Integrating archives into geography courses
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Date
2019-05-28
Authors
Romund, Grace
Courrier, Nicole
Journal Title
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Abstract
When completing projects and papers for university geography courses, students are at least somewhat aware about searching for traditional academic sources such as journal articles and books; however, students are less familiar with other types of information sources. A human geography professor at the University of Manitoba approached the university’s geography librarian to inquire about including instruction about archives in an upper undergraduate level course, for an assignment relating to historical local land use. The librarian contacted the university archivist to partner in conducting a 3 hour session as part of the geography course to discuss searching for archival content. The session included a keyword brainstorming activity, hands on interaction with archival records, and a lecture by both librarian and archivist. To better convey the methods of searching archives to the students, an example topic on historical local land use was used. Following the in-class lecture on these topics, several students were able to navigate archives during their research for their assignments and include archival content in their research materials. Being able to include archival content, broadened the scope of the materials consulted in their geographic research and hopefully deepened their experience and grasp of the historical context of the places they studied. In our poster, we will highlight the ways that archives can be integrated into geography courses to enhance the quality of instruction and student assignments. This exposure strengthened students’ research skills and networks of support for their coursework and careers. Instead of the archival materials explored in the case described, archival images and maps related to the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike will be highlighted on the poster to illustrate the types of archival sources that can inform geographic research.
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Keywords
Archives, Libraries, Geography, Winnipeg General Strike, 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, Teaching, Pedagogy
Citation
Romund, G. & Courrier, N. (2019) "Integrating archives into geography courses" CAG 2019. May 27-31, 2019. Winnipeg, Manitoba.