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Pforzheimer Fellows: what they learned

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The inaugural Pforzheimer Fellows program ended with the summer, but each of the four fellows said the experience had a lasting impact on how they understand and use libraries.

The program, launched earlier this year for humanities graduate students interested in learning about emerging library fields, exposed the fellows to new materials as well as to how libraries function behind the scenes. “You see things in a different way,” said James McSpadden, who worked with the Heinrich Bruning collection in the University Archives. He uses the collection extensively in his research, and spent the summer compiling rich descriptions of materials and creating a finding aid. “To make this collection that I care about available to other researchers is such an amazing experience.”

At the Schlesinger Library, Bradley Craig digitized a collection about the 19th-century African American educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown, using a hover cam. Once the digitization was complete, Craig curated an online exhibit drawing on the conventions of a modern college admissions website for Brown’s now-defunct Palmer Memorial Institute.