Ruth Slagle | Bachelor of Arts in History ~ Asbury University | ruth.slagle8@gmail.com ~ rslagle2@illinois.edu
"Bringing Hidden Treasures into the Light: Discovering Civil War Letters in an Archives Backlog"
       KLA Academic & Special Libraries Sections and SLA KY Chapter Spring 2014 Conference
                                                                    April 10, 2014
                                                                       Presenters:
                                Suzanne Gehring, MSLS, University of Kentucky
              Head of Archives & Special Collections, Kinlaw Library, Asbury University
                                                                      Ruth Slagle
                                    History Major, Class of 2014, Asbury University
                   President, Phi Alpha Theta National Honor Society, Asbury Chapter

In the 1940s Asbury College received a shipment of four boxes of "personal papers" from a retired professor who had previously donated his library of books and his science equipment to the college. These boxes were stored for eventual processing someday. But like many projects, more pressing work kept pushing the task further and further down the list. That "someday" didn't come until 70 years later. Imagine our surprise and delight to discover that packed away for all those years was a treasure of letters, speeches, essays, and historical relics from the 1800s, including a connection to the Booth and the assassination of President Lincoln. ~ Suzanne Gehring
Primary Documents from Sleeper Family Collection used in research for presentation. Used with permission of Asbury University
Image owned by Ruth Slagle
In "Bringing Hidden Treasures into the Light" I talked about the relationships between the Booth and Sleeper families. How life drastically changed for both families after John Wilkes Booth made the fateful decision to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

When conducting my research I soon realized that I could turn what I enjoyed most: researching history and sharing with others into a career path. Archives and Special Collections are key parts of history because they make history tangible while bringing the out human interests perspective. I want to be part of sharing with the present what happened in the past. ~ Ruth Slagle
I created a Prezi for my presentation "Bringing Hidden Treasures into the Light: Discovering Civil War Letters in an Archives Backlog". A few professors at Asbury University were interviewed in relation to the advantages of students using Archives in research. ~ Ruth Slagle
Through doing research the library opens up developing the conversation beyond the walls of the classroom. ~ Dr. Daniel Strait, Professor of English, Asbury University
Primary sources are a finished product in that they are frequently edited or at least in some kind of format, so they can be used for research. When working in the Archives you're doing pre-primary research. Looking at the raw material which will later be formed up into some kind of edited form and displayed for research. So this is really the molecular level almost of historical research. Very interesting in that regard. ~ Dr. Burnam Reynolds, Professor of History, Asbury University
Image Owned by Ruth Slagle
Suzanne Gehring and Ruth Slagle at KLA Academic & Special Libraries Conference