Over the course of the week, we have enjoyed hearing your ideas about course projects; they have been creative, thoughtful, and scholarly. Let's use this space to share our ideas for our projects and to solicit feedback, suggestions, and resources. Remember that the project is due by September 3 in hard copy form in Prof. Morrison's office at SSC. (You can submit the project earlier, of course.)
Please feel free to consult with Prof. Alexander and/or Prof. Morrison via email or in person at Salem State Colleg or Strawbery Banke Museum.
The guidelines are:
Course Project Guide
The course project should demonstrate what you have learned in the course about one aspect of everyday life in early America. There are a variety of formats possible for your consideration:
• Research on primary source texts such as diaries, journals, newspaper advertisements, gravestone markings, building styles
• Research that supports a museum exhibit or walking tour
• Research that supports an extensive lesson plan or website plan
• Research on a particular house, homestead, or person
Given the intensive structure of the institute (one week of lecture and guided tour followed by
four weeks of research and writing), you can frame your project as a progress report, entitled, for instance, “Toward a Exhibit at Strawbery Banke Museum: Diaries and Journal in Early America”
or “Toward a Website for Strawbery Banke Museum: House Styles in Early America.”
An excellent project will:
• Include 20 pages of text for graduate students or pages of text for undergraduate students
• Demonstrate mastery of the secondary source literature on a topic
• Demonstrate mastery of the primary source materials for your project
• Demonstrate rigorous description and analysis of your topic
• Demonstrate clearly some of the knowledge of everyday life in early America that you have learned in the course. This should include discussion of the course texts, tours, and lectures
• Include formal notes (either endnotes or footnotes) and a full bibliography
• Follow the guidelines for a formal project set out in the standard style manual for historians, The Chicago Manual of Style, condensed (and priced more accessibly) in Kate L. Turban, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Sixth Edition, (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1994).
I plan on writing a script for a tour through a cemetery focusing on African Americans: their burial rituals, their tombstones, their beliefs of the afterlife, etc. I am not sure if I am going to use a real cemetery as a basis of the tour or make one up. I am also not sure how to compose a tour script. I am planning on emailing the Curator at the Marblehead Historical Museum to see if she could give me a copy of the script for the tour of the Jeremiah Lee House and or tips on how to compose one. If anyone has any tips on how to compose a script for a tour and or knows anything about African American burial rituals, etc. all suggestions will be welcome!
ReplyDeleteI plan on writing an argumentative paper emphasizing the need to have a museum exhibit based on my great-great-great grandfather Frederick George Scott, the youngest Union soldier in the Civil War. My goal is to present the evidence of why he was significant, show how he was a common person making a contribution in the war and also to give modern Americans a sense of what it was like to be the youngest soldier in the Union army in 1864-1865.
ReplyDeleteI am planning on researching the hardware and cooking techniques of the early New England kitchen. I know that the hardware is important, but I believe the spices and ways of preparing foods is important as well. I was thinking about cutting it down to a specific town, but I think that cooking styles in New England are generally the same.
ReplyDeleteI plan on using materials from Strawberry Banke, the Moffitt Ladd House, and books I found from the Salem park service. I also plan to use the databases and other primary resources to compose a proper and well educated paper.
One thing that would be helpful is if you could give me the hearth cook's email and Barbara's email as well. This could assist me in my search. Plus I would appreciate that anyone has to offer.
For Christine - You might want to check James Deetz' book, 'In Small Things Forgotten.' There is a chapter on the dig that was done at Parting Ways, site of one of the first African towns, in a section of Plymouth. Four men, born in Africa and enslaved, fought in the Rev. War and gained their freedom. Deetz uncovered a detail of the burials which suggests that African tradition was followed. Then google for Parting Ways and find the web site of the group that wants to remember these men. The Parting Ways site is on the Historic register. Talk to me about remnant os these customs apparently followed in a cemetary in Alabama, where the meanings had altered but clearly traces of African ritual informed what their descendents would do!
ReplyDeleteRather than making up a cemetary, which would confuse viewers into thinking there was such a cemetery, you might look for evidence of slaves and freed Blacks buried in various places in New England. In the old Linebrook churchground in Rowley, thee is a Scipio listed. One would assume he was buried in a Christain ceremony, with his master's family.
