An Integrative Course
Dr. Kate Ranieri and Anthony Dalton of Muhlenberg College’s Media and Communication Department, together with Special Collections and Archives Librarian Susan Falciani Maldonado, created a new integrative learning course connecting principles of oral history, documentary fieldwork, and story making, as well as archival theory and practice, within the context of working with the historic Allentown Band.
Through immersion in community-based fieldwork, students Danielle Burg, Riley Cassidy, Haley Hnatuk, and Emily Robinson learned different ways of knowing: to observe, listen, and speculate; to understand what, why, and how information is preserved; and how to make the materials accessible for the community and for researchers by contributing to an online finding aid and beginning the process of sharing digital objects.