10/01/2026
This week, students in HIST 203 US History 1920 to the present visited Special Collections. They examined materials from the collections and practiced key historical research skills, including contextualizing information within broader historical narratives and corroborating evidence across multiple sources. By comparing documents from different authors, communities, and formats, they identified similarities, differences, and complexities in historical interpretation.
In this class, students used the following materials from the 1940s: the Socialist Labor Party; Social Justice by Father Coughlin; photographs and service records from the Joseph George Ray papers; scrap metal and war bond drives related to the Schools at War project, from the Henry Barnard School records; and various educational and civic materials (published locally and nationally) that sought to mobilize students and communities in support of the American war effort.