In Hartford CT there was a project around the Talcott Street burial site. I think if you google you can find it. Both Parting Ways and the Hartford project should lead you to other resources.
Great good luck with this one!
For my project, I am asking the question, How much can I learn and conjecture of the daily lives of some of my own ancesters in the Piscataqua area, utilizing the resources of SBM, the Portsmouth Atheneum, books such as Samuel Lane's diary, and local newspapers of the period.
ReplyDeleteI have done work on my downeast ancesters, using family stories augmented by research, In this project I will be working with ancesters I've never heard of through family stories so what I learn will be purely through research. This may result in more accurate information as when I researched the downeast group, I found that family stories had distorted over time and the hard evidence was pretty concluive of that.
Priscilla-thank you so much for your advice I am definitely going to look into those sources.
ReplyDeleteSorry to take so long to respond, I am actually camping this week with my son. My project is based on the house I live in located in Eliot Maine (formerly the Upper Parish of Kittery). It was rumored (since dispelled ) to be built in the 1650s. Apparently there are no 17c structures still standing in Maine (Richard Candee, email, 7/16/10). So I am on the hunt to find out when it was built. I have already spent hours and hours in the York County Registry of Deeds following the ownership of the property (land) looking for the first reference to the house. I have a reference to a house on the property in the late 1750s. Besides tracing the land, I am also investigating the features of the house that I suspect are early American features: roof beams held together with mortise and tenon and wooden pegs (spikes), the corner posts although painted now are rough cut and also have wooden pegs, and finally the granite and field stone foundation. Additionally, I am interested in the people who lived in the house and whether the stories of famous people associated with the house are true. My next steps: finish a table of ownership, go to Kittery town hall and find their earliest tax maps for upper parish, finish the deeds search, go to probate and find the wills of Joshua and James Hubbard, begin research on housing construction in colonial Massachusetts.Modern technology is awesome.We have wireless access at our campsite on the pond and I brought a pile of books so I can work on this project.
ReplyDeleteChristine: This may give some general information
ReplyDeleteCorpses, Coffins, and Crypts : a history of burial by Colman, Penny
http://www.amazon.com/Corpses-Coffins-Crypts-History-Burial/dp/0805050663/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279456187&sr=1-1
Here are some ideas that I had for projects if anyone is looking for ideas for themselves of for their students
ReplyDeleteCell Phone Texting Scavenger Hunts (there is a fee)
teenagers love these
http://www.scvngr.com
Photostory 3 (free download)
Easy to create history documentaries with photos. You will need a computer microphone. You can pick these up for about $20
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92755126-a008-49b3-b3f4-6f33852af9c1&DisplayLang=en
Rachel Costello - You might also want to contact Dr. Baker at Salem State (ebaker@salemstate.edu). Dr. Baker has been working on Maine buildings and has done a number of digs in Maine, around York especially. He demonstrates that Maine building styles and techniques differ greatly from Massachusetts architecture. While there are few 17th C structures extant in Maine, archaeology has been able to provide lots on information about them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachael!
ReplyDeleteRachel C.-- Richard Candee remains the definitive source for framed wood structures in ME. (He was my 2nd reader for my dissertation). I have also talked with SBM's restoration carpenter and we will contact you in a bit for a walk through. Good luck with the deed and land research. I can assist you with that as can other SBM colleagues. Just let me know. Keep up the excellent work!
ReplyDeleteDr. Alexander
Natalie- I have an idea for fundraising for your barrell. Also, have started looking at clothing in the collection for your sewing and pattern projects. Many thoughts on this topic as well.
ReplyDeleteDr. Alexander
I am researching Sarah B (Verry) Crane a 51-year-old widow buried with her mothers side of the family in a small puritan family cemetery. Town records state her son buried her and gave no cause of death. Her head stone is facing backwards with the following inscription
ReplyDeleteNo life Can be pure in its purpose
and strong in its strife
And all life not be purer
and stronger thereby.
I have two questions.
First was the stone repaired and set incorrectly or was it intentionally set facing east.
The second question will bring me to the answer of the first. What happened to her husband? How was her life changed? How did she compare to the widows of the Strawberry Banke? Her son, Samuel Crane, was a wealthy businessman in the Blackstone Valley. Did he inherit the money or earn his fortune.
