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| Dr. Robert Wettemann, McWhiney Collection Manager, works with Jennifer
Bartnesky at one of the collection’s computers. |
As part of its mission to advance history education, the Grady McWhiney
Research Foundation offers students of history a unique mix of opportunities
to learn “from the inside.” The Foundation employs a number of student
interns in its operations. Currently, several McMurry University history
majors assist the permanent staff in accessioning new titles to the McWhiney Collection and in scanning documents into a growing electronic database. They also
contribute to the various steps involved in turning a manuscript into a
finished book for the McWhiney Foundation Press.
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| Jay Hardaway takes a break from his arduous labors in the McWhiney Foundation
Press stock room. |
For those who want a direct hands-on approach to history, the Buffalo Gap Historic Village, owned by the Foundation, offers possibilities hard to match elsewhere.
Instead of just reading about history, the Village’s historic buildings
and programs give students the chance to participate in a physical recreation
of it — to work directly in the mechanics of heritage tourism. (Nor is
the work limited to history majors: physics students recently helped restore
the telegraph system in the 1905 railroad depot).
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| Amy Morgan giving instruction in the finer points of frontier life at the
Buffalo Gap Historic Village. |
The Foundation also assists in publication of student work. St. John’s Episcopal School in Abilene wanted to publish a history of the school on the occasion of its 50th
anniversary. Dr. Robert Pace of the McMurry History Department set the
students in his Research and Methods class to writing term papers which,
with minimal editing, became individual signed chapters of the book. The
result was On Eagles’ Wings, a handsomely designed and illustrated volume published by the McWhiney
Press, and the members of Dr. Pace’s class became published authors.
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