Calendar Description

This course combines scholarly research and self-reflection with applied experience in a History-related workplace or simulated workplace environment. Students apply and develop their program-based historical skills and knowledge through in-class learning and a project with a local community partner organization. The project is designed to contribute to a public body of knowledge and improve students' skills for the workplace.

Course Description

Archival & Special Collections, located in McLaughlin Library, is a repository of rare primary resources, including archival collections, rare books, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, art, audiovisual material, costume and set designs, architectural drawings, and ephemera. Our core collections include materials on Canadian theatre, landscape architecture, Scottish history, Lucy Maud Montgomery, culinary history, veterinary history, agricultural history, and local and campus history. (More information about our core collections is available on the Archival & Special Collections website here.) Materials in these collections date from the 14th century to the present day and are used by researchers from around the world, as well as by students in classroom assignments. 

This course will provide a rare opportunity to see first-hand and participate in the variety of work performed by the archivists and the special collections librarian in Archival & Special Collections. Organized in two segments, students will delve into the separate, but complementary professional practices of archivists and special collections librarians.

The first segment will focus on archives, which comprise collections of materials that document the work or life of an organization or person. Some examples of archival collections in our holdings include the Shaw Festival fonds (Theatre Collection), the Macklin Hancock/Project Planning Associates Ltd. Fonds (Landscape Architecture Collection), and the Ewen-Grahame fonds (Scottish Collection). This segment will cover topics such as the role of archives and archivists in society; how archivists acquire, arrange, describe, and preserve materials; the practice of monetary appraisal; outreach; and archival research. 

The second segment will focus on rare books and special collections covering topics such as how these materials are acquired, preserved, made accessible, and promoted to the University of Guelph community and beyond. In this segment students will collaborate with students in HIST 3240 (Food History) on a new exhibit focusing on the 30th anniversary of the Culinary Historians of Canada. For the exhibit, the students will develop and conduct oral history interviews of selected Canadian cookbook writers who have received the Taste Canada Hall of Fame Award. The interviews will be uploaded to the Library’s YouTube account and installed on iPads in the Exhibit Gallery, with other materials to supplement the materials in the Exhibit Gallery. 

Method of Evaluation and Weights

Oral History Project Assignment - 35%
Short Archival Assignment – 12%
Archival Project – 23% 
Reflective essays on assigned subjects – 20%
Participation: a grade derived from evidence of assigned reading; participation in interactive activity and discussion; and engagement in class – 10%

Text and Resources Required

No required textbook. Individual readings will be listed on the final course syllabus.

Course format

The class will meet for 80-minute sessions twice a week and, depending on public health guidelines, the course may be conducted partially in-person and partially virtually. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will:

• Develop the capacity to distinguish primary from secondary resources for a specific research question
• Learn how archives, rare books, and special collections are acquired, appraised, preserved, and organized
• Learn how archives, rare books, and special collections are used in outreach programs through classroom engagement, exhibitions, and events
• Acquire hands-on experience in preparing, conducting, and processing oral history interviews.
• Gain an understanding of the professional ethics of archivists and rare book librarians
• Become knowledgeable about the power and limits of rare books and archival repositories
• Understand the roles of archivists and rare book librarians (research help, teaching, outreach, etc.)
• Recognize the differences among archival, rare book, and special collections repositories

*Please note: This is a preliminary web course description only. The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.