I have always been intrigued with the role that religion plays in shaping our lives. I was particularly interested in the Great Awakening as it was described in the book on Samuel Lane. As described in the book the GA served to split the congregation. For my project I would like to investigate how the GA was manifested in other communities. I think a comparision between two would work best.
ReplyDeleteI must decide on what two comunities to look at; what is the best sort of division - urban/rural, coast/inland, etc.; what are the best sources to persue. I also think that the project may work as a museum exhibit, but I don't think it lends itself to the sort of 'fun' activities that others have envisioned.
Thoughts, comments?
"• Include 20 pages of text for graduate students or (?) pages of text for undergraduate students"
ReplyDeleteIs it aslo 20 pages for undergrad?
After careful consideration I am planning on doing an extensive lesson plan. This is so I have something tangible that I can bring back to my students in the fall. I am planning on designing a lesson plan that would focus on the day to day lives of people during the colonial time period. I have received a wealth of information from the Old Bridgewater Historical Society that depicts West Bridgewater’s town deed, epitaphes from the old graveyard, information on the Reverend James Keith house, as well as information on King Philip’s War. A lot of this information is great primary source material. My thought is to use Sam Lane as a basis to model everyday colonial life. I will use Lane and connect it to West Bridgewater so that my students can see a true connection. There will be primary source document analysis, picture analysis from the time period.......(comparing and contrasting Lane’s house to Keith’s house (something they probably drive by on a weekly basis). In addition, I am looking into a tour offered at the Keith house by appt for my students. I plan on doing a reflective piece on everything that I learned from the week course, and then designing a detailed lesson plan.
ReplyDeleteFor everyone;
ReplyDeleteYou may have heard of Google digitizing the world's print books and the lawsuit against them. Well if you haven't used Google Books for your research, you should.
http://books.google.com
I just found the main history of my town titled Old Eliot online at Google Books. All electroncially searchable.
cashman5@msn.com wrote:
ReplyDeleteI am researching the history of a seed for my Special Needs class. I am going to try and find out how the seeds got here,(I know many were brought over from their native lands), which ones were most popular, and how they were able to recycle them for planting the following Spring. I do need to contact the Horticulture Curator at the SBM, if I could get their email, or if Prof. Alexander has any information that would help me. My email address is: Cashman5@msn.com , please feel free to email me with any information you may have. (Just put something about Strawbery Banke in subject, because it goes to junk mail.) I’m going to also research the tasks that the children did on their farms during the Colonial era, to share with my students. Please let me know your thoughts and ideas. . . .
I'm making a lesson plan for a college course about early maritime history in seacoast communities. This course will be taught using the life of John Paul Jones as a reference. I will be planning out/writing three mock lectures for this course. One will be on the history of privateering (whether it was for personal gain or liberty), one will focus on how one perceives history (was JPJ a pirate or a hero) and the last one will take a maritime object and construct a lesson on material culture surrounding that object. I've already done the bulk of my research however, I'm still looking for one particular primary source...
ReplyDeleteThe source I'm trying to find is an example of the "cheap penny chapbooks" which apparently were popular in England after the war with America. These chapbooks portrayed JPJ as a pirate, desperado, etc... I would love to find an online copy or a copy I could scan online somewhere. I've tried the BPL, Portsmouth Athenaeum, and good ole' google and have come up short. If anyone has any ideas where to look please let me know! Thanks
I am planning to create a board game for Strawberry Banke. I am not sure of all the details yet, but I want it to be appropriate for gardes 3-5 since that is the age that I teach and I want it to be a game that while they are playing it they learn about the history of the banke and what it was like to live at that time.
ReplyDeleteI propose to research and discuss a day at the wharf in Salem in 1800, during the East India trade. These are some of the questions I hope to answer. What were the sounds and smells of the wharf? Who meet the ship? How did they unload the cargo? Where the crew stay when they were in port?
ReplyDeleteFor Fran...
ReplyDeleteThere are a few letters in Old Eliot volume VII that references George Whitefield and reactions to his sermons, unfortunelty, that volume in not in Googlebooks so I can't merely give you url, however, I could photocopy and mail the relevant pages to you if you want. If you do want them email me directly with your address.
I am using http://www.eturabian.com to create my bibliographic citations. Check it out.
ReplyDelete