Lesson Plan
Researching Community History
After researching Baltimore’s early Civil Rights Era history for the exhibition Paul Henderson: Baltimore’s Civil Rights Era, ca. 1940-1960, as well as articles and public speaking, I developed this workshop after learning a lot of difficult and helpful lessons researching community history. I lead this workshop in my capacity as a librarian, but I’ve also led it for events outside of my place of work and would be happy to customize and lead this workshop for other institutions and organizers. What’s included here is an abbreviated version. Contact me with your budget and project for more information.
Creative Commons Information
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Workshop Description
Libraries and archives provide access to an incredible amount of resources to help us better understand historical context of events, topics, people, and more. However, it almost seems as though you have to have prior knowledge (or privilege) of how to navigate these spaces in order to conduct research. In this workshop, we will review the kinds of topics that can be researched, where to conduct certain types of research, and discuss barriers to access. It is recommended that attendees bring their public library cards, or sign up for one if possible.
Details
Designed to be roughly 1.5 hours
Slide presentation with introduction to research, followed by an active learning activity
Intended audience: undergraduate and graduate students; general public
Should be customized to course or event/city after meeting with faculty or organizers
Proposed Session Schedule
Welcome and Opening Activity - 15 minutes
Form a question that attendees can respond to that illustrates their participation as a source of information as well as reveals bias based on experience or lack there of. For example, this two-part question: 1. Write a word or words that describe how you feel about Baltimore (or whatever location the majority of attendees live in); 2. Write a word or words that describe how a friend or relative who doesn’t live in Baltimore would use to describe the city. Discuss results.
Short Discussion - 5 minutes
We do research everyday, we just might not use the word research. How do you get started on finding an answer to your questions? How do you find proof or evidence to support what you’ve found? What tools do you use to get started?
Slide Presentation: Introduction to Research - 10 minutes
This presentation reviews topics that can be researched, types of sources, where to find primary sources, and community-driven archives.
Group Activity - 50 minutes
Attendees are placed into breakout groups and assigned an archives institution. Teams have 25 minutes to answer questions on a worksheet with specific questions about their institution. After 25 minutes, check in on teams to wrap up. Each team will present to the larger group.
Final Thoughts/Wrap Up Discussion - 10 minutes
Ask for any last thoughts and point out any thoughts you had during the session. Ask if anything was not clear and where to go for help.
Activity Worksheets
Break group into teams of 3-4 people (ideally) and assign each team an institution. It is highly recommended that the workshop leader develop their own worksheets with customized questions as the questions on worksheets might become outdated quickly.
Resource Guide
Consider composing a quick reference guide for accessing community history resources where you are.
Want me to teach this for your group or organization?
What you see here is an abbreviate version of my workshop. Contact me with your budget and timeframe to discuss a custom version of this workshop.