Learning through the archives: Cultivating the Josiah E. DuBois Collection

Rebecca Charmel

College: College of Liberal Arts

Major: BA.HISTORY

Faculty Research Mentor: Goldberg, Adara, Dezjot, Kyra

Abstract:

Archives are essential tools for understanding the past. Archivists and historians maintain, sort, and build archives. In universities, students provide critical support in helping to preserve and provide open access to important resources. The Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University houses the Josiah E. DuBois collection, an archive of New Jersey lawyer Josiah DuBois’ personal documents and notes during his time on the War Refugee Board and as an American prosecutor on the I.G. Farben trial after the war. In this presentation, I will discuss my current work on the DuBois collection.Although the DuBois collection is a valuable tool for historians, the collection is only partially digitized, making it less accessible and therefore underutilized. This lack of access creates barriers for students, educators, and scholars. This project seeks to develop a publicly available digital collection that expands educational access to primary source materials. Utilizing CollectionBuilder, this research will explore the process of digitizing archival content to create a CollectionBuilder website for the public to view, indefinitely. The DuBois collection provides unprecedented access to a piece of United States and global history during World War II, one not often spoken about in history books. In this presentation, I hope to bring some aspects of DuBois’s life into the public view to provide those around the world access to his collection, and encourage people to visit the HRC to expand their knowledge on this piece of New Jersey history.