History H547: Special Topics in Public History Professor: E.B. Monroe

Spring, 2001 Office: Cavanaugh 529

Classroom: Conference Room, Indiana Historical Society Phone: 278-2255

Office Hours: by appointment Email: emonroe@iupui.edu

Local and Community History

Goals: This course will acquaint students with the development of local and community history and will explore the issues and concepts of these studies in the United States. Students will gain a substantive understanding of how communities and their citizens have contributed to our understanding of American history. They will also be introduced to different methodologies of inquiry, such as architectural history, cultural and historical geography, city planning, and historical archaeology. Guest speakers will provide additional insights to various techniques of professional analysis of historical communities. To better understand the relationship of methodology to research results, each student will prepare a short written and oral report on a source type (deeds, tax records, fire insurance maps, etc.), a review essay on five articles/books, an annotated bibliography, and a term paper dealing with a specific topic in one community over time. Assignments related to researching community history will be an integral part of weekly activities. The class will also visit the research collections of the Indiana Historical Society and Indiana State Library and have guest speakers from these institutions who will identify important portions of their collections that students can use to complete their course assignments. The products of the course itemized below at “evaluation” represent about 35 to 40 pages of written assignments to be completed by each student.

Method: Discussion and intellectual exchange are important components of this course. Emphasis will be placed on thoroughly understanding a relatively modest amount of weekly reading. Each week students will be expected to be familiar with required readings. Most of the class periods will be devoted to discussion. All students are expected to engage in class discussions and in dialogues with guest speakers.

Assignments: Each student will prepare a source type report, a review essay on five books/articles, a short topic statement, an annotated bibliography, a draft term paper, and a final, revised term paper. Each assignment will be discussed in class in advance of the due date, and all projects are described below.

IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER: If class is cancelled by the university or you have an acceptable excuse for absence, the 2-page weekly report is due to the History Department office before the next session of class.

Evaluation: Students are expected to participate in every class and complete several written assignments. Satisfactory class participation and the 2-page reading reports will constitute 20% of the final grade. The review of five pieces ( a minimum of 3 books) of the literature of community history (about 5 pages) will be worth 15%. The annotated bibliography of about 10-12 pages will be worth 25%. The draft term paper (8 to 12 pages) and oral presentation will be worth 15%. The final paper of about 12 pages will be worth 25%. Grades for the 1-page source type and 1-page topic statement will be incorporated in the grade for class participation. There will be no tests.

Grade scale: A=90-100; B=80-89; grades below 80 are considered failing in a graduate course.

Policies:

All students are expected to attend and participate in every class. Absence without the advance consent of the instructor (barring unforeseen disasters) will result in the loss of two (2) points on the final course grade.

All projects are due on the date assigned. Failure to turn in a project on the date due will result in the loss of two (2) points on the final course grade.

A grade of zero (0) will be assigned to any work which has been produced by cheating or plagiarism. The definitions (from the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts Bulletin) are:

Cheating: Cheating is dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, course assignments, alteration of records, or illegal possession of examinations. It is the responsibility of the student not only to abstain from cheating, but, in addition, to avoid the appearance of cheating and to guard against making it possible for others to cheat. Any student who helps another student to cheat is as guilty of cheating as the student assisted. The student should also do everything possible to induce respect for the examining process and for honesty in the performance of assigned tasks in or out of class.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the offering of the work of someone else as one’s own. Honesty requires that any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged. The language or ideas taken from another may range from isolated formulas, sentences, or paragraphs to entire articles copied from books, periodicals, speeches, or the writings of other students. The offering of materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment is also considered plagiarism. Any student who fails to give credit for ideas or materials taken from another source is guilty of plagiarism.

A grade of “incomplete” will not be assigned except in the event of a catastrophe such as serious personal illness or death of a family member. All incompletes must be arranged in advance of the final day of class. Arrangement for an incomplete will require the instructor’s approval of a signed statement from the student about the reason for requesting the incomplete and a date when all remaining work will be submitted.

Class Assignments:

Each week there will be four books listed for class readings. On the second night of class we will divide the readings up among students. The goal will be for each student to be the “primary” reader about every other week. In addition, each student will read book reviews of the remaining books in each week’s assignments. Thus every week each student will read eight or more reviews, prepare a 2-page interpretive essay for the instructor, and participate in class discussion about the readings. About every other week each student will be responsible for a 2-page review of the “primary” book and a 5-minute oral introduction as “primary” reader. Such an introduction will include finding out about the author and placing the book in the context of similar research. The primary reader will provide copies of the primary review to all class members and the instructor.

Written assignments:

General format: All assignments for this course must be typewritten, one-inch margins, double-spaced and composed in excellent grammar and style with no spelling errors. Try to stay within 10% +/- of assigned page count and try to use a point size similar (but no smaller) than this print. All projects should be proofed. Asking someone to proof your papers does not constitute cheating. Your name should be typed in the upper right corner of the first page (no need for a title page) and may also be shown on subsequent pages. All pages should be numbered. And all notes should be end notes, printed on separate pages at the end of your paper. Projects should be stapled together (no folders, binders or dogears). Always be sure to keep a copy of your papers.

Review of five pieces of the literature (due January 30): At the top of page one provide the complete bibliographical citations for all items reviewed. The citations should be as you would find them in a published book review or bibliography. The purpose of the review essay is to evaluate the character of the items reviewed and analyze the authors’ major contributions. You should briefly discuss each author’s background, his thesis, and summary of the book/article. You should spend most of your energy, however, discussing the sources and methodology used by the authors to address major problems of community histories. And you should draw comparisons between the assumptions, research techniques, and conclusions of each work. You should keep in mind class discussions and the common class readings. Examples of reviews can be found in historical journals in the library. I particularly recommend Journal of American History, American Historical Review, and Reviews in American History. The review need not have endnotes, just cite appropriate pages in parentheses in your essay.

