Preserving a Part of Local History
Onondaga Community College students sit in the auditorium of the Onondaga Historical Association, eagerly awaiting the day’s itinerary.
“The project you’ll be doing today is taking boxes of library materials, unboxing them, looking at what they are, and then categorizing them by subject,” says Tom Hunter, the association’s assistant director and curator of collections. “We’ll then take that material and incorporate it into our main library.”
Dr. Rick McLain, associate professor of history, accompanies the students on their endeavor. It’s all part of a service-learning opportunity that became available to Onondaga students in Spring 2009. Those opportunities continued through the summer as Professor Tara Ross and 12 of her History 107 students participated in the move of the Syracuse China items to the association. It 's an experience taking students out of the classroom and immersing them in the fabrics of their own local history.
“Students gain insight into the workings of institutions dedicated to historical preservation, which can helps some choose to follow history as their academic focus,” Dr. McLain says. “One student among the twenty five who volunteered last semester wrote about how amazed she was at the fact many products were once made locally.”
Before the students can start their assignment, they first must understand the role and function of the association in the local community.
“We’re the general history museum for Onondaga County,” Hunter continues. “The age of our organization is about 150 years old. Founded in 1862 and incorporated by an active state legislature in 1863. There are six full floors in the building with exhibits and a research center.”
The students nod their heads and focus on the task ahead. Hunter leads them out of the auditorium, into an elevator, and onto the second floor.
They’ll need a tour of the association’s museum before getting to work. Syracuse China, Crossroads of Central New York, and A History of Syracuse Brewing are just a few of the museum’s featured exhibits that the students explore.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and didn’t even know this was down here,” says Heather Temple, a human services major. “The exhibit on toys from the 60s and 70s was really interesting. I’ll probably write my paper on that.”
The group makes it way to the third floor, where it’ll spend the rest of the day rummaging through relics and documents. Stacks of boxes lay strewn across the floor and against the wall. Marked metal frames designate where certain books should be placed – national, photography, military, art, and more.
“I take a class with Dr. McLain, and he told us he would be holding this opportunity today. It’s good to be able to help out the community,” says first-year student Gina Scarsciotti. “It saves them a lot of time, I’m sure.”
Hunter thanks the amateur historians and leaves them to their work. They slip on pairs of latex gloves, grab bristled brushes, and dig into the first box of materials. Atlases, manuals, handbooks, and directories are some of the publications they examine.
“I decided to do this to get more knowledge of history. It gives me a chance to learn and become engaged,” says Anthony Falco, human services major and president of the College’s History Club. “Syracuse is great place, and there’s a lot of history here.”
The group continues to dust, flip, and file document after document. Some have been cleaned by previous volunteers from the College. They must handle each with care, as some can tear and fade with age.
“This book here is about New York state. It looks like it has leather binding,” Heather says. “When I open it, it cracks. I don’t want to open it too much because I don’t want to ruin history.”
Between moments of silence and chatter, the students pipe up when they discover a particularly interesting text. They’re finding more than just maps and photographs in these boxes.
“This one I’m holding here looks like some sort of phonebook,” Anthony says. “Some of these books are pretty old.”
Nearly an hour passes. The students look back on what they’ve discovered and speculate what’s to come.
“Most of the books we’ve found so far have been national ones,” Heather says. “But this is only the first box we’ve gone through. So we’re still plugging away – we’ve got a good 50 boxes at least here.”
Each row of the metal book frame slowly becomes filled. Stacks of boxes transform into stacks of books. The Onondaga Historical Association’s collection grows larger and more organized with each passing minute.
The Onondaga students continue their work well into the day, doing their part to preserve a piece of our local history.
Interested in becoming a part of this service-learning opportunity or the History Club, which has taken trips to Washington, Boston, Canada, and Guatemala? Contact Dr. Rick McLain at (315) 498-2014 or mclainr@sunyocc.edu.
