News & Events

Special Collections Hosts K-12 Workshop

On Friday, January 26, Bjork Library hosted a group of K-12 educators for a workshop on using Special Collections in the classroom. Part of the "Why the Humanities Matter" series, it was sponsored by the Southern Regional Institute (SRI) and Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC) at Stockton. 

Special Collections Librarian Heather Perez and Professor of Literature Thomas Kinsella led the group in exploring some of our local history special collections. The teachers had the opportunity to do hands-on research and planning with the collections, as they came up with ideas to use in their classrooms.

Ideas included: 

• Having students create a map or tourist brochure to distribute in their schools identifying special historical places in their local community;
• Using 1940s newspapers to compare journalism and advertising to today's styles;
• Analyzing letters from the 1830s to learn about life at that time, local events, and the economy;
• Teaching environmental awareness by having students listen to a recorded oral history describing how dirty the beach was in the 1970s and then having students participate in an annual beach cleanup; and
• Using photographs of local places to teach about segregation. 

The educators in the workshop enjoyed being students for the day and especially enjoyed getting to work with and explore our special collections. Our Special Collections are available to anyone in the community, and we invite everyone to visit.