Toolkit Using Historical Collections
Our Germantown Stories Booklet
Faculty Research Projects
Get Involved
For these opportunities (e.g., paid research assistants) we typically connect with students through faculty in appropriate programs. The Lenfest Center also offers opportunities for students through co-ops, classes, and special projects. Or contact the Lenfest Center at mrc337@drexel.edu if you are interested in being considered for future opportunities.
Project Examples
Brandywine Workshop and Archives
Brandywine Workshop and Archives / Artura.org
2021 - present
Drexel faculty, staff, and students are involved in an ongoing collaboration with BWA -- a diversity-driven nonprofit that produces and shares art -- and its project Artura.org, an online database/platform of ethnically diverse contemporary prints and related resources. Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2021-23), Drexel contributed to help ensure continuity of strong leadership at BWA, including Artura operations; expand and bring Artura.org to scale through content and technical development; and assess and plan for sustainability of Artura.org through professional business planning and modeling.
Drexel Collaborators: Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; School of Education
Using Historical Collections for Civic Engagement and Innovative Teaching & Learning
Colonial Academic Alliance Innovate/Collaborate Grant Project, 2020 - 22
Drexel and the University of Delaware explored how historical collections can be used for civic engagement, and how innovative teaching and learning can be part of such initiatives -- sharing project examples in a Toolkit for Using Historical Collections [PDF]. The Toolkit highlights findings from the collaborative grant project, emphasizing student involvement.
Drexel Collaborators: Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; College of Arts and Sciences; College of Nursing and Health Professions
Germantown community members with African breast plate (Photo: Julie Rainbow)
The Future of Historic Sites
Partnership with Wyck Historic House, Garden & Farm
Drexel Areas of Research Excellence (DARE) Grant Project, 2018/19 - 21
How can a historic site be meaningful to its community? This interdisciplinary project explored The Future of Historic Sites: Increased Access, Engaged Communities, Sustainability and Archives Without Walls. It was built on the foundation of the Lenfest Center’s inaugural Faculty Fellowship program (2018-19), where we began the collaboration with Wyck as a model/partner site. Wyck has been a house museum since the 1970s, but the Germantown history told there has not historically reflected the diversity of the neighborhood, then and now. Wyck believes its resources belong to everyone and is working to ensure this is reflected in practice. The project resulted in a series of community workshops (with nine Wyck Community Fellows) and five interpretive themes Wyck is using to connect with community; two new related courses at Drexel; a pilot community storytelling project - Our Germantown Stories booklet [PDF] and online exhibition; and additional grants for Wyck.
Drexel Collaborators: Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; College of Arts and Sciences; College of Computing & Informatics; School of Education