by Sarah Magill Mueller
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Rosser's students have done some fascinating research. One student tracked the history of the Jefferson headstone now residing on the Francis Quadrangle; another examined the lives of the university presidents' wives and their roles in promoting the University. Still another devised an ingenious way for showing how admission policies at MU have changed over the years: he obtained records of admissions standards from the archive, then evaluated his classmates' academic credentials according to the bygone rules. One by one, students failed to meet the grade and were eliminated. By the end of the exercise, he discovered that only three students would have gained admission.

Rosser credits the cooperation between the ELPA program and the archival support staffs for making such projects possible. "I'm grateful that they are so willing to engage our students," she says, praising the way their offices again and again took extra steps to make sure the first-time researchers found what they needed. "The students are so appreciative of their help."

John Konzal, a "primary source for primary sources," as one young researcher put it, is a key part of this research support system. Konzal is a manuscript specialist at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection. He says the collection's staff has worked hard to develop a more "student-friendly" approach.

One key to making this happen, Konzal says, has been the staff's ability to balance the rules and regulations needed to preserve and protect historical artifacts against students' need for openness and flexibility. Most challenging, however, is just getting students in the door -- particularly in this age of instant Internet research.

"We try to get as many people in here as we can to expose them," he says. "Maybe one or two we hope will come back to do more work." He concedes that only eight to 10 classes make research at the manuscript collection a part of their coursework each year. He'd like to see more. "Most people, even at the college level, don't have a concept of primary sources," he says.

And they should, he adds, if only to acquaint themselves with a fascinating, eclectic mix of material. The archives hold documents chronicling the lives, the work, the loves, the dreams, and the oddities of a myriad of people past. There are, for example, letters from veterans describing their experiences as fighter pilots, field hospital nurses, front line medics, POWs, and concentration camp victims. There are documents from wrecked steamboats that detail the circumstances of their catastrophes. And there are long paper trails that illuminate the lives of eminent Missourians ranging from football coach Don Faurot to Leena G. Greenlaw, a former MU journalism librarian who moonlighted as a Vietnam-era peace activist.

Konzal is passionate about the importance of the collection. "The value of primary sources is that they give the most accurate picture of what really happened -- short of going back in time. The biggest challenge in the future is how we can get more people in here and use the material," Konzal says. "And, of course, taking care of it and preserving it for future generations."