Picturing Plattsburgh: How Creating an Online Exhibit of Their Own Photos Empowered Student Agency in a US Survey Class, Increased Their Understanding of Primary Source Research, and Demystified Special Collections

This poster demonstrates how an online photo exhibit project empowered academic agency and advanced research skills for a diverse group of general education students in an introductory U.S. history survey class titled “History in Photos, Photos in History” at a small regional state university in rural upstate New York. The “Picturing Plattsburgh” project required students to work as a group and in conjunction with the campus Special Collections librarian in order to create a permanent online exhibit of photos they took themselves with their phones, documenting daily life on the Plattsburgh State University campus from their point of view.

The project began with students visiting Special Collections and examining hard copies of campus photos taken from the late 1800s to the present. This hands-on active learning reinforced their understanding of how to access reliable and authentic primary sources via trustworthy academic and information professionals. Students also viewed previous online exhibits created in collaboration with Special Collections, and reflected on what subjects and images they could document photographically themselves of life at Plattsburgh in 2024. Students each took at least three photos, and then the class selected which photos to include in the exhibit.

Deciding which of their photos best captured historically significant images, preparing their photos for the exhibit, and engaging in discussions with other students, myself, and the librarian effectively facilitated student progress towards achieving the course student learning outcomes (SLO), including “identify what information you need about a photograph and its historical context when you are using photos as a primary source” and “apply what you’ve learned about photographs as primary sources to document life on campus at SUNY Plattsburgh, particularly the diverse identities of our students, faculty, and staff.”

In addition to helping them achieve the SLO, the project helped make the class content more relevant and personally meaningful to students by making connections between the photos in the textbook and their own daily lives. It also increased student academic agency by positioning every student as an active participant in the campus community and encouraged a sense of belonging by soliciting each student’s own unique view—literally and figuratively—of Plattsburgh. Furthermore, it created the conditions necessary for students to view themselves as knowledge creators in history, contributing to a permanent exhibit and adding to future conversations about the meanings and significance of a localized past.

The poster format is ideal for this presentation because of the project’s emphasis on visual representations in photographs. The photos taken by the students, along with their selected titles, captions, and descriptions, comprise the most compelling evidence of the project’s effectiveness for facilitating learning and will be featured on the poster. In addition to selected photos and screenshots of the exhibit, the poster will include quotes from student feedback and reflections, and a QR code linking a website with an online version of the poster, a bibliography, and a link to the student-created permanent exhibit