Dr. Tamara Hunt incorporates Service Learning in her HIST 288: The Historian's Craft course, which focuses on how historians apply historical methodology effectively to synthesize information, and present conclusions and includes a module on professional development, including engagement with scholarly communities.
Students in HIST 288 work with the National Archives, the US repository for national documents. This institution keeps important historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and Bill or Rights and also preserves the records of ordinary US citizens, such as information on military service, naturalization, and census data.
Dr. Hunt's students transcribe documents in the National Archives as part of the "Citizen Archivist" program. Their transcripts will be uploaded to the National Archives site, thereby making the documents publicly available in digital, searchable format. Students are gaining experience working with primary sources, learning to read handwritten documents, and practicing their analytical skills to interpret and draw conclusions from the source.
(Left: The US National Archives in Washington, DC.)
