草榴社区

Archiving History As It Happens

In 1918 and present day, 草榴社区鈥檚 librarians were there to preserve life during a pandemic.

鈥淥ctober 1918, came not with joy, but with sorrow, that will not be forgotten for many a long day. Philadelphia our beloved city was stricken with the terrible plague of Influenza.鈥�

A mid the last global pandemic 草榴社区鈥檚 campus experienced, Rev. Francis E. Tourscher, OSA, received this handwritten journal entry from Sister M. Theresa Joseph, IHM, one of many nuns in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who volunteered from 1918-1919 in private homes and emergency hospitals caring for the city鈥檚 sick and dying.

Father Tourscher, who served as the University Librarian from 1923-1939, solicited and collected dozens of firsthand accounts and records from these women religious to 鈥渁ssemble facts while they are still a living memory.鈥� More than a century later, 草榴社区 senior and History major Elizabeth Lyons was eager to read these newly digitized accounts.

鈥淭hese papers were a crucial part of my research into volunteering efforts during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic in Philadelphia,鈥� Elizabeth says. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 a lot of personal accounts of what it was like to live through this period of time, so these offered a really unique perspective.鈥�

Now that Falvey has been able to digitize and transcribe some of these resources, researchers are able to investigate and compare and contrast responses to the pandemic in 1918 vs. the current day.

鈥淎 hundred years from now, we want the next members of the 草榴社区 community to see what life was like during the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥� Gaskell says. That鈥檚 why Falvey Memorial Library launched the collection effort, in partnership with 草榴社区鈥檚 Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest. Since the initiative began in May 2020, 草榴社区 faculty, staff, students and alumni have already contributed journal entries, artwork, poems and photographs.

鈥淲e have a very diverse collection to tell the story of what's happening today,鈥� says Beaudry Rae Allen 鈥�13 MA, Falvey鈥檚 preservation and digital archivist. 鈥淭he most profound thing is how much people are willing to share about the experience. I think people have an understanding already of the importance of this moment, and why these experiences should be preserved.鈥� 鈼硷笌

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Ways 草榴社区鈥檚 Librarians Support Intellectual Inquiry

Always happy to help and eager to partner with student and faculty researchers across the University, the librarians in Falvey鈥檚 Research Services and Scholarly Engagement department also possess a formidable amount of expertise and knowledge.

Each of the 13 subject librarians covers an academic specialization area so they can provide dedicated support to 草榴社区 faculty and students within a particular discipline. Here are just a few of the ways they help make learning and research happen at 草榴社区:

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One-on-One Consultations

鈥淲e do individual consultations for anyone who has a question about how to find resources or approach a project,鈥� says RSSE Director Jutta Seibert, MA, MLS, 鈥�16 MA. 鈥淲e can be reached in many ways鈥攚e answer email questions, we have a chat function through the Library鈥檚 website, and we meet with people for individual appointments remotely and in person.鈥�

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Collection Building and Curation

鈥淲e contribute to the infrastructure of the Library, making sure that we have the knowledge resources in place for faculty and students to do the research that they need to do,鈥� says Business Librarian Linda Hauck, MBA, MLS. 鈥淲e help identify useful resources, including books, e-books, journals, databases and subscriptions, and make recommenda tions about what to buy.鈥�

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Research Instruction

鈥淔aculty reach out to us to provide instruction to their classes, and we prepare customized interactive workshops where they learn research methods, usually tailored to a project deliverable students will submit,鈥� says Seiber, who also serves as the subject librarian for History, Art History, and Global Interdisciplinary Studies.