Our goal is to develop community and build a template for collaboration that you can use in your own work.

The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State is the largest labor archive in North America and the largest archival repository of political and community records in the Detroit metropolitan area, encompassing nearly 75,000 linear feet of archival collections and millions of AV assets. In recent years, the archives have embraced a public-facing model, hiring a permanent full-time Outreach Archivist and developing a popular program for archival instruction. To date, the program has served hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, community members, and high school students.

The archives’ mission to serve the community pairs with Wayne State University’s College of Education’s urban mission and commitment to diversity. The college has practiced a field-based approach to teacher training since its inception in 1881 and created deep roots in Detroit area schools through generations of educators. The College of Education lives its mission, which states “...to prepare professionals who learn in the classroom and in the community, believe that education is the means by which human circumstances can be improved…”. Specifically, the Division of Teacher Education in the College of Education serves a diverse group of students and teachers creating school experiences that are academically rigorous, personally meaningful, and sustain a vibrant democracy.

Over the years, Wayne State archivists and Faculty in the College of Education have worked with hundreds of educators to bring place-based primary sources to students. We have seen that Detroit kids get excited learning about the places and people they recognize. Hearing directly from the past helps them develop amazing questions about their present and their future.

We hope you will explore this site and use it in your own way.

Lessons are designed to develop historical thinking skills so students can consider context and the interplay between perspectives. That said, we know the best teachers are also good learners! We hope you will join our community and offer feedback or suggestions as you try out some of the ideas presented. We expect many of these lessons to evolve over time.