
Class Visits & Teaching with Primary Sources
Special Collections is a teaching collection.
Let’s collaborate!
We want to foster positive experiences and opportunities for deep engagement with special collections for students.
Class Visits
Class visits can introduce students to primary sources and offer unique hands-on learning experiences. We can facilitate class instruction sessions in our Seminar Room (Canaday Library 205) and Old Library 304 and are happy to develop a pull list with you.
Please contact us at least 2 weeks in advance of a class visit, assignment utilizing special collections, or exhibition tour.

Teaching with Primary Sources
Special Collections supports faculty as a rich resource of primary sources available through exhibitions and class visits. Students can learn how to read and respond to exhibitions, interpret primary sources in new ways, and use Friday Finds for public presentation assignments.

Assignment Ideas
Faculty are encouraged to develop assignments that incorporate collections. Students may visit collections independently for this purpose, but faculty should contact Special Collections staff at least 2 weeks in advance to coordinate timing and access details. (Some materials are easier than others to put on hold in the Reading Room or on view in a Delta cabinet due to their size, fragility, etc.)

Exhibition Tours
Faculty may be interested in scheduling a class visit or group tour for a current exhibition. When requesting a tour, please reach out to us and provide the group name (college and class title); expected number of participants; faculty name, phone number, and email; exhibition you’d like to view; preferred date and time for your tour; and any special accommodations your group might have.

Exhibition Seminars
Faculty from any discipline can work with Collections Curators to build an exhibition assignment into a syllabus. Interested faculty should contact Special Collections staff well before the semester begins.
Featured Faculty Collaborations
- Alessandro Giammei: Rome as Palimpsests
- Monique Scott: Museum Studies Praxis Seminar
- Alessandro Bianchi: Japanese History and Culture
- Alicia Walker: Textiles in Context
- Stephen Vider: Modern U.S. Public History
- Jessica Linker: The History of the Book with Digital Methods
- Astrid Lindenlauf: Archaeological Fieldwork and Methods