This study explores how archival research enhances student engagement and writing in undergraduate courses. Interviews with writing instructors reveal that hands-on work with archival materials—especially local and diversity-focused collections—deepens curiosity, strengthens research skills, and enables students to produce meaningful, socially relevant original work, even within constrained course structures.

My thesis uncovers the forgotten history of the US Children’s Bureau, once a global leader in children’s rights. Through archival research, it traces postwar innovation, a 1960s expansion inspired by civil rights, and the bureau’s dismantling under Nixon. The work highlights today’s parallels and the need to restore moral leadership for children.

The speaker revisits the 1912 Marconi insider-trading scandal, showing how unfounded allegations spread through fringe media triggered national uproar and revealed elite anxieties about power, technology, and public discourse. Their archival research argues that the real scandal was elites losing control of information—an issue echoed today in social media, misinformation, and democratic instability.