Archives in Literature: Teaching With the Example of Author Ransom Riggs

Ransom Riggs, the author of the popular book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, built his original novel around orphaned images he found in flea markets and borrowed from other "collectors".  I have written in the past about the value of orphan photos to strike imagination. Riggs' work is a prime example of what one can do with these unique and curious materials. This past summer, I took a class on young adult and children's literature. The course was part of my path to achieving certification as a library media specialist. My final class paper focused on Ransom Riggs' unusual novel and the ways a teacher / librarian can use it to teach about information sources.

Though I have worked as a librarian and archivist for twenty years, my transition to school librarianship allows me the opportunity to share ideas about information with young people and I am very excited about it. An archivist is an unusual person to find in a high school library, but I see plenty of opportunity to inject a broad view of information into my students' learning opportunities.

My joy when discovering the book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children relates to the book's melding of literature and archival sources. This book will serve as a standard for me to explain how archives and literature serve as compatible and balancing information sources. Information specialists exploring a wholistic view of information can use such diverse sources to explain how humans record, think about, and invent their world. The worlds of archivists, librarians, and museum professionals should not be separate and this is especially relevant for the library media specialist. (In fact, Ransom Riggs' book pivots on characters in a local museum. This can be used to the information educator's advantage, as well.)

My class paper argued that Ransom Riggs' novel serves as a breakthrough in the genre of fiction, allowing us to question the reality we know. Riggs' work focuses on imagery that on the surface is inexplicable when considered, as presented, without context. Riggs uses the unusual to  build a storythat offers us an alternate reality. The photographs in the book include subjects such as a boy covered in bees, a girl in a glass bottle, one child with two reflections, a girl hovering about the ground...when considered independently, one can conjecture about the reality of each photo's creation - double exposures, children working at unusual tasks (bee keeping?) and more can logically explain situations. Yet, when Riggs takes all of his images and puts them together, he molds a world of fantasy that we can easily get sucked into.

What is real? What is visually altered? Is any of what Riggs tells us truth? (He does base his story during World War II and one of the main characters is escaping from the Holocaust as a Jewish boy.) How can we adequately judge real from not-real?

As an educator, Riggs combination of archives and fiction gives me an opportunity to explore these ideas in a novel way with my students. And this week, as in last week's post about Local Archives in the Classroom: Supporting the Common Core, I am presenting some questions related to Riggs' book that can support the CCSS. I hope that archivists get a sense of how the materials in their care can support both fiction writing and teaching. Below is the handout I created for my class. I am seeking a proper venue to publish my paper on The Breakthrough of Ransom Riggs: Orphan Photographs as Illustration, as it is too academic for this media forum. Yet, I think that the handout may be useful to some of my blog readers, so I offer it here.

[My esteemed colleagues at the Library as Incubator Project have encouraged me to address Riggs' example in using primary sources to artistically influence his writing. Stay tuned for that posting, coming soon, over on their site. Thanks ladies!]
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Teaching Critical Literacy with Ransom Riggs’ Orphan Photographs - Handout

What are “orphan images”? According to the Society of American Archivists,“‘Orphan works’ is a term used to describe the situation in which the owner of a copyrighted work cannot be identified and located by someone who wishes to make use of the work in a manner that requires permission of the copyright owner” (SAA, 2009). Images found at flea markets, like those that are used by Ransom Riggs are usually “orphaned.” They have no provenance and little, if any, identifying information.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children can be a useful tool for helping to teach critical literacy. Orphan images can be used on their own for close reading exercises or can be considered with the text to discuss the nature of information. The following is a list of some questions that can be considered when using Riggs’ work to align with English Language Arts Anchor Literacy standards of CCSS (Common Core State Standards Initiative).

