SL/CE Panel: Engaging Students and Developing Community Partnerships
Abstract
Service-Learning develops student and community relationships and allows students to develop career competencies. In the fall of 2022, Professor Tammy Pike partnered with Joe Hursey of the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society. Professor Pike recognized the PHPS’s needs and proposed several partnership projects in which her students could provide further assistance, while also increasing their knowledge of history from a museum’s perspective. The first project centered on a new transcription project of the Henry Hammett business letters. Hammett built the first modern textile mill in Greenville County, ushering in the post-Civil War “New South” movement in the Upstate. As a result of this project, her students transcribed over 900 hand-written letters into a text-based word-searchable format. The project is now available online for future researchers, while also preserving the original source document. In the second project Pike’s students assisted with the processing of our historical documents to complete a state level grant. As a result of the student’s internships, we met our grant deadline in the processing, housing, and research of over 50,000 historical documents related to Piedmont’s textile industry. In the handing of these historical records, the students learned the invaluable history of the Upstate while receiving on-the-job training in museum and archival practices and research techniques. Prior to Mr. Hursey’s work with the PHPS, he spent ten years as an archivist within the Smithsonian archives. In that position, he trained over 100 student-interns and about 10,000 visiting researchers in the handling and study of historical records. Professor Pike recognized that with Mr. Hursey’s experience of working with students and the important historical material we possessed, he would provide a unique experience with hands-on training for her students. In return, the students provided the organization with additional labor and experience to accomplish the project needs. Since the completion of this grant, the PHPS is now one of the largest public research repositories in the Upstate, serving researchers every week.
SL/CE Panel: Engaging Students and Developing Community Partnerships
CASB 102
Service-Learning develops student and community relationships and allows students to develop career competencies. In the fall of 2022, Professor Tammy Pike partnered with Joe Hursey of the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society. Professor Pike recognized the PHPS’s needs and proposed several partnership projects in which her students could provide further assistance, while also increasing their knowledge of history from a museum’s perspective. The first project centered on a new transcription project of the Henry Hammett business letters. Hammett built the first modern textile mill in Greenville County, ushering in the post-Civil War “New South” movement in the Upstate. As a result of this project, her students transcribed over 900 hand-written letters into a text-based word-searchable format. The project is now available online for future researchers, while also preserving the original source document. In the second project Pike’s students assisted with the processing of our historical documents to complete a state level grant. As a result of the student’s internships, we met our grant deadline in the processing, housing, and research of over 50,000 historical documents related to Piedmont’s textile industry. In the handing of these historical records, the students learned the invaluable history of the Upstate while receiving on-the-job training in museum and archival practices and research techniques. Prior to Mr. Hursey’s work with the PHPS, he spent ten years as an archivist within the Smithsonian archives. In that position, he trained over 100 student-interns and about 10,000 visiting researchers in the handling and study of historical records. Professor Pike recognized that with Mr. Hursey’s experience of working with students and the important historical material we possessed, he would provide a unique experience with hands-on training for her students. In return, the students provided the organization with additional labor and experience to accomplish the project needs. Since the completion of this grant, the PHPS is now one of the largest public research repositories in the Upstate, serving researchers every week.