As a tree grows, it puts down roots, not only for nourishment but also to anchor it. When two individual trees grow so close to each other that they become organically merged, a phenomenon called inosculation, the individual trees become stronger. This session presents a digital project developed when a local historical society and a university history professor planted saplings of opportunity next to each other, encouraging strong roots to form from the partnership. By purposefully joining the two entities together, new opportunities for outreach, education, and community partnerships grew. After grafting on the strengths of a university archivist and librarian, the resulting project allowed primary documents held by the historical society to find new life and use in an online digital exhibit curated by students in HIST 391.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify potential project partnerships
- Create opportunities for High-Impact Practices (HIPs), skill-building, and improving career-readiness for students.
- Assess and Evaluate the outcomes of the partnerships / projects for their institution and students as well as the community partner.
