Inaugural Summer Student Archival Research Program | Dartmouth Libraries

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July 28, 2025

summer student researchers from Brown University and Dartmouth smile at the camera in front of Brown's mascot bear at Brown University

student researchers: Lauren Levine, Eiffel Sunga, Paulina Gasiorowska, Coral Gimbernard, Daniella Pozo, Luis Jerard Salum '26, Lin Lin '26, Ash Chinta '24, Ellanora LoGreco, Yumna Hussen, Mahliat Tamrat

A Crash Course in Archival Research

If you wanted to explore a particular topic in the archives at Rauner Special Collections Library, where would you begin, what would you hope to learn, and how would you share what you discovered with others? Four students from Dartmouth answered these questions and more in a new learning program co-hosted by Dartmouth Libraries and Brown University Library. The Summer Student Archival Research Program is an immersive, intercollegiate crash course in archival investigation and research designed and facilitated for undergraduates as an extracurricular, hands-on experience that gives them insight into the archival research process. This experience is a launch pad for students to apply their skills to more formalized research projects.

from left Val Werner and three Dartmouth students in the program

from left: Val Werner, Erica Mao '28, Luis Jerard Salum '26, Lin Lin '26

The inaugural participants, Ash Chinta '24, Lin Lin '26, Luis Jerard Salum '26, and Erica Mao '28, kicked off the first day at Rauner Library. Val Werner, SSARP lead, guided the students through various sessions hosted by archivists and librarians. They learned about basic archival research topics, the unique challenges of using archival sources, archiving digital materials, and the value of records management and its intersection with the archives. Morgan Swan facilitated a session where the students discussed the power of interrogating and contextualizing archival documents; building meaningful, alternative narratives with items that diverge from their original purpose; and how to tell stories that may contradict an institution’s prevailing narratives.

“I asked them to examine a letter to establish as much context as possible for the correspondence. Afterward, I revealed that it was from the records of Dartmouth President Ernest M. Hopkins (1916 to 1945). In it, Hopkins rejects a student’s request to keep kosher for meals and instead offers to refund the student’s tuition if he didn’t want to conform to life at Dartmouth,” an attitude that shocked the group.

In this same session, the students learned how researchers share stories and findings from their investigations to draw attention to traditionally marginalized or disenfranchised groups throughout Dartmouth’s history. For example, though that Jewish student’s voice wasn’t explicitly preserved in the archives, President Hopkins’ letter offered a peek into that student’s experience and the existence of a potentially systemic issue at the time. Through that new lens, the four of them gained knowledge about how both archival documents and archival silences become a frame of reference for individual experiences, reflecting Dartmouth’s social, cultural, and political milieu as a microcosm of larger society.

students from Brown University share what they're researching in the archives

Brown University research fellows share items from the archives

Day two of the program took place at Brown University Library, a chance for Ash, Lin, and Luis to have an experience beyond the Dartmouth “bubble.” They joined Brown library experts and student research fellows to witness how their peers at Brown engage with the past, a rare opportunity that “demonstrated how academic research transcends Dartmouth or any institutional boundary.” Heather Cole and Jasmine Sykes-Kunk from Brown Library facilitated robust discussions about an array of curious and intriguing materials from the John Hay Library collections. The Brown students also hosted a session that highlighted archival items included in their research, from punk zines in the Malana Krongelb zine collection to guides on how to do laundry in the pre-washing machine days. Everyone was engaged, especially when talking about the challenge of telling stories of marginalized people without being exploitative.

With the success of this first year, Val and Heather look forward to offering this intercollegiate program again. In working together, the students at Dartmouth and Brown broadened their understanding of institutional archives by hearing from diverse voices and learning from experts across the special collections and archive profession.

***The Summer Student Archival Research Program reopens next summer. If you’re a student keen to conduct self-driven research into Dartmouth’s past using Rauner Special Collection Library archived material, check out a unique program that supports you in doing that.

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