Teach with University Archives
Give students hands-on experience with archival materials related to UB and the broader WNY community. Sessions build critical thinking and primary source analysis skills through active engagement with materials.
An archivist works with you to select materials, plan the visit, and teach the session. Whether it’s your students’ first archival experience or part of a course with multiple visits, we’ll work with you to create a session that fits your goals.
- Single-session class visits introducing students to primary source research
- Returning-course engagements: for instructors who have brought a class in previously, we can offer multiple visits, use of a class cart, or assignments built around Special Collections materials
- Independent student research following a class visit, coordinated in advance
Sessions are most effective when they're tied to specific course goals or assignments, so let us know what you're hoping students will get out of it.
Submit an Instruction Request Form to get started. Submitting the form doesn't automatically confirm a session; an archivist will follow up to talk through details and finalize scheduling.
The more context you can share, the better we can support your class:
- Course title, abbreviation, and number
- Learning goals for the session
- Assignment or course context
- Topics, formats, or specific collections of interest
- Class size and preferred dates
Please reach out as early as you can, ideally before the semester begins. Advance notice helps us pull materials, coordinate staffing, and design a session that fits your course.
Special Collections staff co-facilitate every session alongside the instructor. Sessions are hands-on and discussion-based, and may include:
- Direct engagement with original documents, photographs, and artifacts
- Guided discussion and small-group work
- An introduction to archival research strategies
- Who teaches the session: All class visits are taught by a member of Special Collections staff, not the instructor.
- Instructor presence: Course instructors must attend the session. If an instructor can't make it, the class will need to be rescheduled at Special Collections' discretion.
- Missed sessions: We don't offer or accommodate make-up sessions for students who miss a scheduled visit. Arranging an alternative or equivalent assignment for those students is the requesting instructor's responsibility.
- Active use of materials: Sessions need to center hands-on engagement with Special Collections materials. We can't approve visits built around lecture, general course discussion, or other content that doesn't use our collections.
- First-time visits: A course's first session with us is limited to a single visit, with no additional instruction, assignments, or activities attached.
- Returning courses: Multiple visits, class cart use, and assignments involving our materials become available once a course has visited at least once in a prior semester. These need to be pre-approved by the instructor and arranged before the instruction session takes place.
- Handling materials: Everyone in the room follows Special Collections staff instructions for handling materials, and all Special Collections policies apply. Any class project using our materials, including independent student research afterward, needs staff approval first.
- Photography and filming: Professional photography or filming must be arranged and approved by the Archives in advance.
- Instructional content: Materials created by Special Collections staff for a session remain the property of UB Special Collections.
If you're not sure where to start, reach out. We're glad to talk through ideas, suggest materials, and help shape an assignment around what the Archives has to offer.