ARX 120/ BKX 120/ MUX 120 Colloquium: Concentration Gateway Course (2 Credits)

Offered as ARX 120, BKX 120 and MUX 120. This course serves as a shared gateway for the Archives, Book Studies and Museums concentrations. Students explore histories, futures and systems of knowledge production, preservation, organization and distribution through the kinds of objects and evidence held by archives, libraries and museums. As evidence of their evolving and complex operations, this course introduces the history of such institutions, their evolving public mission, issues central to their work today, and the creation and uses of materials they hold. The course critically engages the emergence of such institutions, specifically within this regional context and in this framework of a college campus. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 25. (E)

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARX 141 What I Do in the Archives (1 Credit)

This course is a lecture series that serves as a “gateway” course to the Archives Concentration and an introduction to the methods and discoveries of archival research. The talks feature faculty members, archivists, scholars, and writers describing their own journeys, practices and insights in encountering archival materials. S/U only. {H}

Spring

ARX 340 Seminar: Taking the Archives Public (4 Credits)

This seminar brings together a cohort of archives concentrators and other advanced students to explore contemporary issues at the intersection of archives and public history. The readings focus on case studies and the challenges in preservation, access and interpretation of archival materials. The class analyzes how these materials become part of a meaningful and usable past for general audiences while taking into account the dynamics of national and collective identity formation, trauma, memorialization, social justice, and the changing digital landscape in the fields of public history and cultural heritage work. Enrollment limited to 15. Juniors and seniors only. {H}

Spring

ARX 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

For qualified juniors and seniors. Admission by permission of the instructor and director of the program. No more than two special studies or a total of 8 credits may count toward the concentration.

Fall, Spring