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General College Archives Project
Mary K. St. John
Archives Director, Emeritus Associate Professor
For almost 10 years, I have been working on a project in the General College, University of Minnesota. I believe it is time to share this experience with others in education who value this work.
With help from many others, I have built the General College Archives, which holds thousands of documents available for researching. Some of these items are letters, proposals, contracts, and meeting minutes telling of the discussions planning a new program or evaluating an older one. Some are communications with other colleges relating to the development of special education programs to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.
A special feature of the General College Archives is that information describing an item, along with keywords, has been entered into a FileMaker Pro database for easy identification and retrieval. I hope in the future this information will be taken to the next step and be available on the Web.
Our work is rewarded when we are able to assist those engaging in research. Such an opportunity occurred recently when we helped five graduate students in Jeanne Higbee’s class. These students, who were delightful to work with, searched for information on topics such as Commanding English, composition, intercultural communication, and TRIO Programs (for disadvantaged students).
I have been contacted recently by educators in other colleges within the University of Minesota who are concerned that there has not been an effort to archive the documents that tell the history of their college. My message to all concerned educators is to make a collective effort in your unit to preserve the work you are doing now since it will be your history tomorrow.
(Dr. St. John was an Associate Professor of Business Studies in General College from 1976 to 1996, when she retired. She was then appointed by Dean David Taylor to the position of Director of the General College Archives. The GC Archives will join other U of M Archives at a future date in Anderson Library on the West Bank. –Ed.)
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