Community-Based Research and the Historian’s Craft: The Hiram Wilson Letters Project

Abstract

 

This paper discusses a community-based research project that paired undergraduate History students with local community partners in an exploration of the antislavery movement in Canada and the problem of its erasure from local historical memory. The article outlines the project’s background and method, outlines the wide-ranging importance of the community classroom it helped to create, and reflects on the importance of undergraduate research in the setting of a liberal arts university as a bridge between classroom and community.