History of Wyoming
AHC Research Assignment
General Instructions
1. Each individual will be assigned a collection drawn from the list held in the American Heritage Center. You must write your paper on this assigned collection. Failure to follow this requirement is tantamount to failing the exercise. You will be given a slip of paper at the AHC during your initial visit there. On it, you will find the name of the collection, the collection number, and a specific question about an item in the collection for you to answer in order to complete this assignment.
2. Completion of this assignment requires careful attention to the resources available in the AHC as shown to you during the tour of the facility.
3. Look over the inventory of the collection assigned to you and become familiar with the contents of the entire collection.
4. The length of this report will be between 3-5 pages, typed, double-spaced. This is a very brief assessment of the collection and the workings of the American Heritage Center as well the answer to a specific question from the archival item you will be examining from that collection. . Write this exercise in essay form with an introduction and conclusion—not as an outline or numbered answers to questions.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN YOUR ESSAY:
1. Describe in a couple of paragraphs the process through which one obtains access to the collection desired in the American Heritage Center. Be specific as to locations, forms, etc.
2. Describe the major contents of the entire collection in general terms. This will require careful assessment of the inventory. What is the purpose of the inventory? Speculate on why the papers might be arranged as they appear in the collection.
3. Who “created” the collection—the person who wrote the letters, kept the journals, etc.? (Do NOT list the name of the archivist). Give a brief biographical overview of the individual for whom the collection is named. Do NOT simply copy the contents of the biographical page in the inventory. (If it is the collection of an organization, describe the history of the organization in brief terms).
4. How would the contents of this collection fit into the “organizing concepts” in this class? (For a review of the “organizing concepts,” re-read the introduction in the Readings in Wyoming History).
5. Look at the contents of the box in the collection where you found the answer to your assigned question How is it arranged? What kinds of materials are in the files (i.e., letters, diaries, printed materials, etc.)? What materials contain dates? At what approximate time were the materials produced?
6. Answer the specific question from the slip of paper you received at the AHC orientation session. Be sure to indicate what the question is before you provide the specific answer. (Remember, this represents only about 10 percent of the assignment).
7. Provide a paragraph or two describing the value of the collection (and the American Heritage Center) for undergraduate research in history. What other field, if any, might the collection you’ve examined be used? (For example, geography, botany, science, literature)?
8. The assignment of collections will be done by your American Heritage Center instructor. Follow his/her instructions carefully because he/she has sole authority over which collection and question from that collection you will be assigned.
DUE DATE:
The completed assignment will be due exactly TWO WEEKS from the date of your AHC orientation visit. For instance, if you were in Group 1 going on Sept. 17, the assignment will be turned in on or before Oct. 1.