THE PROJECT
This informative project was created for a grade in a digital liberal arts class at Wofford College. The project aims to take a reflective look at one of Wofford College’s most pivotal events, integration. The College was the first private institution in South Carolina desegregate in 1964.
Students JoAnne Franklin and Monica Branch had the privilege to create a project that incorporated old archival letters that were sent to the school. This projects gathers the old materials to make an online historical collection that is easily accessible to all members of the community and beyond.
Students JoAnne Franklin and Monica Branch had the privilege to create a project that incorporated old archival letters that were sent to the school. This projects gathers the old materials to make an online historical collection that is easily accessible to all members of the community and beyond.
THE PROCESS
The students were able to access the archival letters with the help of Wofford’s special collections librarian and class instructor, Luke Meagher and the College Archivist Dr. Stone. After reading through three separate folders of letters categorized in favor or against integration with a bonus controversial folder. Students Monica and JoAnne Franklin met with instructors Emily Witsell, Luke Meagher and Archivist Dr. Stone to establish the boundaries for publishing personal letters to insure the privacy of the writers. In that meeting a game plan was made for carrying out the tasks of privacy while also keeping the letters transparent. The students then spent a full week of classes reading through the letters and selected seven from each folder that would best display the various viewpoints of faculty, community members, alumnae at that time. During the reading and selection procedure instructors Emily Witsell and Luke Meagher aided in the transcription process. Once that was complete the students took on the task of scanning the materials using a program called VueScan which was provided by the College. When all the materials were scanned and uploaded the following step was to select a platform that would best fit the aesthetic of the project. Finally, after trying out various website builders the students decided on one and began to add content and the materials.
WHY THIS TOPIC?
This topic was naturally intriguing to us as African American students attending a predominately white institution because we can relate to the issues of racism, social, political and economic oppression. This project is influential in that it made it more clear as to why this event was and still is monumental. We are both very active in the effort to spread knowledge on racial issues and spark this community conversation that needs to be had. We hope that this project prompts other institutions to take part in some way by creating a larger crowdsourcing project. This would allow for a great opportunity to engage in working with authentic source material, building technical and communication skills as well drives creative thinking.
SPECIAL THANKS!
We would like to give a special thanks to Wofford College and the Sandor Teszler Library, our instructors Luke Meagher and Emily Witsell, College Archivist Dr. Stone, our peers that helped us articulate our ideas in class and our viewers. We hope you enjoy it!
MEET THE CREATORS
Co-creators Monica Branch (top) & JoAnne Franklin (bottom) are seniors at Wofford College. As African American students in the twenty-first century, they found it important and necessary to revive an era that deems still extremely prevalent to present day issues of racial injustices, microaggressions, and tensions that occur within their own campus. |