This section provides an overview of the types of activities we think your students will find beneficial. If you have questions about how to implement these activities in your class, please contact archives@cpcc.edu.
- What's in the Mystery Box: Interpreting the Past Through Archival Sources
Description: Archival materials, such as documents, publications, photographs, yearbooks, and correspondence, are placed into boxes. Each group of students will receive a box of archival materials. It is up to the group to examine the contents of the box and develop a research or discussion topic based on the archival materials.
Applicable Programs: History, Journalism, Communications, English/Humanities
- Timeline Activity
Description: Give students a series of primary and secondary sources and have them arrange the sources chronologically. Students will also answer a series of questions to understand the different types of information and how they are produced: What types of sources are produced the fastest? Which types of sources come out later? How do you evaluate their credibility? What does this suggest about the way information is produced?
Applicable Programs: History, Journalism, Communications
- Archival Revival
Description: Students curate a creative writing piece using archival photographs from our photographs and publications collections. The purpose of this assignment is to present the archives in a more creative and more inviting way to our community. Using images of our past to create a new story helps students to think more in-depth about their selected primary source.
Applicable Programs: English/Humanities
- Archival Photos Reimagined
Description: Art students select a photo from our photographs or publications collections and create a work of art inspired by their selection. Artworks are integrated into the Archival Photos Reimagined collection.
Applicable Programs: Art, Art History
