Class Trip to the J.R.R. Tolkien Archives in Marquette, Wisconsin

– Njoki Mukuria ’25

In March 2025, Trinity Christian College students enrolled in the spring class offering of Topics in English: Lord of the Rings went on a field trip to see the J.R.R. Tolkien archives at Raynor Library in Marquette, Wisconsin. This trip was organized by Prof. Timothy Hendrickson, Ph.D., associate professor of English and chair of the literature and languages department, motivated by the belief that “students really appreciate getting out of the classroom” as part of academic learning. The experience proved to be one of discovery, amazement, and education for the Trinity students.

According to Prof. Hendrickson, the trip was intended to provide valuable connections for both English and communications students because it was a class that counted toward both of these majors. He shared that this interdisciplinary approach came through in the Marquette archivist’s presentation, saying, “​​Bill at Marquette knew that we were watching the movies, so he was able to kind of integrate some of that material into his presentation.” Prof. Hendrickson also saw the visit as helpful in letting students see “the textual history of particular books… as artifacts” because “we’re not just talking about the story, we’re talking about the paper it’s on and the handwriting that the margin notes are written in,” extending the experience offered by the English department.

Kait Harland ’25, an English major at Trinity from Byron, IL, shared that seeing Tolkien’s background work, specifically his detailed timeline, led her to reflect on how it mirrored her own childhood writing. She would have “stacks of index cards calculating (based on Google maps) how long it would take to walk various distances to various places” and was excited to note that Tolkien “employed such a similar strategy in his own writing.” As an aspiring linguist, Kait was also enamored with the opportunity to hear about Tolkien’s “linguistic prowess” from the archivist: “Tolkien, a noted linguist, is obviously a fascinating figure to study because of this (amongst other reasons) and it was extremely cool to see the linguistics concepts I had been learning reflected in Tolkien’s work.”

With the topics class being composed of many students who are neither English nor communications majors, the archives visit had even greater cross-disciplinary value. Ren Amador ’26 of Chicago, IL, a graphic design major, said that what caught their attention were “the jacket copy covers that Tolkien made” because “as someone with an interest in publication and an Art major, [they were] drawn to his designs” and “did not previously know that Tolkien was an artist as well as a linguist/author,” allowing them to relate even more to Tolkien’s work. Ren was also glad to get an “up close and personal” view of “the processes of archiving and what being an archivist includes” because it proved to be an intriguing career position that they “would consider going into.”

The Marquette trip as a whole also seemed to foster community amongst the students by helping them connect with their classmates beyond the classroom, which was something that Prof. Hendrickson was happy to observe because of the benefit this has in the classroom. In his own words, “Classes are better when students feel comfortable around each other and feel a sense of community… people are more open with what they’re thinking.”

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