Topic Statement (due February 6): about 300 words. Identify the title of your proposed topic and briefly discuss its significance. What major historical problem(s) will you address? Why are they important? How do you propose to contribute to historical literature–what will distinguish your research from your predecessors in the same field? What will be the scope of your research? Will this research produce a thesis? Who is your thesis advisor?

Source Report (due February 20): one page single-spaced. Each student will be assigned a primary source used frequently in local history. In a one-page paper each student will define the source, state what information a source may (or may not) provide, show examples of sources, and identify where additional information may be obtained. Each student will bring to class enough copies for all members of the class and the instructor.

Annotated bibliography (due March 6): You should include about twenty secondary items and five primary ones. An annotated bibliography is a list of important references for your research. The secondary items should include both books and journal articles that are germane to your topic. Each entry should have a complete bibliographical citation (single-spaced) followed by at least a paragraph (double-spaced) about the item and its relevance to your topic. Of course this means you must have read or at least skimmed each item. The annotation should be in complete sentence form. For examples, consult the Chicago Manual of Style or any works published by major academic presses. All entries should be listed alphabetically by the last name of the author or editor. You should list the primary references separately. All of the books and articles for this course provide proper citation format for secondary references. Your primary references could include items such as: letters and papers of individuals related to your topic, some government documents, deeds, wills, church records, vital records, business papers, diaries, maps, photographs, etc. In other words Marion County Deed Books is one entry, as is the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Lebanon, Indiana, even if there are hundreds of deed books and Sanborn maps covering 100 years of development in Lebanon.

Draft term paper and presentation (due April 10): Don’t let the name fool you. I expect this paper to conform in style and presentation to other formal assignments; I merely call it “draft” to distinguish it from the revised and final version of the paper. In one extended essay present your topic, your hypothesis, your analysis of your research findings, and your conclusion. Be sure to fit your research into the literature of your topic. This is a formal paper (even as a draft) that has all of the bells and whistles like discussion notes and source notes. Structure you paper like the journal articles we have read.

Topics for papers will be chosen in consultation with the instructor during the first three weeks of class. Acceptable topics might include: a specific factory community, how alleys affect neighborhoods, the role of ethnicity in the creation of a neighborhood, rural schools and communities, effects of the automobile/streetcar/train on a community, how government institutions affect communities, social mobility, size of farms and communities, the role of the river and a community, etc.

Oral presentations will take about 10 minutes each, with 5 minutes for questions from other students. Oral presentations should follow the general format of the paper itself.

Final paper (due April 24): You will have two weeks to revise your paper. Revisions should be based on other students’ comments in class and my written comments on the draft version. You may also include new research findings.

Class assignments:

Jan. 9 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF COURSE

16 ENGLISH COMMUNITY STUDIES

Blythe, Ronald. Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village. (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1969).

Hoskins, W.G. The Making of the English Landscape. (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1970).

Laslett, Peter. The World We Have Lost: England before the Industrial Age. (New York: Scribner’s, 1965).

Thompson, E.P. The Making of the English Working Class. (New York: Vintage Books, 1966).

23 CLASS MEETS IN IHS LIBRARY

30 CLASSIC AMERICAN STUDIES OF COMMUNITY REVIEW ESSAY DUE

Curti, Merle. Trompeleau County Wisconsin. Late 1950s or early 1960s.

Schlesinger, Arthur Sr. History of the City 1930s

Thernstrom, Stephen. Poverty and Progress.

Warner, Sam Bass Jr. Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston 1870-1900. (Cambridge, MA, 1962).

Feb. 6 URBAN COMMUNITIES TOPIC STATEMENT DUE

Blackmar, Elizabeth. Manhattan for Rent 1785-1850. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989).

Cronon, William. Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. (New York: 1991).

Longstreth, Richard. City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950. (Cambridge, MA: 1997).

Wade, Richard C. The Urban Frontier: Pioneer Life in Early Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, and St. Louis. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959). Also published as: The Urban Frontier: The Rise of Western Cities, 1790-1830.

13 NO CLASS

20 SUBURBANIZATION SOURCE REPORT DUE

Binford, Henry. The First Suburbs: Residential Communities on the Boston Periphery, 1815-1860. (Chicago, 1984).

Gans Leavittowners

Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984).

Stilgoe, John R. Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820-1939. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988).

27 VISIT TO INDIANA STATE LIBRARY

Mar. 6 RURAL COMMUNITIES ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE

Faragher, John Mack. Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986).

McMurry, Sally. Families and Farmhouses in Nineteenth-Century America: Vernacular Design and Social Change. (Oxford University Press, 1988).

Peterson, Fred W. Homes in the Heartland: Balloon Frame Farmhouses of the Upper Midwest, 1850-1920. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1992).

Vlach, John Michael. Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).

Mar. 13 SPRING BREAK

20 COLONIAL COMMUNITIES

Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974).

Demos, John. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970).

Herman, Bernard L. The Stolen House. (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1992).

Rutman, Darrett B. and Anita H. Rutman. A Place in Time: Middlesex County Virginia, 1650-1750. (New York: Norton, 1984).

27 19TH CENTURY COMMUNITIES

Johnson, Paul E. A Shopkeeper’s Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978).

Lebsock, Suzanne. The Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern Town, 1784-1860. (New York: Norton, 1984).

Lockwood, George B. The New Harmony Movement. (New York: Dover, 1971).

Taylor, Alan. William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier in the Early American Republic. (New York: Vintage, 1995).

Apr. 3 GEOGRAPHY AND GENDER IN COMMUNITY HISTORY

Deutsch, Sarah. Women and the City: Gender, Space and Power in Boston, 1870-1940. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).