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Val Werner left and Sydney Hoose '25 right

Val Werner '21, HASRP Coordinator, introduces HASRP Fellow, Sydney Hoose '25

What does historical accountablility look like?

Thanks to a unique fellowship, Dartmouth undergraduates can shine a light on Dartmouth’s position throughout history from the perspective of previous administrations, students, faculty, and staff. Since its inception, the Historical Accountability Student Research Program has supported 25 students to complete research into Dartmouth’s past using the Rauner Special Collections Archives with funding and support from the Division of Institutional Diversity and Equity (IDE). Dr. Shontay Delalue, Senior Vice President and Senior Diversity Officer, shares how, “the Division is proud to support these student projects, as one of many initiatives that seek to learn about Dartmouth’s past, to inform our future and create a community and sense of belonging for all.”

Dartmouth, like many institutions, has an imperfect history. Through the Historical Accountability Student Research Program, the institution is committed to exploring historical instances of inclusion and exclusion at the College.

Dr. Shontay Delalue, Senior Vice President and Senior Diversity Officer

In this program, students explore our collections to create original research content, and potentially uncover new knowledge, based on primary sources. The students accepted to the fellowship present their idea for what research to pursue with expert archivists and librarians at their side, including program coordinator, Val Werner ‘21, to advise. This innovative and dynamic program offers an open-ended scope for project topics, encouraging fellows to research issues of diversity and inclusion from Dartmouth’s past. The program’s goal is to provide student researchers with a professional experience that keeps the dialogue about historical accountability alive and moving forward. 

Accountability is necessary for an institution for the same reason it's necessary for an individual: if we promise to apply certain values in the future, we need to be willing to apply them to our past, too.

Val Werner, Historical Accountability Student Research Program Coordinator

The use of primary resources from the archives is integral to the projects. It’s there where the spark of discovery is lit and space opens for the creation and sharing of new ideas and information. A large part of the experience is learning how to navigate the archives, and in that process shed light on Dartmouth’s legacy. And, sometimes, what the archives reveal can be confrontational. A common concern expressed by students is how to best present potentially harmful content to others. Val encourages the fellows to use their judgment on what is worthwhile to share, even if it may be painful to confront. Once students complete their research, they formalize their findings and give a public presentation. 

Val encourages everyone to attend the students’ presentations because, otherwise, “you’re really missing out! The more people engage, the more students are encouraged to take part themselves.”

Sydney Hoose presents her research as part of the HASRP fellowship

Sydney Hoose '25 presents research on Native female students at Moor's Charity School, the predecessor to Dartmouth

Like with all our fellowships, the goal is that a student’s experience is inspiring and meaningful. So, what has been the impact for HASRP students? Val recently reconnected with some previous fellows to discover where they are today. Below are just a few of the examples previous fellows shared that demonstrate the link between their learnings in the HASRP and their achievements since.

image of Anneliese Thomas

Anneliese Thomas ‘19 curated the digital exhibit, “The Black Student Experience, 1960-1979.” Her work explored the lives of Black students at Dartmouth in the 1960s and 70s, during and directly after the Civil Rights era. Today, Anneliese is a Juris Doctor candidate at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where she continues to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion through leadership roles in Northwestern Law’s Black Law Students Association and Diversity Coalition.

Caroline Cook

Caroline Cook ‘21 wrote “She Had the Misfortune of Being a Woman,” a research paper about the life and academic career of Dartmouth's first tenured female faculty member, Hannah T. Croasdale. Her archival work gave her a heightened awareness of why systems may behave the way they do. After her fellowship, Caroline went on to be an Editor-in-Chief of the “Jack-o-Lantern.” Spending time in the archives and reading all the old issues made running such a storied Dartmouth institution all the more meaningful. What she learned in the archives also translated well to an internship at the Hood Museum. Later, she developed and published an historical novel loosely based on her HASRP research. 

Leeza Petrov

Since finishing her digital exhibit, “AIDS and Safer Sex at Dartmouth,” covering Dartmouth administration and student responses to the national AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Leeza Petrov ‘22 received a Fulbright grant. She’s currently serving as an English Teaching Assistant at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. In her teaching role, she shares a summary of her Fellowship project with her students as part of a broader discussion around HIV/AIDS and stigma. She credits the Libraries with sparking a previously untapped passion for archival research.

When considering what he’d like to see in future projects, Val hopes students will unearth truths from Dartmouth’s pre-twentieth-century past. “There are challenges that come with researching earlier periods of Dartmouth's history, but I think Dartmouth students are up for it!” 

Fellows from the 2023-2024 academic year took the initiative to scour Dartmouth’s history to cover a diversity of topics, including archival content from centuries past. 

 

The thoughtful, well-researched, and sometimes sensitive work these fellows are accomplishing is, as the HASRP website affirms, a beginning, not a conclusion.

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