Research Guides: Special Collections Instruction: Teaching and Learning with Digital Collections

Using Digital Collections in Instruction

The digital collections of the University Libraries reflect the research areas of the University over more than a century and the complex history of the university, Fayetteville, and Arkansas. Although only offering an small and enticing glimpse of the wealth of materials available in Special Collection, the digital collections offer many opportunities for student learning. Digital collections can be used to plan instruction sessions or class projects, and librarians and archivists are available to guide use of the digitized materials, including facilitating further expression of resources not yet available digitally.

Digital Collections comprehensive and large bodies of material from university programs such as the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Services bulletins and circulars. The important student publications such as the Arkansas Traveler newspapers, the Razorback Yearbooks, and the Black Americans for Democracy newsletters provide insights into the student experience and the work of student journalist and groups over decades. Dedicated digital collections share important examples from the papers of significant Arkansans including African American composer Florence B. Price and US Senator and former university president J. William Fulbright. Subjects of enduring relevance preserved in Special Collections such as the lng struggle for Civil Rights and ecology and environmentalism in the Natural State are also explored through digital collections, including "Land of (Un)Equal Opportunity and the 40-50-100 collection about the history of the Buffalo National River.

Popular Digital Collections for Instruction

40-50-100- Milestones in Arkansas's Environmental History
This digital collection of 38 items includes digitized materials from the Ozark Society, Dr. Neil Compton, and other environmental collections held by the University of Arkansas Special Collections.
Southland College Digital Collection
This digital collection documents the lives of students and teachers and Southland College from 1876-1925.
Land of (Un)Equal Opportunity: Documenting the Civil Rights Struggle in Arkansas
Documents and images from the UA Libraries Special Collections Department, as well as other institutions around the state
Florence Price
A selection of photographs, personal materials, and manuscripts from the pioneering African American woman composer born in Little Rock.
Arkansas Traveler Newspaper
The Arkansas Traveler is the student newspaper at the U of A. The digital collection starts with the earliest editions in 1907. It is particularly useful for researching events or milestones in U of A history.
BAD Times digital collection
Includes twenty issues of newspapers published between 1971 and 1977 by the Black Americans for Democracy, a student organization founded at the University of Arkansas in the late 1960s.