Teaching with Primary Sources: Workshopping American Art

This presentation will share the experiences of one participant in the Teaching with Primary Sources workshop series, sponsored by the Archives of American Art, Lunder Institute of American Art, and Cleveland Museum of Art focused on fostering student engagement with primary sources. My institution, Furman University, has developed a signature program, The Furman Advantage, which promises opportunities for all students to engage in independent learning and research. Yet, one challenge facing the humanities is our physical distance from archival materials that are often central to supporting advanced student projects. With the major digitization efforts undertaken by the facilitators of this workshop series and their guidance and support in developing teaching materials and models, a sustainable approach for supporting and mentoring student research could be developed. This could also potentially draw students from art history, history, English, and other related fields, who would like to engage in primary source research and develop independent projects, extending the reach of this training beyond our art department to the larger university community. In summary, this paper will address the impact of this workshop series on the level of the individual course, the contributions to departmental mentorship and undergraduate research, and the enhanced profile of art history within the larger campus community.