HI 5330
Spring 2012
Marcia Schmidt Blaine
mblaine@plymouth.edu
Office: Memorial 204
535-2347 (office)
536-4847 (home)
NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL SITES
After reading, please contact the instructor at the above email address! You will be
choosing and visiting four historic sites anywhere in New England in consultation with the
instructor.
This purpose of this course is twofold: to introduce students to a variety of locations and historic
sites throughout New England and to allow students to analyze the historical significance of each
site and use the knowledge gained to produce papers and projects useful to the student’s career
while furthering their research and writing skills. We are fortunate to have many historical sites
within easy travel distance that may be used to convey the nature of change since the earliest
settlement in the region. This will allow students the opportunity to explore and interpret the
layered historical landscape.
Course objectives:
Students will
1) develop independent research, analytical, and writing skills.
2) learn to find and then analyze historical data gained through a variety of sources.
3) gain an understanding of how documents from the past are used by later generations to arrive
at interpretations of history.
4) gain a greater understanding the historical environment
5) learn to use the historical landscape and environment as a way to better convey an historical
consciousness to their own students or the public.
Through the readings, student research, and student-developed lesson plans and papers, students
will translate the field and research experiences into model curriculum for classroom use in the
elementary through secondary levels and/or papers.
Historic Sites: A very partial list
Old Fort #4, Charlestown
Belknap Mills, Laconia
Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury and/or Enfield
The Farm Museum, Milton
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, Portsmouth
Remick Museum, Tamworth
Franklin Pierce Manse, Concord
Amoskeag complex, Manchester
Daniel Webster birthplace, Franklin
Lowell National Park, Lowell, Ma
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth
Grand Hotels, various locations
Fort William and Mary, Portsmouth
New Hampshire Historical Society
Saint Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish
Local historical societies
Marsh-Billing-Rockefeller National Historic Park, Woodstock, Vt.
Prescott Farm’s Environmental Education Center, Laconia, NH
Any of the many historic sites in Boston
See www.historicnewengland.org for a list of small home sites
2
Other historic sites from anywhere in New England may also be used.
Requirements:
1. Each student will keep a journal describing his or her reactions to the sites visited. This
should include a critique of the sites as well as possible ideas for later use of the site in papers,
lesson plans, etc. The journal will also reflect reactions to the readings being done in
conjunction with each historical site.
Journal Writing Rubric:
[Based on: http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/rubricjournal.pdf#search=%22journal%20rubric%22]
EFFORT
* Complete: Includes all readings, primary
documents, historic sites visits, and
reflections.
* Readable: Is legible, presentable, coherent.
* Used: Use to think, learn, practice,
understand.
WRITING
* Fluent: Write with ease about a range of
subjects.
* Developed: Include examples, details,
quotes
when appropriate.
UNDERSTANDING
* Thorough: your entries show that you are
thinking through your readings, visit to the
site, and that you are making connections
with other readings and/or sites.
* Insightful: Show deep understanding of
ideas; goes beyond the obvious.
FORMAT All entries clearly list:
* Date of entry
* Title of entry (e.g., “Fort at No.4 notes”)
* Organization: Entries appear in
chronological
sequence or as otherwise assigned.
2. In consultation with the professor (either face-to-face or via email), students will develop
four projects, generally one at a time, each one focusing on a particular site. You should visit the
site first and see what strikes you. You may want to do a lesson plan, paper, or public history
project. Then contact the instructor (may be done online via email, on the telephone, or in
person) and discuss your ideas and the appropriate books to read for it. Three of the
papers/projects will be 5-7 page papers on one aspect of the history of the site, or a two-week
lesson plan (with PowerPoint), or some other agreed upon project. The final project will be a 1215 page paper or one-month lesson plan or another agreed-upon project. For each project,
students will include a bibliography. Only two of the four papers may be lesson plans. It is a
very good idea to turn in a paper early for critique. I will critique the paper thoroughly and
give it back to you for revision. A major objective of the course is to improve your writing.
Due dates for projects (you may turn them in early! It’s a letter grade off for each day a paper
is late): You may begin before March 1 but everything must be finished by June 1.
