Society’s building and displays provides context for students’ encounters with 19th century photography.

Jefferson Gaunt (1806-1864) Portrait of Sarah Rierson Middagh 1838, Oil on canvas Gift of Mrs. Francs Luquer, 1991

What a projection doesn’t tell you about a daguerreotype: • It has a highly reflective metal surface. If you are holding it , you will see yourself. • It is unique. • It is small, usually 2 3/4

inches by 3 1/4 inches, an intimate medium displayed in a case not on the wall.

Daguerreotypes

Daguerreotype of Christina Payne Hallock, circa 1855, DAG.04; Photography collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.

City Tech students at BHS October 3, 2012

Student Response

The daguerreotype … was a copper plate, which made it reflective, encased in a frame with matting to protect it and had a decent amount of weight to it. By contrast any of the digital images I’ve taken this semester weigh nothing until I decide to print them out and then they weight only as much as the paper they are printed on.

—Andrea Morin

Student Response

… if you have ever seen a daguerreotype image on a book or online is nothing like the actual thing… another difference between them is the exposure time, as we can see on the daguerreotype, the woman looks so serious, and that is because the exposure time was too long (it could have lasted up to several minutes)…

—Regina Torres

Findings

• Independent evaluators have found thatSAFA

students are more engaged and perform better

their peers

• This year, will receive and analyze retention data

• 2012 Evaluation Report available online at

http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/docs/Eval-Report-

2012.pdf

Findings: Observation Skills

• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving

in an archive?

PRE POST

Students noting

a single feature or

giving a vague response

72% 49%

Students noting

multiple physical features

28% 51%

Findings: Articulating ‘a usable past’

• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving

in an archive?

Sample PRE responses Sample POST responses

This is a photo from the past To show how society valued

entertainment.

Because it showed what was

going on at that moment.

[It] shows how technology was

progressing in the US.

It gives insight… to what life was

like during the 1960s.

It shows how people were

sending postal cards through the

telegrams and how it was

different… than… today.

Findings: Academic Performance

• Just one class at LIU Brooklyn

SAFA NON-SAFA

Completion Rate 96.9% 76.7%

Passing Rate 91.9% 48%

Grade of B or better 60.7% 30.3%

Why does SAFA work?

• High Impact Learning Practices

– Work with firsy-year seminars, learning communities,

– Common intellectual experience (among a cohort)

– Collaborative assignments and projects

– Undergraduate research

– Diversity/global learning

– Community-based learning

– www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm

More soon from SAFA

• Project level website to launch Fall 2013

http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/

– Project documentation and findings

– Sample syllabi, assignments, activities

– Articles on pedagogy, models for instruction

• More Dissemination

– Presentations

– Publications

• Follow us: #safabhs, @brooklynhistory