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Website Shares Cadets' "Rewarding" Research
Jonathan Ballesteros-Novoa 鈥24 points to a photo of barracks from the late 1800s during his final Fieldwork presentation on May 3. Joshua Farr 鈥23 highlights the early years of VMI based on findings in archives on May 3.鈥擵MI Photos by Kelly Nye.
LEXINGTON, Va., May 6, 2022鈥擳his spring semester, Lt. Col. Pennie Ticen, Ph.D. associate professor in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies at 麻豆女演员 Institute, decided to team with Maj. Jeff Kozak, head of archives & records management, for Fieldwork, a required course for English majors. Fieldwork projects give cadets opportunities to practice good citizenship by engaging in community-based service learning. Cadets鈥 fieldwork experiences may also involve projects for business, professional, or non-profit organizations, and usually take place off-post.
Ticen and Kozak offered the project on-post called, 鈥淐adet Life Over Time.鈥 It involved having the cadets delve into the wealth of VMI archives held at Preston Library, digitizing them, and building webpages. 鈥淔rom my first conversations with Major Kozak, I knew the archives had a wealth of physical materials that hadn鈥檛 yet been prepared for digital access. I have known and worked with him since he was an archivist for the Marshall Museum Library, and I was confident he would be a strong partner for this project,鈥 said Ticen.
Twelve cadets taking the class worked in pairs and covered six eras:
- Early Years: the conversion of the state arsenal into VMI to the beginning of the Civil War. Timeline: late 1830s to late 1850s. Researched by Joshua Farr 鈥23 and Michael Lawrence 鈥23
- Post-Civil War (reconstruction era). Researched by Emma Faust 鈥23 and Jonathan Ballesteros-Novoa 鈥24
- Turn of the Century: Timeline 1885 -1915. Researched by Kolton Dobson 鈥23 and Keenan Orr 鈥23
- World War I and VMI alumnus, Thomas Amory, Class of 1916. Researched by Michael Tempesta 鈥22 and Lancelot Wiemann 鈥22
- Great Depression. Timeline 1929-1936. Researched by Justine Curcio 鈥22 and Francis Ripley 鈥23.
- World War II and VMI alumnus, Richard Niess 鈥44. Researched by James Mills 鈥23 and Thomas Owen 鈥23
Lawrence, who researched the Early Years, said that he had talked last semester with Ticen about what the class would encompass, and he looked forward to it. He was intrigued with the progression of how the state arsenal became VMI. 鈥淭he cadets back then had a harder course load than we do, and because travel was slow back then, many of the cadets stayed here year-round,鈥 stated Lawrence.
Ripley, a double major in history and English, acknowledged, 鈥淚 enjoyed the class because it gave me hands-on experience in archival research. In researching the Great Depression era, I discovered that the depression only mildly affected VMI, which in turn was able to support many in the Lexington area on which the depression had a greater impact.鈥
Wiemann, an English major who covered WWI, confessed, 鈥淚 did not expect this class to be fun or exciting, but after the first two meetings, I found myself thoroughly enjoying and looking forward to the class. While my partner and I were both interested in our research topic of WWI, the process of searching through a physical archive collection for information was a new experience for us. I was surprised with the vast amount of information available in the archives.鈥 Wiemann continued, 鈥淎s a commissioning cadet, I found Thomas Amory鈥檚 story to be especially inspiring. Amory died while selflessly putting the lives of his men before that of his own. As a future officer of Marines, I hope to follow Amory鈥檚 example by putting others before myself.鈥
Wiemann鈥檚 partner, Tempesta, agreed with Wiemann regarding the expanse of archived information. 鈥淲e started with a handful of files, and were able to build a detailed profile on Thomas Amory,鈥 said Tempesta.
Kozak felt the results of the class were rewarding. 鈥淚t is wonderful to be able to publicly display the cadets鈥 work on the VMI website where it can serve as an inspiration to other cadets and the public, to learn more about VMI鈥檚 history. The biggest surprise for me was the variety of records that the cadets used from the archives during their research. I thought they might stick to one kind of record, but they did not hesitate to use many different types of records including correspondence, annual reports, yearbooks, regulations, blueprints, newspapers, diaries and photographs,鈥 said Kozak.
The cadets鈥 research webpages may be viewed at www.vmi.edu/archives/online-exhibits/cadet-fieldwork-and-research.
Marianne Hause
VMI Photos by by Kelly Nye
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