by Kevin Grace

When I teach a class, a song from The Who’s rock opera Tommy always seems to course through my brain.  In “Go to the Mirror, Boy,” an exchange between Tommy and the doctor results in lyrics most of us have heard at one time or another: “See me, Feel me, Touch me, Heal me.” Like those lyrics, it all comes down to “experiential” learning, our pedagogical emphasis on hands-on curricula.  For me, experiential learning boils down to putting primary documents—15^th century manuscripts, 17^th century rare bindings, 19^th century letters, early 20^th century photographs—into the hands of students so they can see them, feel them, and of course, smell them.