Interrogating the Sacred and Special: Engaging Students in Diversifying Special Collections

Abstract

The answer to the question “What is the future of special collections?” is one that has evolved in scope over the past twenty-five years. Through the late twentieth century, the role of the special collections librarian seemed largely curatorial: to conserve these precious, unique resources—rare books, archival material, and other unique collections— for posterity and for “serious” researchers. While it remains true that the nature of its special collections can distinguish an academic library in ways that its database and print holdings may not, what emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a movement to put rare books and manuscripts into the hands of undergraduates, born of the dual mandates of justifying resources allocated to these items and improving pedagogies through experiential learning.1 Active learning sessions have moved far beyond the “show-and-tell” model into what are often sustained student engagements grounded in constructivist pedagogy. At our institution, it has become commonplace for classes to engage with special collections multiple times throughout the semester, not only seeing the materials but also using them both for their content and often for their materiality. These engagements remain vitally important and can be continuously improved. However, the future of special collections in this new decade can lie in problematizing the nature of what—and who—is “special.” Today’s special collections holdings often stand as memorials to the elite, white supremacist socio-cultural environments in which they were formed, and they rightfully need to respond to the justified critiques that come their way. Unquestionably, the existing collections need to be challenged, and a collection development strategy that prioritizes white supremacist, imperialist, capitalist, and patriarchal values needs to be overturned in favor of a “‘total cost of stewardship framework’… asking what is the composition of our current collection, how are our collection decisions made, by whom, and with what information, and how do we want that to change?” What if student learning could accompany these reflections on collection development and consequent changes? In this chapter, we offer an example of a scaffolded approach to engaging students in the process of critiquing the special collections of Muhlenberg College with an eye toward having the students themselves directly involved in considering what collecting priorities should be emphasized moving forward. We discuss our expectations and student responses, challenges that emerged, and the wider applicability of these concepts