The roots of this digital exhibit began in the fall of 2022, when three students began doing transcription of handwritten letters as a History Internship (HIST 499), working with Professor Tammy Pike and Mr. Joe Hursey of the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society. In December 2022, the University Archivist, Ann Merryman, suggested a collaboration with Professor Pike to expand the planned transcription work in her upcoming HIST 391 course into a digital exhibit project, providing students with the opportunity to strengthen their research skills as well as create digital content that could be highlighted on their resume.
In the Spring of 2023, professor Pike's HIST 391 "Women and World War II: War, Propaganda, and the Homefront" course continued to transcribe additional letters from the Margaret Payne collection, supplementing this work with historical research into events of the time and place the letters were written to provide context. In order to bring balance to both sets of letters in the digital exhibit, the University Archivist, a Faculty Librarian, and the student employee in the University Archives researched and provided additional content for letters 1 - 40, mirroring the work students were being assigned in HIST 391.
This digital exhibit combines digitized letters, transcriptions, and related background information provided by the students working on the project.
The Margaret Payne Letters Project began with an internship class of three students who transcribed 44 of Margaret Payne's letters in the Fall of 2022 as part of a service-learning component to their course. These transcriptions can be found under the "Explore the Letters - HIST 499 Internship 2022-2023" tab. This transcription work is the precursor of the Digital Exhibit project that is part of the Spring 2023 HIST 391 course.
Additional background research and context for these letters was provided by the University Archivist, another Faculty Librarian, and the student employee in the University Archives during the spring semester, 2023.
L-R … Charlene Spelts, Piedmont Historical Preservation Society; Tammy Pike, USC Upstate faculty; USC Upstate students Mallory Stoop, Parker Hively, and Lauren Henderson. Taken December 2022, standing in front of the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society.
Twelve students in the HIST 391 - Women & WWII course continued to work on transcribing 27 additional letters from the Margaret Payne collection held at the Piedmont Historical Preservation Society during the spring semester of 2023. In addition to providing transcriptions, the students did background research into elements mentioned in the letters or events happening locally, nationally, or globally during the time each letter was written. The transcriptions and accompanying background research were used to build out separate pages for each letter, providing context and depth to the transcribed letters and bringing a point in history to life for the students
