On Thursday, October 27th, students in Dr. Engl's Hands-On History class had the opportunity to visit the archives at Lafayette College's Skillman Library and the Sigal Museum.
At Lafayette, archivist Thomas Lannon showed students a sampling of different documents, rare books, and artifacts from the college's diverse collection including one of the country's first cookbooks, a Lafayette College student's essays, and a comic book about Martin Luther King's March on Washington. Students even had the chance to hold Lafayette's sword!
At the Sigal Museum, students requested documents in advance that were either related to their own research projects or something else they were interested in at the Jane S. Moyer Library. We were also given a look inside the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society Archives filled with maps of the area and other materials. After we finished at the library, we had a little bit of time to explore the exhibits at the Sigal Museum which includes the Easton Treaty signed by British colonists and the chiefs of thirteen Native American nations near the end of the French & Indian War. Overall, the field trip was a great success and provided students with great experience of doing archival research!