The Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA) program is a three-year educational initiative that employs primary sources to enhance document analysis, information literacy, and critical thinking among undergraduates across three New York schools. The program has conducted over 100 class visits and engaged 1,100 students, demonstrating notable improvements in engagement and academic performance compared to peers. SAFA's success stems from high-impact learning practices and emphasizes the importance of understanding historical context through hands-on interactions with archival materials.

1. Museums Work: Success Stories of
Students and Faculty in the Archives
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Museums and Higher Education in the 21st Century

2. Welcome
Robin M. Katz,
Outreach + Public Services Archivist
Co-Director, Students and Faculty in the Archives
@robinmkatz #safabhs
rkatz@brooklynhistory.org

3. Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Innovative postsecondary education program
which uses primary sources to build document
analysis, information literacy, and critical thinking
skills in undergraduates

4. Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Three year, $750,000 US Dept of Education
FIPSE grant
• Three schools: City Tech, LIU, St. Francis
• Nineteen partner faculty
– SAFA professional development
• Wide variety of disciplines and types of classes

5. Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Centered around class visits to the archives
• Over four semesters (Fall 2011 – Spring 2013)
– 1,100 individual students
– 63 courses
– 100 class visits to Brooklyn Historical Society

6. Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Our Teaching Philosophy
– Goals and objectives
– No show-and –tell
– Actively use materials
– Less is more
– Document Analysis
• Specific vs. generic prompts
– Why did Henry Ward Beecher write this letter?
– Who is the creator? What type of document is this?

7. Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Lightning Round Case Studies
– Eric Platt, Assistant Professor of History, St. Francis
College
– Leah Dilworth, Professor of English, LIU Brooklyn
– Robin Michals, Associate Professor, Advertising and
Graphic Arts, New York City College of Technology

11. Understand historical continuity and
change
Work with a wide variety of primary
sources:
• Reexamine everyday items for their historical
importance
Develop analysis and research skills
Demonstrate increased awareness of
local history
Realize their roles as historical actors

12. “I was fascinated by the historical
influences of the areas that I frequent
daily.”
“[I] never realized how big Brooklyn was
historically.”

13. “To see and hold history in my hand
[with the tickets] was just amazing. . . .
Looking at that ticket made me realize
that when I go to a sports game, I will be
holding history in my hand as well. We
don’t realize that every day we continue
to make history.”

14. … if you have ever seen a daguerreotype
image on a book or online is nothing like
the actual thing… another difference
between them is the exposure time, as we
can see on the daguerreotype, the
woman looks so serious, and that is
because the exposure time was too long
(it could have lasted up to several
minutes)…
—Regina Torres

15. Leah Dilworth
Professor of English
Long Island University Brooklyn Campus

16. New York City College of Technology
City University of New York
Advertising Design and Graphic Arts
GRA 2330 Digital Photography

17. GRA 2330 Digital Photography
Course Goals and Objectives
• Develop visual literacy and powers of
observation.
• Understand photography as representation
and as a changing set of technologies.
• Recognize the impact of the process of
creating an image on its visual form.

18. The Brooklyn
Historical
Society’s building
and displays
provides context
for students’
encounters with
19th century
photography.
Jefferson Gaunt (1806-1864)
Portrait of Sarah Rierson Middagh
1838, Oil on canvas
Gift of Mrs. Francs Luquer, 1991

19. What a projection doesn’t
tell you about a
daguerreotype:
• It has a highly reflective
metal surface. If you are
holding it , you will see
yourself.
• It is unique.
• It is small, usually 2 3/4
inches by 3 1/4 inches, an
intimate medium displayed
in a case not on the wall.
Daguerreotypes
Daguerreotype of Christina Payne Hallock,
circa 1855, DAG.04; Photography collection;
Brooklyn Historical Society.

20. City Tech students at BHS
October 3, 2012

21. Student Response
The daguerreotype … was a copper plate, which
made it reflective, encased in a frame with
matting to protect it and had a decent amount
of weight to it. By contrast any of the digital
images I’ve taken this semester weigh nothing
until I decide to print them out and then they
weight only as much as the paper they are
printed on.
—Andrea Morin

22. Student Response
… if you have ever seen a daguerreotype image
on a book or online is nothing like the actual
thing… another difference between them is
the exposure time, as we can see on the
daguerreotype, the woman looks so serious,
and that is because the exposure time was too
long (it could have lasted up to several
minutes)…
—Regina Torres

23. Findings
• Independent evaluators have found thatSAFA
students are more engaged and perform better
their peers
• This year, will receive and analyze retention data
• 2012 Evaluation Report available online at
http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/docs/Eval-Report-
2012.pdf

24. Findings: Observation Skills
• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving
in an archive?
PRE POST
Students noting
a single feature or
giving a vague response
72% 49%
Students noting
multiple physical features
28% 51%

25. Findings: Articulating ‘a usable past’
• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving
in an archive?
Sample PRE responses Sample POST responses
This is a photo from the past To show how society valued
entertainment.
Because it showed what was
going on at that moment.
[It] shows how technology was
progressing in the US.
It gives insight… to what life was
like during the 1960s.
It shows how people were
sending postal cards through the
telegrams and how it was
different… than… today.

26. Findings: Academic Performance
• Just one class at LIU Brooklyn
SAFA NON-SAFA
Completion Rate 96.9% 76.7%
Passing Rate 91.9% 48%
Grade of B or better 60.7% 30.3%

27. Why does SAFA work?
• High Impact Learning Practices
– Work with firsy-year seminars, learning communities,
– Common intellectual experience (among a cohort)
– Collaborative assignments and projects
– Undergraduate research
– Diversity/global learning
– Community-based learning
– www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm

28. More soon from SAFA
• Project level website to launch Fall 2013
http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/
– Project documentation and findings
– Sample syllabi, assignments, activities
– Articles on pedagogy, models for instruction
• More Dissemination
– Presentations
– Publications
• Follow us: #safabhs, @brooklynhistory