For many undergraduate students, historical research means journal articles, online databases and library books. This summer, students in Dr. Ashley Passmore’s Glasscock Center Undergraduate Scholars seminar encountered a different side of scholarship; one built around archival boxes, handwritten letters and untold stories.
The two-week seminar, From Archive to Public Memory: Researching Jewish Culture and Holocaust History, introduced students to archival research through hands-on engagement with museums, oral history and public humanities. Throughout the program, students worked with archivists, curators, graduate researchers and community leaders while developing independent research projects grounded in primary sources.
The seminar also marked the first time Texas A&M’s Jewish Studies program participated in the Glasscock Undergraduate Scholars initiative. Passmore serves as Coordinator of Jewish Studies in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures within the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Most students had research backgrounds, but they hadn’t actually been in an archive,” Passmore said. “We learned about how to use an archive, what archives often look like, how it’s different than a library and what curators can do for you.”
Students visited the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives at Rice University, explored collections at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives and engaged with materials connected to Jewish history in Texas and at Texas A&M.
For history major and economics minor Trenton Himel ’27, the experience reshaped his understanding of historical research.
“I had this idea of archival research as something like Indiana Jones,” Himel said. “But after actually seeing the inside of an archive and working through the boxes, I have a much greater respect for people who do archival research.”
One of the most impactful moments for Himel came while examining a collection of letters from Houston’s B'nai B'rith congregation housed in the South Texas Jewish Archives. The correspondence documented how Jewish organizations supported immigrants arriving during periods of war and economic hardship.
“I had never thought something so mundane would make it into an archive,” Himel said. “But as I read through the letters, I could see people dealing with economic crises and immigration and trying to help their communities. I just couldn’t stop reading.”
The experience helped students understand the seminar’s central theme: transforming archival history into public memory.
“Archive to public memory really means telling people a different side of the story,” Himel said. “A lot of these stories are sitting in boxes, completely untold.”
Rather than allowing those histories to remain hidden in archival collections, students are spending the summer developing projects that bring research into public-facing spaces through museum exhibits, digital humanities projects and other forms of public scholarship.
“The first day we talked about what I hoped the final product would be,” Passmore said. “A piece of original research that could either be a paper, a museum display or a digital product using archival research for a public history project.”
Himel’s project examines the impact of Jewish immigration and Jewish-owned businesses on the economic development of South Texas, combining his interests in both history and economics. Conducting that research requires students to move beyond traditional methods and engage directly with primary sources.
“The most challenging part has been going into an archive and reading through massive amounts of paper documents,” Himel said. “You have to figure out what keywords to search and what names you’re looking for.”
The seminar also supports broader efforts to develop a Jewish Studies research archive at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives. Some student research may eventually contribute to a public exhibition planned for Fall 2026 focusing on 150 years of Jewish life at Texas A&M.
Passmore hopes students leave the seminar with more than archival experience. She hopes they develop a deeper understanding of ethical preservation, historical memory and the importance of documenting overlooked stories.
“Most of the students are not Jewish, and I told them that you don’t need to be Jewish to be interested in preserving a people’s history,” Passmore said. “Hopefully these lessons about preserving memory ethically can apply to anything they do in life.”
Students will continue their projects throughout the summer before presenting their work at the Glasscock Undergraduate Scholars Research Showcase during the Fall 2026 semester.
For Himel, the seminar reinforced the importance of preserving stories that might otherwise be forgotten.
“It gives me pride to continue telling these individual stories long after the people themselves are gone,” Himel said.