2 minute read
If You Build it, They Will Come
If you envision archival research as sifting through dusty boxes of documents hidden away on attic shelves, then a visit to McDonogh’s Wilson | Young Archives & Special Collections is sure to broaden your perspective. Located on the second floor of Lyle Building, the airy and inviting space, which opened in the fall of 2023, has already welcomed hundreds of visitors from four-year-olds who are learning how the campus, rituals, and uniforms have changed over time, to alumni who lived through those transitions.
Students studying U.S. History are learning that the Archives are rich with resources offering unique perspectives on critical moments from the past. Lessons come to life when students read a handwritten letter from a young McDonogh alumnus fighting on the front lines of World War I to his former teacher about what he witnessed. And their interest is piqued when they can pour over archival photos of WPA workers constructing the campus buildings that they traverse daily. Visits to the Archives also help students understand the impact of social change at McDonogh as in the case of the dissolution of the School’s military program in 1970.
Archives Director Christine Ameduri supports faculty in all three divisions by gathering relevant materials for classes from yearbooks and photographs to artifacts and ephemera. She says she is thrilled with the scope of learning taking place in the Wilson | Young Archives & Special Collections and points out other valuable skills the students are absorbing. “Working with and handling primary source materials is a skill set that they will use in college. We use the same tools and resources used by colleges and universities so they will be well prepared,” she says.
—Meredith Bower
