Activism at Princeton
Initial Thoughts
For my project, the basic topic that I want to look into is activism on college campuses, perhaps solely focused on Princeton. I am interested in this topic partially because I am involved in some activism on campus and also because lots of movements have ties or roots in college campuses. As a result, I believe that looking at activism on campus can also be a good way to see beginnings of and the progression of liberal ideas in society.
This article explains the importance and history of student activism which gives more context for my above statements.
Sources Used
Through the university’s finding aid website, I noticed that the university has a lot in the archives on campus activism.
These resources largely fall under these three categories:
- meeting notes and pamphlets of activist clubs on campus
- oral histories with students about their experiences
- official documentation from Princeton administrators commenting on activism
I would also be interested in contacting the special collections librarians to get their advice on other sources I could use as I am sure there are a lot.
Methods
As of now, I have a lot of thoughts on potential options for what my project will look like. I am not sure which of these options will be the most feasible so this is basically just a list of my brainstormed ideas
- Timeline mapping out major activist events and what documents found say about each
- Map of campus with major events described and linked to particular location
- Creating op-ed style articles on sources found in order to mimic styles often used by activist to explain and explore material
I am hoping that viewers of these sources will get a better understanding of the rich history of activism on campus and what individuals protested for and what they were like generally.
In terms of challenges, I expect that finding in-depth sources where people are being authentic will be hard. Additionally, finding ways to integrate all the sources into one final project will be hard.