The Apprenticeship Model of Teaching Historical Methods: When a Historian Oversees an Archive

As director of the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, I manage an archival collection of over 7000 individual collections documenting the human dimension of World War II. Housed in the History Department, this archive includes documents, artifacts, and visual images. Serving as the Institute’s second director has afforded me the opportunity to create experiential learning opportunities for students in every aspect of archival administration interacting with potential donors to the collections, creating on-line finding aids, collaborating in teams to create museum exhibits, and digitizing/portions of the collection for FSU Libraries. Each semester on average 20-30 undergraduates are involved with the Institute as undergraduate assistants/interns. Institute internships have not only aided them in gaining a better understanding of historical methods, but it have given them opportunities to build credentials that often lead to further employment opportunities and internship opportunities with organizations such as the American Jewish Archives, Baseball Hall of Fame, Medici Archives, Smithsonian Institution, and Women’s Memorial in Service to America. This presentation will also provide an overview of how Institute collections are integrated in a variety of assignments in both lecture courses and more advanced undergraduate seminars.

The status of the Institute is an anomaly, most archives/special collections are administered by university libraries. This paper will not advocate that all special collection should be turned over to History Departments. But it will suggest that historians and archivists should consider establishing new cross-institutional partnerships beginning with appointing professors as curators of collections. It will also suggest that in a time of diminishing enrollments, creating experiential learning opportunities will not only develop student’s research skills, but also give them tangible experience for future employment.