More Than Primary Sources: Teaching About the Archival Profession as a Method of K-12 Outreach

Traditional archival outreach methods for K-12 students teach children how to be historians-not archivists-by emphasizing critical thinking skills and document analysis. In contrast, K-12 outreach in the field of archaeology simultaneously emphasizes archaeological work, historical analysis, and critical thinking. This article examines both the archival and archaeological K-12 outreach models and draws from one author\u27s experiences at The History Center in Diboll, Texas, to suggest changes to archival K-12 outreach that will leverage the profession\u27s preexisting interactions with students to advocate for archives