Students freeze time
Class creates 2007 time capsule via survey

Brian Badzmierowski | staff writer

SMC Voice, an organization formed by six students in Professor Jen Purcell’s War and Gender in Britain 1914-1945 class, is working hard to reserve a special spot in the archives for the year 2007.  Aimee Boyle, Melissa Cronin, Pat Hirst, Betsy Sias, Jess Slingerland and Amy Sweetser, the only members in the class, say they believe the luxury of being able to reflect on past generations of St. Michael’s College students is invaluable, and it’s a luxury they are trying to provide for future students. 

A far-reaching voice

Hirst says SMC Voice started out as a research paper on British women from 1914-1945, but it soon turned into a massive undertaking that the students will be perfecting for the rest of the year.  The class read about Mass Observation in Britain during the World War II era, a project that attempted to gather the thoughts and opinions of British citizens during the 20th century.  Purcell wondered what Mass Observation would be like in the United States, and it prompted the small class to take on the task of organizing a Mass Observation at St. Michael’s, Slingerland says.

SMC Voice consists of the six students in Professor Jen Purcell's War and Gender in Britain 1914-1945 class. The five pictured are, from left, Pat Hirst, Betsy Sias, Melissa Cronin, Amy Sweetser and Jess Slingerland. Brian Badzmierowski, photo

“Our project is an adaptation of Mass Observation, using St. Michael’s as the community,” Hirst says.
  
To get inside the minds of the students and faculty, a survey was devised with carefully selected open-ended questions that would appeal to everyone, Sias says.  The class recently set up a table in Alliot Hall where surveys could be picked up and completed at the participant’s leisure.

The survey is anonymous and is three pages long, however, participants must sign their names, not for identification purposes, only to consent to the terms of the study.  It starts with asking basic questions: grade, gender, major, ethnicity and hometown.  The questions that follow look to extract more thoughtful responses from the participant.  Question topics range from popular culture, politics, hobbies and life at St. Michael’s.

“We want to make the students feel like their opinion matters,” Hirst says.

The archives

During the first half of the 20th century, St. Michael's offered a student publication called, Purple and Gold.  The entire publication was student-designed and had to be duplicated without the aid of a copier or a printer.  The title was accentuated with purple and gold construction paper, and most of the literature was written with a typewriter.

Purple and Gold consisted of essays, poems, jokes and any piece of writing a student wished to compose.  In one of the first issues, there was a list of the students’ favorite cultural icons.  Their favorite actor was Spencer Tracy, their favorite radio show host was Bob Hope and their favorite song was “White Christmas.”

According to Elizabeth Scott, the sole archivist at St. Michael’s, there are also audio recordings of alumni reminiscing about their college years and how it compares to today’s student life.  In one recording, two alumni, a father and his son, talk back and forth about their separate experiences as St. Michael’s students.  

The archives are also filled with St. Michael’s paraphernalia dating back to 1904, the year the college was founded.  Photos, press releases, Student Association meeting minutes, newspapers and even Edmundite relics rest in acid-free cardboard boxes in temperature controlled rooms.

The archives are regularly fed official documents from the admissions office and the athletic department, although any one can submit any thing they want at any time, Scott says.  She takes it upon herself to collect the school’s publications, including yearbooks, magazines, brochures and newspapers.  

There is a barrier, however, between the archives and student expression, Scott says.  It is hard to breach the unofficial world of student dorm life and integrate it in the official world of the archives, she says.  SMC Voice is the first attempt Scott has seen in her six years as the school archivist to overcome this barrier and integrate some student life into the archives.

“I think it’s a really cool concept,” she says.

The future of SMC voice

Purcell’s class talked about methods of preserving history in a highly technological age, where electronic elements such as e-mails and digital photos are deleted in seconds, Hirst says. 

During Mass Observation, people kept journals and wrote essays, preserving their culture in writing, Sias says.  The group says it hopes that the surveys handed out will be returned with deep, thoughtful answers, painting a picture of St. Michael’s in 2007 that can be reflected upon for years to come.

According to Sias, it is important to gather the thoughts and opinions of the St. Michael’s community now, to preserve this moment in time authentically. 

“In five years, people’s opinions may change, but we have their answers to these questions now,” she says.

The project is still in its infant stage, but the students plan on working on it all year, even though their class ends this semester. 

“Hopefully we can come out with a new five-question survey once a month,” Hirst says.

The group says it also hopes that SMC Voice makes enough of an impact to inspire underclassmen to sustain the organization for future years, possibly turning it into a club or its own class.