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People and Land: Archival Narratives of Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Timeline

Spring 2024

Description

Affiliated course: ENV245/SUSTAIN245, Sustainability in Theory and Practice


Summary: A team of five students collaborated with the Sarah P. Duke Gardens to discover stories of people who lived and worked on the land that later became the Duke Gardens. The student team worked to highlight and document the lives and contributions of lesser-known people, thereby enhancing training materials for educational tours of the gardens and fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of the diverse history of the land. Kati Henderson, Community & University Partnerships Coordinator at Duke Gardens had an established long-term working relationship with the professor for this course, making for a seamless and trusted partnership with the student team.

Goals: 1) For the time period of 1870-1935, use public archives to gain further understanding about the people who lived in proximity to where Sarah P. Duke Gardens exists today, identifying information about people's activities and lifestyles. 2) Compile a narrative about these people to support Duke Garden's in training employees and volunteers to relay this information to visitors. 3) Identify gaps in the information found in the archival research to inform further investigation.

Experience and Learning Outcomes: Over one semester, the student team conducted extensive archival research at Duke University, uncovering the histories of people connected to the land that became the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. The students focused on T. J. Rigsbee, who owned the land in the 1870s, and the sale of the land to Benjamin Duke, which led to the development of Erwin Mills. The students learned that nearby land was used for housing Erwin Mills employees. Given the limited records and deed information available, the students speculated the types of jobs and everyday businesses the people on the land engaged with. Despite gaps in the archives, the students found links of information to create a narrative to enrich the garden's historical context. At the end of the course, the students delivered a brief and a video summarizing their findings to the client. Students gained skills in archival library research, historical analysis, and storytelling while navigating gaps in the information available in the public archives. Students also interviewed Professor Dan Richter, who has researched the soil history of Sarah P. Duke Gardens and used it to identify various agricultural activities practiced on the land over time.

Recommendations: To find information beyond people's names and professions, the student team recommends further research focusing on personal letters and manuscripts from private collections that could be in the possession of descendants, starting from the Rigsbee family and broadening the search to other people who lived locally. The team also identified gaps in the information and the lack of documents at the Duke Archives, specifically from 1870-1892, which limited the team in gathering specific details on people's lives at that time.


Students: Anika Mitra, Placide Djungu-Sungu, George Donnelly, Diego Romero Laje-Davila, Kylie Kenny

Instructors: Charlotte Clark, course instructor (Nicholas School of the Environment); Lindsay Batchelor and Emily Bilcik, co-instructors (Sustainable Duke); Dima Zlenko, teaching assistant

Client: Kati Henderson, Community & University Partnerships Coordinator, Sarah P. Duke Gardens

Other stakeholders: Rebecca Pattillo, Assistant University Archivist for Research Services and Student Engagement, Duke University Libraries

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