In Their Own Words: Teaching Women’s History through Digital Primary Sources in the Lycoming County Women’s History Collection

This panel will discuss the creation and educational uses of the Lycoming County Women\u27s History Collection (www.lycoming.edu/library/lcwhc), a digital archive of source material relating to the history of women in Lycoming County (PA). A curriculum guide has been developed to accompany the collection. The project is a cooperative effort of the Lycoming College Snowden Library, the James V. Brown Library, and the Lycoming County Historical Society. The digitized documents highlight the history of local women in volunteer and reform organizations, education, the arts, the workplace, and in their private lives. The majority of the materials are from the time period 1875-1925. The project has been funded by LSTA grants from Commonwealth Libraries (PA) and private grants from individuals and organizations. The collection uses the CONTENTdm platform and is part of the Pennsylvania Digital Repository. In Janet\u27s portion of the presentation, she will discuss the impetus for the creation of the collection and the formation of a working cooperative. She will outline the process for acquiring grant funding. Janet will also address the issues involved with creating community connections and support for the project. Janet will outline the impact that the project has had on the community -- in making primary source material available to the students and scholars, raising awareness of the role of women in the community, and in communicating the importance of the preservation of archival material. In Mary\u27s portion of the panel discussion she will discuss the content of collection, which includes photographs, correspondence, minute books, diaries, scrapbooks, recipe books, newspaper stories, and more. The collection also includes some rare secondary sources and short essays on women and women\u27s organizations highlighted in the collection. She will detail the process of selecting the collection theme and content with the assistance of historical and technical advisors and community users. Mary will address the choice of a platform for the collection and the challenges and rewards of working with vendors for digitization. She will also address the creation of the project webpage and maintenance issues. In Amy\u27s portion of the panel discussion she will discuss the multitude of pedagogical opportunities the collection provides for undergraduate courses in women\u27s history, sociology, local history, and research methods classes. She will introduce the Lycoming County Women\u27s History Curriculum Guide, which she created for use with the collection. The guide is intended for use with middle and secondary school students; however, it can be easily adapted for primary use and undergraduate use. The guide, linked to the collection website and available in the ERIC database, includes samples of teaching strategies, questions, and activities. Dr. Rogers will discuss a research project that she completed using the guide with middle school students from a local school