The Henry E. Dosch Family Collection
Henry Dosch was a German immigrant who came to Oregon after fighting in the Civil War. After a life in business, he actively helped Oregon forge international relations—especially with Japan—through turn-of-the-century World’s Fairs. Trunks containing his family’s letters and interesting period ephemera have been transferred to the John Wilson Special Collections (JWSC) of the Multnomah County Library and previous capstones have begun the work of sorting the collection. This Capstone will have students work at the JWSC to continue these efforts by further organizing the materials, creating a searchable electronic index, and preparing an exhibit of interesting pieces for exhibition.
Course Structure and Objectives:
- From Theory to Practice: In order to effectively undertake the archiving/exhibiting of the Dosch Collection at the JWSC, students will complete readings and assignments as part of their class work that will provide them with both the
historical context of the subject of the collection, Col. Henry Ernst Dosch, and a fine-tuned awareness of the range of the theoretical and practical issues related to archiving. Students will regularly reflect on how such theories and issues relate to their work with the collection through weekly reflections and daily in-class reading responses. - A Collaborative Approach to Learning: This class uses a collaborative approach to learning in which student preparation and participation is essential. Where community partner-work and course assignments may ultimately be done individually, we will regularly come together through classroom discussions and activities to combine our knowledge and experiences in order to facilitate our ability to better serve the needs of the community partner and the project as a whole.
- A Bridge to the Community and to the Future: Student work on the Henry Dosch Family Collection will greatly benefit the general public and scholars from many fields of interest through our creation of an easily searchable collection and helpful companion materials. By undertaking this project, we are not only forging links between Portland State University and the local community but also creating a bridge between the past and the future. In a very real sense, constructing an archive is making history. It is hoped that our efforts will translate into student appreciation of our community’s holdings of local history and the great responsibility inherent to projects that craft how that local history is made available for future research and enjoyment.
Project
The Primary Project Contribution:
Students are required to complete 16 hours of work at the JWSC in sorting, organizing, protecting, and cataloging collection materials under the direction of the Special Collections Librarian Jim Carmin. Students need to sign in and out at the front desk to log their time and are responsible to record details of the work they complete during each session on the online Project Log (more information on this to follow).
Students must complete the required 16 hours of JWSC work by the end of the Ninth Week in order to pass this course. Note: Students can earn up to 5% in extra credit by putting in five hours above the minimum required 16 hours of archive work.
Our class will meet at the JWSC during the regular class time for a mandatory orientation. After this initial session (which will count towards your required 16 hours), the Special Collections will be open for project work during specific times. Students will need to sign up for work sessions each week.
Secondary Project Contribution:
Students will negotiate a secondary project applicable to the collection with the instructor. Though there is great flexibility in what this might entail, its purpose is to allow students to incorporate their own interests and particular academic backgrounds as they add a resource to a collection of student-created materials that will accompany the archive.
Secondary projects can be done individually or in small groups (expectations will be increased relative to group size). All project proposals must be submitted to the instructor no later than Thursday May 14th after which time specific requirements will be established. Some project ideas:
- A more thorough look at a local newspaper from the period than what is due Week 7. General expectations for page length are 4-6 pages (Chicago format).
- An essay/research paper on a topic related to the Henry E. Dosch Family collection. General expectations for page length are 4-6 pages (Chicago format).
- An artistic representation of the man Henry E. Dosch, his family, or event relevant to the collection (this would need to be of a scale appropriate to accompany the collection).
- A helpful resource to accompany the collection.
Central Library's John Wilson Special Collections houses the rare book and other special collections of Multnomah County Library in a controlled environment for the preservation of rare and...