WSRA

Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project

Beth Janes

      My work study position for this past academic year was working with Dr. Rosenthal as a Work Study Research Assistant. Through the semester I worked in collections management in an archive, I presented historical information to the general public, developed projects in the digital humanities, and attended community events. The specific projects I worked on over both semesters were digitizing issues of the Blue Ridge Lambda Press, a regional gay newspaper from the 1980s, up through its run in 1985; researching the impact of the AIDS crisis on the LGBTQ population of Roanoke; and editing oral histories to be used in a digital exhibit on the 1980s in Roanoke.

     The process of digitizing the Blue Ridge Lambda Press took place at the Virginia Room, which is located at the main branch of the Roanoke Public Library in Downtown Roanoke. Dr. Rosenthal and I would go once a week for three hours when I would scan archived issues onto a flash drive to be processed and uploaded onto Shared Shelf, a digital archival platform. When necessary, I would also use this time to read through primary documents to find information for ongoing projects. This process is an ongoing task for the research assistant on the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project.

     The projects that were specific to me and my time as research assistant were working with oral histories and researching the history of AIDS in the Roanoke Valley. In working with the oral histories, my job was to edit untouched recordings from the oral history of an anonymous sex worker to protect the privacy of related parties as well as identifying and editing shorter excerpts for use in digital exhibits. My biggest project of the year was the creation of two informational pamphlets on the history of AIDS in Roanoke to be distributed to the public. The first pamphlet was a general overview of AIDS organizations in Roanoke, with a brief history of the disease’s presence in the Valley. The second pamphlet was more research intensive and was specific to the years 1983-1989. I created a timeline that followed the progression of individual AIDS cases, activism, and major news stories of the decade. This pamphlet was published and distributed at Roanoke’s Pride in the Park Festival in April.

     I enjoyed the work I did this semester and feel as though the work strengthened my skills as a public historian and equipped me with more practical and technical skills that are necessary but seldom publicized. Compiling and managing a digital archive was definitely a learning curve for me. I had only ever had experience with physically-filed collections (which the History Project has) and the amount of work that goes into scanning, formatting, and properly uploading and labeling was much more than I would have originally guessed. It was tedious at times, but increasing direct accessibility to history through archive and museum collections is an integral part of my personal philosophy and is also part of the mission of the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project. Additionally, I became familiar with Shared Shelf, which is a fairly common digital archiving service. I am sure these skills will be useful in later academic and professional endeavors. The work I did with the oral histories was by far my favorite aspect of my tenure as a research assistant. Besides getting to listen to the stories of LGBTQ individuals from Southwest Virginia, I learned skills I had never imagined needing in the field of history. I learned how to use audio editing software to edit oral histories for clarity and privacy; I learned how to extract clips for use elsewhere; and I learned to adjust technical aspects of the recording such as speed and volume. My first oral history experience was with an oral history from a former sex worker in Roanoke. Their recording required quite a few redactions of names, places, and events per Roanoke College’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). I had never interacted with the IRB before, and had only thought about it in the context of the social sciences.

     This position as a research assistant has given me a much broader scope for looking at the way history, and specifically public history, is done. Going in, I knew very generally what each component of the position was (scanning, oral histories, education) but had never done any of them myself start to finish. Coming out of this year I feel as though I can speak with more authority on what within the field of history I like to do, why those individual aspects are important to the field as a whole, and what labor goes into each aspect.

Christa Waterwiese, a freshman at Roanoke College, is one of the students under the work study research assistant program. In the program, students are hired and paid to work alongside a professor on a research project. There is a variety of research projects spread across all the academic departments on campus.

Christa works in the English department with Dr. Kuchar. The two research Eastern European Literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. Christa researches novels and authors included in Dr. Kuchar’s publications and classes. She also occasionally does some Russian translations.

Christa has always been interested in research.

“It is something I do in my free time anyway, so when there was an opportunity to research a topic I love and gain the experience of working a professor I jumped at the chance!”

Christa loves doing research with a professor.

“Dr. Kuchar has taught me so much about research; the best tools, the best way to conduct it, etc. She has impacted the way I look at things and the way I do work for my classes.”

One of the most challenging aspects of Christa’s research so far was during the process of translating a story.

“Dr. Kuchar was asked to translate a story from Ukrainian into English for a student of one of her associates in the Ukraine. So while Dr. Kuchar dictated a rough translation I typed the English. What made it so fun was the story made absolutely no sense to us and we were really struggling to understand what was going on. We need to take a lot of laugh breaks!”

Christa recommends students get involved in research.

“You get the opportunity to become friends with one of the professors, you learn valuable skills about research you can apply to your classes and your future careers, and it looks great on resumes for any job or graduate school program!”

Kevin Oakey is a senior at Roanoke College participating in the work study research assistant program. In the program, students are hired and paid to work alongside a professor on a research project. A variety of research projects are spread across all the academic departments on campus.

Kevin first became interested in the work study program while searching for an on campus job. After looking into the program he decided it would be an excellent activity for a resume and applied for a position. He now works in the Economics department with Dr. Kassens. The two are conducting research for an economic textbook that relates criminal activity to economics.

Kevin has enjoyed working with Dr. Kassens so far.

“Professor Kassens is a fantastic mentor and really helps steer me in the right direction with research methods and materials. I really enjoy learning about two topics that intrigue me.”

Kevin’s advice to anyone considering research is to understand the importance of time management.

“You don’t want research to completely overtake your schoolwork but you do want to be able to set a time to get usable and thorough research.”

Jennifer Barthol, a sophomore at Roanoke College, is one of the students under the work study research assistant program. In the program, students are hired and paid to work alongside a professor on a research project. A variety of research projects are spread across all the academic departments on campus. Jennifer works under the Health and Human Performance department with Dr. Elizabeth Holbrook. Jennifer first became interested in the project after being contacted by Dr. Holbrook. After discussing some of her interests and goals, Jennifer decided to work on the project.

Jennifer’s research focuses on surveys given to local elementary school students and their parents about healthy eating and physical activity habits as a part of Dr. Holbrook’s Roanoke Valley Community Healthy Living Index annual assessment. Last semester, Jennifer compiled all the data and entered it into a worksheet. Afterwards, she met with Dr. Holbrook to discuss creating a PowerPoint presentation about the data. The PowerPoint was created and presented to community stakeholders across the Roanoke Valley to inform private and non-profit organizations about the health-related needs of the children in our community. After presenting to the community, they discussed writing an abstract for conference presentation. The abstract was submitted to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and has been accepted.
While conducting her research, Jennifer was thankful to work with Dr. Holbrook.

“She not only pushes me to do my best, but she is an incredible mentor and role model of someone I hope to be like one day. She has taught me many things, and I do not know what I would do if I didn’t have her by my side throughout the research process and my time here at Roanoke College. If it weren’t for her, I would not have had this opportunity to research something so intriguing to me.”

One of Jennifer’s favorite things about conducting research was learning about other research projects.

“I enjoyed learning from other students who are conducting research in my major. I am able to learn what they are doing and then see if I can apply it to my research findings in any way.”

To anyone considering research, Jennifer says:

“Make sure you enjoy what you are researching, find new ways of doing things (whatever it may be), ask questions, and read up on other research projects/articles.”