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to focus on a racially diverse high school in the Cambridge area—such as the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School—and specify in the program application that JtG is designed for girls of color.
Creating incentives for students to participate is another challenge. Students have many possibilities
for what they might do over the summer, whether it is academic enrichment, travel with family or friends, working, or simply relaxing. The acknowledgement of all of these competing time commitments is part of the reason why I envision this program as taking place once a week. Students could be incentivized with the promise of gift cards after completing the program. Program organizers might also work with teachers to arrange extra credit or some other reward upon students’ return in the following school year.
Attracting senior citizens to this program would probably be easier than attracting students, considering that the Schlesinger Library can
pull from preexisting relationships, namely people who have donated materials before. The Schlesinger could also reach out to senior centers and retirement organizations in
the area. In addition to gathering applications from potential participants, it will also be important to perform background checks, since they would be working with minors. The primary incentives for older folks to participate in this program would be the possibility of mentoring young
people and widening their social circle.
Once people have applied and been selected, it will be necessary to sort out some logistics, chief among them being transportation. A feasible solution to this issue would be to give all participants Harvard ID cards. That way, they could all be eligible
to use Harvard shuttle busses, which operate throughout Cambridge and Boston. Food during the program would be another issue. I would propose that the Schlesinger Library allot a portion of their budget to providing catering through campus dining services.
Another significant consideration will be the activities in which students and seniors will engage throughout the summer. Each week’s meeting of the program will focus on a specific theme, such as science, art, or activism. The theme could be illustrated using a few different archival materials that participants can touch, listen to, or watch, depending on the format. These materials would serve the basis for interpersonal conversations with the student-senior pairs and with the wider group. Throughout the program, participants would be encouraged to take any inspiration they have from their discussions or from the archival materials to create writings, artwork, music, and more.
At the end of JtG, there would be an opportunity for participants to evaluate their experiences. Written
BCALA NEWS | Volume 45, Issue 2 | 23 evaluations would help program
organizers determine what was beneficial about the program, what needs to change, and whether it should ultimately be replicated in the future. Organizers should also make space for participants to share their impressions verbally within the wider group. A good way of closing the program might be to have the senior partners present the students with a certificate or plaque.
The purpose of archives and libraries is for the materials within them
to be used. In order to ensure that they are used, it is necessary for would-be users to find value within the materials. With the JtG project, the value that is being produced comes not only from the materials themselves, but also from the social ties that the participants will create with one another.
WORKS CITED
Banks, Brenda. "Part 6. A* census: Report on diversity." The American Archivist 69.2 (2006): 396-406.
Hartwig, Daniel and Christine Weideman. "The Family and Community Archives Project: Introducing High School Students
to the Archives and the Archives Profession." Through the Archival Looking Glass: A Reader on Diversity and Inclusion, edited by Mary Caldera and Kathryn M. Neal, Society of American Archivists, 2014, 213-234.
Jaeger, Paul T., John Carlo Bertot, and Renee E. Franklin. "Diversity, inclusion, and underrepresented populations in LIS research." The Library Quarterly 80.2 (2010): 175- 181.