Teaching Historical Methods with University Archives at Norwich University

Historical methods is required of all sophomore history majors at Norwich University. Over the last few years, the course has been based around a research project, in which students use the university archives and special collections to investigate some aspect of the university’s history. Norwich, the United States’ first private senior military college, was founded 200 years ago. The archives cover that entire span, as do the papers of alumni and university administrators. This makes it possible for students to choose from a range of topics. Many students write papers on American military history, but others have written about the early history of college football, Vietnam-era student protests, disaster relief in Vermont, racial integration of colleges in the North, and the rise of co-education.

This experience with archival research relies on intense collaboration with Norwich three full-time professional archivists. Even with that immense support, second-year students face many challenges in using what they find in archives to build a compelling historical argument. This presentation will highlight two in particular. First, the goal of the course is for students to gain experience using archival materials to write interpretive, academic history. Many students find it difficult, or are reticent, to bring critical lenses to their papers. Many choose topics they relate to on a personal level, or which address institutions with which many are proud to be associated. Second, we find that second-year students are quickly satisfied that they have compiled enough sources. They often do not learn to treat research as an iterative process, in which new sources raise new questions that requires more archival work in new collections.