From Ephemera to Evidence: Archives, Menus, and Sociological Inquiry

This lesson plan integrates New York Public Library (NYPL) and Queens College (QC) archival menu collections to weave together archival theory, sociological theory, and ephemera as data. Students engage unorganized, digital, and material collections, visit a CUNY transfer campus, and develop critical thinking, research, and presentation skills through scaffolded active-learning activities aligned with course content. The PDF package contains assignments that constitute the multi-week lesson, as well as the IRB-approved instruments administered to students to gauge understanding/learning.