Sample Assignments
Note: In the context of a First-Year Writing class, these two assignments formed part of a sustained ongoing inquiry across two assignments. Students in this course visited the university library and consulted the library's archives, visited the Massachusetts Historical Society, and worked together to identify a number of digital archives for investigation. Students also visited museums independently. Instructors may wish to add interventions with their local librarians, digital humanities specialists, and may wish to incorporate class visits to physical archives, museums, and heritage foundations.
For the purposes of these assignments, we defined archives as “a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people” (Oxford Dictionary). A digital archive, then, is defined thus: “any digital resource that collects and makes accessible materials for the purposes of research, knowledge building, or memory making” (Enoch and Van Haitsma 4).
This digital archive is a potential resource for assignments similar to the two included below. Instructors are welcome to use this website as a source for archival assignments in their own classes.
Sample Assignment 1: Archival Inventory and Analysis
This assignment asks you to create a journal entry or annotation within a particular archive or museum exhibit, and then draw on those engagements to write a short paper, where you analyze the central components of that archive.
As you write your archival inventory, ask yourself the following: What is this item?
What time period is it from?
Who created it? Why did they create it?
What is its purpose?
If there is text, describe the text and its message. If there is an image or video, describe the image.
As you write your analysis paper, ask yourself the following:
What curatorial choices have been made?
Who is included?
Who is left out?
Where is the metadata (data about the data) contained?
Does it promote use of the archive?
Are there current exhibits? Who is/ who are featured in these exhibits?
If the archive relies on a website, what are its strengths and weaknesses?
How do you position yourself alongside your chosen archive, and how does your own identity affect how you approach this archive?
Sample Assignment 2: Research Paper
This research paper (5-7 pages, about 1250 words) identifies and positions an archival object within its historical context.
Examples: a magazine created by students, contrasted with photographs of the same group, the history of a particular club as seen through two of its artifacts, the history of a Boston building using a map and a letter, the creation of a sculpture or statue at the Museum of Fine Arts, trace the history of a particular import or export from Boston, such as tea.
You have the option to work by yourself, or collaboratively with others.
By yourself: For this assignment, you will do research with 3 peer-reviewed sources, plus one archival item, to write a critical, argument-driven project on your chosen archival item(s). You will first create a works cited list, accompanied with a brief one to two sentence description of why each is useful, then propose an argument and an outline of how you would construct the paper.
With a partner: For this assignment, consider working with research partners, so that each person’s experience can contribute towards a full picture of the research. Together, you will do all the research necessary to write a critical, argument-driven project on your chosen archives. Together, you will first create a works cited list of at least 6 peer-reviewed sources and a brief one to two sentence description of why each is useful, then propose an argument and an outline of how you would construct the paper. You should each contribute 3 peer-reviewed sources, and each of you should also discuss the archival objects you chose.
These sources should provide background and further examples, and should be connected through your writing to your overall focus for the paper. They should not substitute for your own voice, but should instead, your focus should be on connecting the information you discover during your research to your objects, the communities they are located within, and their rhetorical exigencies (how they deal with ethos, logos, and/or pathos).
Overall, this paper should compare your research as you approach your chosen objects, considering historical context, social relevance, identity of the people or groups who created these objects.