Living History

In 1963, Charles “Chuck” McKinley made history as the Trinity University senior who won Wimbledon without losing a set. Having fallen in the 1961 finals to Rod Laver, McKinley’s triumph two years later cemented the University as an emerging tennis powerhouse.

McKinley’s Wimbledon victory was just one moment that Liza Southwick ’17 discovered as she researched the history of Trinity tennis for SPMT 3314, the History of American Sport. Students in Dominic Morais’ upper-division sport management course were tasked with investigating one particular topic related to Trinity athletics. Using a course revitalization grant through the Mellon Initiative, Morais reengineered the course to create historical narratives about Trinity sport. Class members utilized Omeka software to publish online exhibits that presented their research, thus promoting Trinity’s mission of digital literacy.

Once they identified a topic, students went to Trinity’s special collections and archives, housed on the second floor of Coates Library. They used newspaper clippings, accounts from Trinity public relations, administrative documents, pictures, and more to piece together a history of their chosen subject. Students also interviewed first-person sources such as Trinity alumni, coaches, local business people, friends of the University, and others. In addition to their Omeka exhibits, a final written historical narrative was also submitted documenting their research.

“This course allowed students to get their hands dirty and to understand the process of being a historian,” says Morais, a visiting professor of sport management. “I wanted my students, many of whom are student-athletes, to relate to the subject matter and learn through doing.”

Moreover, Morais says he wanted students to realize that history passes through the lens of the documentarian and that someone must interpret documents and personal narratives in order for an account to be written.

Anne Jumonville Graf, first-year experience librarian and assistant professor, is a liaison to the sport management program and supports students and faculty on research projects. Graf became involved in the course after learning about Morais’ vision to make Trinity sport history tangible to students. Graf led a workshop on Omeka and helped students understand how to present located materials.

“I liked seeing how invested students were in their projects,” Graf says. “They were able to create something for public use, work that can benefit other students or alumni. This course is really what scholarship is supposed to be about, which is sharing your work.”

In addition to tennis, students also learned about Trinity’s rugby past, athletes like Marvin A. Upshaw and Earl Costley, coaches Carla Spenkoch and Steve Mohr, the impact of Title IX on athletes, LeeRoy the mascot, and more. Students had the ability to work individually or to work in groups when their research interests aligned. A required component of the course were reflections that challenged to students to think critically about their completed projects.

Furthermore, students were obligated to complete a minimum of two in-person interviews with appropriate sources. Morais says the course taught students valuable lessons in time management because students were forced to contend with the schedules of their interviewees as well as their own. This was the first time Morais had employed Omeka in a course, having learned about it at a North American Society for Sport History conference.

Meredith Elsik ’72, senior reference assistant at the Library, assisted students in archives and special collections. Elsik says research with physical documents or materials exposes students to an “entire new level of research.”

“The archives tell the history of the University,” Elsik says. “Researching in the library gives students the experience of going and finding the information and lets them see just what type of materials are available.”

Graf echoes Elsik, adding that libraries, as well as being repositories of information, are also places where people can create new information in the form of stories, just like Trinity students did with their historical narrative.

Morais says he is proud of the work students put forward over the course and hopes he inspired them to be more interested in Trinity history and traditions. Especially for Tiger athletes, he says, the course offered a more nuanced perspective on their own sport and their place in the arch of Trinity sport history.

To view exhibits from the SPMT 3314 course, visit spmt3314.omeka.net.