A small group of curious faculty and students gathered in Boston University’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center last night to view and touch documents from some of history’s “Radicals, Revolutionaries and Reformers.”
With gloved hands, 20 students and faculty sifted through manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs and artifacts displayed across six tables in the fifth floor of Mugar Memorial Library.
“It’s a treasure chest too few of us take advantage of,” seminar speaker and international relations professor Andrew Bacevich said in an interview.
Students said they were particularly interested in a display of pamphlets advertising teach-ins, rallies and strikes from BU’s history.
“Everything is related, especially the BU stuff that I didn’t know would be here,” College of Arts and Sciences freshman Crystal Wilcox said. “I am interested in the things I don’t know about and never heard of.”
The writings of well-known historical figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Florence Nightingale, appeared on the tables, as well as unfamiliar stories even Bacevich said he had never heard. One woman’s work on display, Mary Benson, struck Bacevich in particular, leading him to conclude his speech with, “Behind every famous guy, there are probably 100 Mary Bensons.”
CAS freshman Ethan Rubin said he has attended every seminar HGARC has offered since the beginning of the school year.
“The fact that you get to handle actual handwritten letters, and that this is actual history as opposed to just hearing it in class, is interesting,” he said.
HGARC’s overall mission is collecting, preserving and making primary sources available to researchers, Bacevich said.
“We want to try to give BU students, more specifically BU undergraduates, an appreciation for a really vast hold of history and suggest that these holdings can enrich the education these students get,” he said.
CAS freshman Kenryo Mizutani said he plans on relaying the information to a student-run newspaper in Germany.
“It sounds like it would be something my [newspaper] co-president would be interested in” he said.
HGARC Manuscripts Assistant Director Ryan Hendrickson said he hopes to enlighten students, but did not expect an overwhelming crowd. Approximately 16 students attended the event.
“Even if it’s a small faction of students, it’s our goal to reach the ones who like to experience it firsthand,” he said.
“Radicals and reformers” are not necessarily politicians, and sometimes are not who the public would expect, Bacevich said.
“Most of us tend to immediately think in terms of politics, but the really important changes come from outside, and these eventually infiltrate into the political world,” he said. “It’s more of the world of arts, ideas and technology.”