During the Fall 2011 semester, I was a part of Lehigh University’s “Theories of Masculinity” class, an upper level English and Women’s Studies course.  Initially, I signed up for it because it was a prerequisite for graduating with departmental honors.  As a part of this course we created a documentary film on coeducation and its effects on men and masculinity at Lehigh, which is currently celebrating the fortieth anniversary of undergraduate coeducation.  My role in this film became a challenging and ultimately very rewarding part of my education at Lehigh.
	Creating the film required extensive use of Lehigh University’s Special Collections.  As someone with no familiarity with the process of researching in the archives, I was unaware of the extensive time and effort such an undertaking required.  Yet, it was through delving into the pages and pages of yearbook photos from the late 60’s and early 70’s, and seeing headlines in the Brown and White, Lehigh’s student newspaper, from around the same time, that I began to appreciate the power of the project our class was creating.  This project allowed me to see the trajectory of Lehigh’s transition to a coeducational institution, a transition colored by many challenges including sexism abound.  These challenges are not easily visible in 2011, forty years later, so literally seeing the headlines and pictures in the archives demonstrated in a unique way the hurdles women had to overcome at Lehigh.  Some women were the only girls in their classes, and all women had to overcome the stereotype of being just weekend entertainment for the male students bussed in and out on Saturdays from nearby Cedar Crest College.  I have taken for granted my role as a woman on Lehigh’s campus, and this process really caused me to consider the journey that others have taken to provide me with such an opportunity.  
	The archives played a major role in our documentary.  The images and video clips we found provided evidence of our claims about the challenges women came up against at a conservative institution transitioning to coeducation in a way which our words alone would not have done justice.  Hearing about the awkward mixers held before coeducation is not as powerful as seeing pictures of wide-eyed men groping at women and the huge amounts of alcohol consumed at these mixers.  Lehigh’s archives are not used nearly enough.  I am embarrassed to admit that, as a first semester senior English major, I am just now getting my first taste of their value.  It is my hope that our documentary project will serve as a positive example of the power that these resources can provide to our University.  As these images fade further and further into the past, students have the chance to keep them alive in our contemporary work by using them in various classes and research projects.  I hope that our documentary project can show the University, especially other students like me who may not have known the extent of the resources available, the value of these resources to the legacy of our institution and the appreciation of our education.
