SCARC faculty and staff act as guides and educators, introducing researchers to the various portals, resources, and technologies used in archival research, as well as the wide range of skills and concepts involved in researching with special collections and archives. Visit Instruction in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center for more information.
For over ten years, Professor Linda Richards has been arranging a SCARC experience for her HST 317: Why War students. Class visits have included exploring definitions and types of primary sources, understanding the role of keywords in search, and demonstration of search techniques in digital primary source repositories. We also spend time discussing factors to keep in mind when looking for primary sources online, including copyright, privacy, authenticity, and the effects of war on the archival record. Classes have also included hands-on activities involving detecting bias, evaluating authority, and interpreting historical context. In the class assessment, students regularly report increased engagement and curiosity after this session.
First taught in Winter 2025, PAX 301: Peace Strategies / Science and Peace was also led by Professor Linda Richards. Professor Richards brought her students in for a hands-on learning activity involving SCARC's incredible resources in the history of peace. After an illustrated lecture from Professor Bahde and Professor Richards on transdisciplinary thinking in peace studies, students examined and evaluated source sets to answer questions about how peace strategies were conceived and deployed. Source sets included 5-6 sources on themed topics such as Pauling's Fallout Suits, Atoms for Peace, Three Mile Island, Hydrogen bomb testing, Vietnam, and general peace activism. Peace strategies examined included mediation, advocacy, public education, community work, and historic preservation.
