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August 18, 2004 American Studies series dusts history off local artifactsWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Amateur historians, or even pack rats who are holding on to old family heirlooms, are invited to the new Purdue University series Magic Dust: History in the Archives. "Many people keep family letters, a grandmother's wedding dress or an uncle's old photo album knowing these are treasures, but not knowing what they can learn from them," said Kristina Bross, associate professor of English and director of the four-part lecture series that begins Thursday, Aug. 26. "People can hear about similar collections from Lafayette's past and maybe even learn new ways to value such treasures." The series kicks off with Leah Witherow, archivist at the Starsmore Center for Local History in the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, presenting "Clearing Away the Dust: Making Archives Matter," at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26, in Stewart Center, Room 318. Witherow will talk about how members of the community can contribute to the preservation of their collective history through support of a local archive. Three graduate students will make presentations in September that will focus on their own research and analysis of 1890-1920 collections at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association. As part of a class, the students were trained to process the collection and assist in preservation, such as learning the science of preserving vintage dresses and organizing political paraphernalia. "We are not training students to be archivists, but we are providing them behind-the-scenes experience that prepares them for searching for information in materials such as manuscripts, ledgers, books, clothing, diaries and school grade books," said Bross, who also is part of the American Studies Program. This class, which was offered for the first time last fall, was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Studies Association. The series is sponsored by the School of Liberal Arts' American Studies Program and the departments of English and history. The students' presentations will begin at 7 p.m. at Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Wetherill Research Library, 1001 South St., Lafayette. Dates and topics for the sessions are: • Sept. 1. – "(Ad)Dressing the Past: Archives and the Rhetoric of Fashion," Alexis Ramsey, doctoral student in rhetoric and composition from Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. • Sept. 8. – "Remembrances by the Record: Personal War Sketches of the Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 475," Mark Bousquet, of Winchendon, Mass., a doctoral student in American Studies. • Sept. 15. – "Little Women at Lafayette: Rhetorical and Archival Examinations of Helen Gougar's Political Rhetoric(s)," Tarez Graban, a doctoral student in English from West Lafayette, Ind. Some of the students will continue working on the collections this fall at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, said Paul Schueler, director of collections and library at the association. "Thanks to the students, a part of Lafayette's history is more accessible to the general public and researchers," he said. "The students' participation allowed us to catalog some unprocessed parts of Tippecanoe County's valuable collections." For example, Bousquet reviewed register and receipt books in the Grand Army of the Republic Collection. These books were used in the 1890s to track expenses for members of the Army. When Bousquet completes his project, the books' transcripts will be available for anyone to review at Tippecanoe County Historical Association. "These books tell us something more than the economics of the era," Bousquet said. "If we look more closely, we find that the book also contains home addresses of the veterans, allowing for a glimpse into the residential layout of Lafayette at the turn of the last century. The important thing to realize is that you never know what information can be culled from an object, so you never really know how important or valuable it might be to someone else, but rest assured that there will always be people interested in your object in ways you never imagined." Writer: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu Sources: Kristina Bross, (765) 494-3745, kbross@sla.purdue.edu Paul Schueler, (765) 476-8411 or (765) 491-9974, paul@tcha.mus.in.us Tarez Graban, tgraban@purdue.edu Mark Bousquet, (765) 464-8120, bousquet22@earthlink.net Alexis Ramsey, (765) 447-6323, aramsey@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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