Anne Baker, Head of Special Collections and Archives at the Missouri State University Libraries on the main Springfield campus, spoke at the virtual Brick and Click Conference last week. Her presentation, “Uncommon Partnership: Special Collections and Advanced Art History Classes at Missouri State University” looked at a long-running relationship with Art & Design that allows students to work hands-on with art and artifacts.

In 2005, Anne and the former unit head met with Dr. Follensbee to discuss a collaborative project that would allow Dr. Follensbee’s students access to African artifacts. A local institution was willing to loan the items, as long as they could be studied in a secure environment. Special Collections could provide that environment. The first semester was a success and today Special Collections works with Dr. Follensbee’s four advanced art classes in rotation: African Art, Native American Art, Mesoamerican Art, and Conservation of Art and Artifacts. Students study the objects in Special Collections and the following fall an exhibit is developed in the Reading Room to show the best of the previous academic year’s work.

The arrangement between Special Collections and Art and Design is certainly not a typical collaborative project in the archival field. However, it has worked at Missouri State University. The partnership has enabled Special Collections to build new connections with students, educators, and the community. Confidence in the arrangement has grown among local GLAM institutions, both increasing access to objects and strengthening Special Collections’ ties to those entities. However, the key reason for Special Collections’ involvement is to support MSU students. Through this arrangement, the students, many of them poised to graduate and begin their careers, gain skills by having hands-on access to art and artifacts.