UAH in London

This digital exhibit is the culmination of HON 399 Keep Calm and Research On, an Honors College Spring Break study abroad course to London in Spring 2024. With the goal of creating a digital project around a narrow research topic related to British history and culture, each HON 399 student chose a topic of interest to them and conducted archival research at libraries, archives, and museums of their choice in and around London. Repositories they visited included the British Library, the British Museum, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Library and Archives, and Oxford University's Bodleian Library. The students then used their research to create digital projects, which include images of their chosen primary sources and a descriptive essay. Each student also produced a research poster.

Co-taught by the M. Louis Salmon Library's Head of Archives and Special Collections Reagan Grimsley and Digital Archivist Charlie Gibbons, the course itself explored the culture of the United Kingdom through libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) and offered an introduction to research and digital scholarship skills. Each student examined the overall history and culture of the UK in stateside class meetings before embarking on the journey to London. Students investigated general trends in the development of LAMs in the UK and learned how to conduct research in some of the United Kingdom’s finest archives, libraries, and museums. As the class examined the LAM landscape, students learned about topics including aerospace history, architecture, medieval manuscripts, the lives of prominent British authors, the history of London, the history of the book, and the history of science. The course was a mixture of campus lecture and discussion with a study abroad trip to London, England during Spring Break, which departed on Friday March 8, 2024 and returned on Saturday, March 16, 2024.