Project one: March 21
Project two: April 12
Project three: April 30
Project four: by June 1
At least two of the projects must be papers and thus must include footnotes (using Chicago
Manual of Style – humanities format – I have included a list of websites for information). All
3
projects will include a bibliography in the Chicago Manual of Style. See the Lamson Library
homepage, Style Guides for information on Chicago Style or the history websites listed below.
Do not panic if you have not used the Chicago Manual of Style lately (or ever). It is the style
historians use and the one you will use in this class. It is a clean style and doesn’t distract from
your writing the way embedded citations do. It also allows for you to make comments within the
footnotes that may include a definition or information that just doesn’t fit into your text.
Do not forget that you may use the PSU graduate writing assistant for help with writing: contact
the PSU Writing Center in the lower level of Lamson Library.
Guidelines for Written Work
No exams will be given during the course. Students’ grades will be based on written work and
journals.
1. Throughout the course, students are required to keep a journal in which they record their
reactions, observations on aspects of the historical sites, notes from your readings and may
include anything else they deem appropriate. The more entries added the more useful the
journal will be in completing other assignments. The journal should not be thought of as a
literary masterpiece, but rather a place to write down ideas, record fragmentary thoughts that
can be picked up later and/or make quick observations that might be forgotten, etc.
Photographs may be added (or used in a PowerPoint). Please type the journal up for
submission.
2. All of the projects must include a bibliography and appropriate citations. The bibliography
should reflect the context of the site (for instance, if students chose to explore the history of
the Fort at No.4, their bibliography should include books on the French and Indian War as
well as books on the actual site). I am happy to look over your citations as you work on
them.
3. Each paper should be double-spaced with one-inch margins (not the Word default of 1.25”)
and 12-point font such as Times New Roman or Palatino Linotype. Sentence structure,
grammar, spelling, organization, citation format, etc. all count. The grade will reflect how
well the topic is addressed and how well the paper is written. Students should submit a draft
for review several days before the final copy is due. You must meet the standards of
academic integrity. As graduate students, it is expected that you will present a professional
product. Lesson plans will follow the same basic format and must include the following
information: grade level, lesson title, objectives, materials, and day-by-day procedures (the
largest section of your lesson plan – how will you get students to understand your
objectives?) as well as some form of assessment.
4. Each paper should have a clear thesis (think in terms of an analytical question that you will
answer using evidence). Underline or highlight your thesis before submitting your
paper. In order to understand this, a good place to start is the website created by Prof.
4
Patrick Rael at Bowdoin College (see link below). In the table of contents in the left margin,
click on Historical Arguments and read the entire section.
5. For all papers, it is imperative that the student work with the professor as s/he develops
a thesis question, gathers sources, finds evidence, develops a thesis, and writes the
paper. The papers will not be accepted without this. To write a good history paper,
process is extremely important.
Writing a History Paper
There are several excellent website available to help you write your paper. A few are:
a. Bowdoin history website: http://academic.bowdoin.edu/WritingGuides/ by Patrick Rael
b. the College of William and Mary’s History Department’s website:
http://www.wm.edu/hwrc/handouts.html
c. Boston University History Writing Guide:
http://www.bu.edu/history/writing_guide.html#style
d. Hamilton College’s “Writing a Good History Paper”:
http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/WritingGoodHistoryPaper.pdf#search=
%22writing%20a%20good%20history%20paper%22
A few very basic writing rules:
a. Use 3rd person (do not use I, me, we, you, us, our, etc.) in your papers.
b. When referring to the past, use past tense. Do not write of past events in the ‘History
Channel’ style using present tense. (“John Adams begins to question the British imperial
message.” should be “John Adams began to question the British imperial message.”) Also avoid
using a ‘past future’ by adding “would.” (Don’t use: “John Adams would begin to question the
British imperial message.”)
c. Start with a basic outline. Know the question you plan to answer, your thesis
statement, and the evidence you plan to use.
d. One draft is never enough. You should go through several drafts before I see the
rough draft of your paper. Have at least one other person read your draft before I see it. Ask
them: what was my thesis? What evidence did I use to prove the thesis? Also ask: Are there
misspelled words? Incomplete sentences? Etc.
e. Number the pages.
Grades will be determined in the following manner:
Journal
10%
Four projects (20% x 3; 30% x 1)
90%