By Jeff Hampton

Long before the Baylor campus sprawled to the banks of the Brazos, the land from Fourth Street to the river was home to hundreds of people in impoverished Waco neighborhoods with names like Sandtown. That changed in 1959 when one of the nation’s first urban renewal projects bought out the area’s landowners and relocated residents to other parts of town.

This is a story unknown to many Waco residents –– much less Baylor students –– but it’s one of many stories being uncovered and explored by students through extraordinary campus archives such as The Texas Collection, the Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society and the online services of the Baylor Libraries. Using these and other campus resources, students in the arts, humanities and social sciences are conducting original research that builds their knowledge base and introduces them to new methods of learning. Some even discover their calling in the process.

Reconstructing Waco

Since 2006, students in Carol Macaulay-Jameson’s historical archaeology class in the Department of Anthropology have engaged in a meticulous project that is reconstructing Waco’s forgotten neighborhoods. Each student is assigned a property, and then working in The Texas Collection they use documents from the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Waco, deed records, old 1950s photographs, city directories, county records, population census data and online genealogical resources to create a narrative of the families that lived there.

“The students trace these people backwards in time, and they become better researchers and writers in the process,” said Macaulay-Jameson, a senior lecturer in anthropology.

Her students compile their data into a monograph that ultimately becomes an unpublished manuscript held by The Texas Collection. What’s more, the paper can be added to a student’s curriculum vitae and contribute to their career opportunities. One of Macaulay-Jameson’s students landed a job at the Smithsonian Institution based on experience working in Baylor’s special libraries, and she has other students who are conducting archival research for cultural research management firms.

“The students who go into historical archaeology as a profession can get hired right away because they have these skills,” she said.

Revolution in Learning

The turmoil of the Russian Revolution provides the backdrop for a revolution in learning at Baylor’s Keston Center. Located two floors above The Texas Collection in Carroll Library, the Keston Center is the world’s largest archive related to anti-religion activities in communist countries. Here, students in Dr. Julie deGraffenried’s Russian history classes study materials smuggled out of communist countries to learn how soviet policies impacted specific religious groups.

“The project gets the students working with archival materials,” said deGraffenried, associate professor of history. “It helps show how history is an interpretation based on evidence. It’s a good lesson for them.”

The end product for each student is a paper and presentation highlighting the varied experiences of different religious groups as well as the range of interpretations within their own study groups.

“One of the core goals of college is being able to gain a greater sense of tolerance and understanding for cultures and people outside of the one we live in,” said Luke Walters, who recently graduated from Baylor with a BA in international studies. “My research in the Keston Center helped me see the world through a lens largely ignored by my generation.”

DeGraffenried said skills developed through archival research are relevant to any student.

“If they are going to be historians, there is a direct connection,” she said. “But no matter what their career will be, there is a connection. Whether a lawyer or a doctor or a financial consultant, they will use evidence to construct a story.”

Women’s Stories

Shining light on the experiences of women at Baylor puts Dr. Lisa Shaver’s first-year professional writing students in The Texas Collection where they examine letters, photos, scrapbooks, policy handbooks, programs and calendars from the university’s past.

“For many students this is their first time to work with primary sources,” said Shaver, associate professor of English and director of Women’s and Gender Studies. “With archival research, you’re always filling in gaps or asking questions. The incomplete and even random nature of archival research forces or encourages students to become active members in making meaning and drawing insight.”

Katherine McClellan, a junior from Wichita Falls majoring in professional writing and rhetoric, found common ground as she focused on a specific student who attended Baylor in the 1940s.

“The pictures I found during my research were the most memorable because they really brought life to the girl I was researching,” she said. “I was able to see her in different settings –– studying at her desk, walking outside on campus, and partying with her friends. There were many parallels in these pictures to my own life.”

The process, meanwhile, provided her with new skills and lessons about learning.

“Archive research is definitely a practice that involves patience, a keen eye for detail, and a fine-tuned sense of observation and ability to see the bigger picture,” McClellan said.

Sarah Trammell, a sophomore English major and self-described “aspiring professor” from Lake Forest, Illinois, focused her research on Baylor’s response to the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. The project opened her eyes to working with original documents.

“The process for accessing documents in a special collection is very different from simply checking out a book at the library,” she said.

Meanwhile, Trammell found that the documents illuminated the complexity of the issue.

“I discovered that students at Baylor had varying opinions on the suffrage movement and would regularly hold debates to discuss the issue, and I learned that the school brought in speakers to talk about the movement,” she said.

As a bonus, Trammell gained unique insight into the thoughts and personality of a legendary Baylor president –– the late Dr. Samuel Palmer Brooks.

“I was happy to discover that Brooks believed in general equality as well as women’s suffrage,” she said.

Finding More Stories

While not all Baylor professors require their students to complete or publish original research projects, a number of faculty members still introduce their students to the resources found in campus archives, which tell stories that can expand their minds. Examples include:

• Dr. Jacqueline-Bethel Mougoué, assistant professor of history, works with Texas Collection staff to create a workshop on primary sources referencing slavery. Her students then write essays on the life of Olaudah Equiano, an 18th century freed slave who became influential in England as an abolitionist, explorer, writer and merchant.
• After lecturing on the history and techniques of printmaking, Dr. Sean DeLouche, lecturer in art, takes his students to Baylor’s Martin Museum of Art where they study real examples of printmaking, including 15th century German Bible illustrations and 19th century Japanese prints and carved wooden blocks.
• Dr. Scott Spinks, senior lecturer in Spanish and Portuguese, has his fourth semester students decipher and transcribe letters housed in The Texas Collection that were written in 1808 in Central Mexico. “They make educated guesses about the lives of the letters’ authors,” Spinks said.