·         Consider the title Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. What does the title tell us about the content of the book? How do the book’s photographs emphasize the tone first set by the title?
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

·         Ransom Riggs uses his photographs to tell a rather “creepy” story. Examine two of the images from the book without their accompanying text. What other stories can you create to explain what is happening in the images?
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6 Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

·         How do the images in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children add to the sense of the fantasy, horror, adventure, mystery and history in the story?
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words

·         How can we tell if the images in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children are “real”? (Hint: Consider this question beyond the images themselves. Examine the text of the whole book for information and research additional sources to back up your conclusions.)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8 Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

·         Compare how images are used in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children versus The Emigrants [Sebold, 1992].  Discuss how the use of images is similar and how it is different. Incorporate a discussion of how both texts use the Holocaust as a backbone to their stories.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9 Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Inspiring the Arts in a High School Library

I am pleased to introduce my first piece about my work as a high school librarian that was not written for the ArchivesInfo blog! Special thanks to the Library as Incubator project folks for taking interest in our project in the Goffstown High School Information Center. Our project shows how a cultural heritage institution can help educators make connections to boost student understanding. Working together collaboratively, such institutions can influence multiple communities and have great impact on individual lives. From the Goffstown students whose book art work was featured, to the person who made the Gordon Nash Library video, to those students whose work in the U.K. will serve to inspire our students here in the States...the connections we have made have instilled a greater sense of self-esteem, pride, purpose, and connectedness.

See Inspiring the Arts in a High School Library on the Library as Incubator blog 

Pinterest Revisited: Cultural Heritage Professionals Strutting Their Stuff

What does an archivist do aims to educate
about primary sources and the field of
archives management.

Since I first wrote about Pinterest over a year ago, the use of this unique tool has exploded in the cultural heritage field.  Pinterest is being used all of the ways that I suggested it might be useful: For collection sharing and collaboration; discovering the interests of your audience; sharing expertise; and generating dialogue. Pinterest has quickly become a favorite tool on social media and is being used in very innovative ways to promote cultural heritage and the businesses associated with it.

After my initial post, I wrote another one on "The Pinterest Experiment" and created the board "What does an archivist do?" A collaborative board with over 450 followers, the board has generated a lot of interest and discussion over the past year as I've tried to collaborate to "pin" information about my profession. My goal was to create a visually engaging introduction to the diverse field of archives. It was one of the first boards to try to find a way to share our profession using this new tool. I am now joined by many in the cultural heritage fields creating unique boards. This post highlights a few Pinterest efforts that I have found outstanding.

Rebecca Price of Chick History has recently created the board "The Historic Women of #STEM." It celebrates March as Women's History Month by highlighting a unique population. Her board taps into the month's theme, but also brings together a useful collection of biographies. For my own use, this collection will be a great resource for education.  I would love to see more boards like this that  highlight an aspect of information that can be used by educators.

Camille Breeze of Museum Textile Services has a fascinating collection of boards that reflect the field of textile conversation. One can learn about the history of textiles through subject focused boards that concentrate on such areas as "Historic Asian Textiles" or the "Historic Embroidery." Camille also includes a board dedicated to her company, allowing us to better appreciate her role in caring for this textile history.

The Museum of the White Mountains is a new institution that opened last month at Plymouth State University. Much to my delight, the museum has already begun using Pinterest to highlight its mission to preserve and promote the history, culture and environmental legacy of the White Mountain region. The set up of their board is thoughtful, providing insight into the "sense of place" offered by this unique, special place located in my state.

From the Library as Incubator
board, "Library Innovation"

The New England Museum Association has a rich collection of boards that highlights its members. Of special interest is their YEPs Resources board that aims to provide support to young and emerging museum professionals. The board offers advice for getting a job and growing a reputation in the field. It reflects the growing potential social media offers for thoughtful resources that can be applied to mentoring.

Always on the cutting edge of the library world, the Library as Incubator Project offers a collaborative board of library innovation. Fun, informative and diverse, the board brings together the best of the libraries. More of us should focus on the FUN and use new visual tools such as Pinterest to show how information is not only educational, but also entertaining and cutting edge.

This is just the tip of the iceberg! What boards do you like best? Please share your own comments and favorites.