history through these objects,” she said.
“Primary sources can speak to a wide
variety of disciplines, and can be used in
innovative ways.”
Jennifer Wingate, Assistant Professor of
Fine Arts, chose to focus her American Art
Survey course on photography, pulling from
the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collections
from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Students in the class had the opportunity to
handle early forms of photography, such as
daguerreotypes—an image made in the
camera on a silvered copper plate—and
tintypes to study the evolution of the medium
over time. As a final project, the students will
create their own exhibit of juxtaposed images,
showing how they contrast.
“This is what art history is, telling a story.
The students are crafting or curating their
own story,” Wingate said. “I’m hoping to give
them a sense of exploration from going
through these resources.”
Several of the faculty members involved
in the project said they also hope to give
the students a better understanding of their
heritage and, in many cases, their hometown.
It seems to be working: “Not many people
know the history of where they live. It’s good
to see the evidence in front of you instead of
professor just telling you about [a subject],”
said Leah Tribbett ’13.
Sara Haviland, Assistant
Professor of History, focused the
topic of her class on Brooklyn
in the 20th century and the civil
rights movement using the society’s
Brooklyn Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE) collection.
The collection includes correspondences,
newsletters, photographs, press releases,
clippings and other materials documenting
Brooklyn civil rights actions in the 1960s—
which included protests against discrimination in employment, housing and schools.
“I want to expand the students’ understanding of the topic beyond the southern
point of view…so many of the students are
local and this connects them to their history,”
she said. “I’m excited to give them the
opportunity to do hands-on listening, which
is what historians do in archives.”
Students in Professor
Alexandria Egler’s religious
studies class are working on
producing their own religious
family trees and oral histories.
The goal, Egler said, is to
demonstrate how information
from 100 years ago can remain
relevant in the 21st century.
Egler encourages her students
to venture o