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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 300 Level Courses > HISP 320 American Forms and Values

 UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

HISP 320 AMERICAN FORMS AND VALUES

Dr. Elisabeth Sommer
129 Combs Hall
654-1310 (office)
Office Hours: MWF 11-12 & MW 3-4

This class is all about the materials of history, the things we leave behind, the objects we write about, the traces of things long gone, and what use and meaning they have for our understanding of even the recent past.  We will explore the theories developed by scholars in their attempt to explain the meaning of things, and perhaps develop a few of our own along the way.  We will also consider examples of the role specific objects or types of objects played in American culture and society.

When I say “we” I mean it.  The success of this class depends heavily on your willingness to read the assignments carefully, read them on time, and add your voice to the general discussion.  We will be discussing the readings on the date for which they are listed (in other words, you can’t wait and read them after class that day—well, you can, but I will not be happy).  In addition to discussion you will have the opportunity to try your hand at various types of material culture analysis.

Reading Assignments

  • Steven Lubar and David Kingery eds. History from Things: Essays on Material Culture (in the bookstore-and on Amazon, but I won’t tell if you don’t)
  • Laurel Thatcher Ulrich The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth (same as above)
  • Articles from Ann Smart Martin and J. Ritchie Garrison eds. American Material Culture: the Shape of the Field (on reserve and—hopefully—on the internet)

These will be supplemented by various handouts and, again hopefully, posted on the internet.  If you choose to use the internet for your readings, you will need to print them out in order to have them with you for reference during class discussion.

Writing Assignments
You will have two brief (3-6 page) writing assignments and a midterm article review.  In addition you will have a final project/paper (8-10 pages) in which you will analyze a group of objects, or social practice/ritual using at least one theoretical approach or methodology covered in the class.  If you choose an archaeological approach, then you must outline the strategy you would employ, and how you would analyze your findings.  Students will present their analysis to their fellow students and then present a revised written version (8-10 pages) to me in lieu of a final exam.  Student presentations can be in the form of a website or page, powerpoint lecture, or interactive exercise, but must have some visual or material component.  Project topics must also be grounded in some historical perspective and have my approval before going forward.

I expect written work to follow basic grammatical and spelling rules, be clearly organized with a thesis and supporting argument and/or evidence.  All sources need to be cited (form TBA).  While I recognize that this is not an English course, sloppy writing will affect your grade.

Grading

Discussion/Participation 15%
Short Papers (10% each) 20%
Review Article 15%
Final Project 30%

Here’s the fun stuff!               

Aug. 25: What do objects have to do with Historic Preservation (or, Why the heck am I in this class?)

Aug. 27: The things around us (bring in an object for analysis—no, I’m not going to analyze it, you are)

Aug. 29: Defining Culture: some lessons from Europe (Burke, chapter 2, pp.23-47) What does Burke mean by the “great” and “little traditions”?  Are they monolithic?

Sept. 1: Laboring to Capture Culture (Burke, chapter 3) What are some of the methods scholars use to try to unearth popular culture?

Sept. 3: As Taste of Theory—oh boy! (“Why We Need Things”; “Objects as Instruments: Objects as Signs” in History from Things) How do we use things?  What is the difference between a sign and a symbol?

Sept. 5: A Taste of Theory II—because you just can’t get enough (“The Truth of Material Culture: Fact or Fiction?” History from Things) Brief Writing Assignment (3-5 pages): Summarize and assess Prown’s analysis of either the two teapots, or the two tables.  How does he both contextualize and objectify these artifacts?  Do you find his analysis persuasive?

Sept. 8: Cary Carson Explains it All (“Material Culture History: the Scholarship Nobody Knows” in American Material Culture) What problems and successes does Carson see in the study of material culture?

And now for some examples:

Native Americans and the Encounter with Europeans

Sept. 10: John White’s Paintings and Theodore de Bry’s Prints: an Englishman and a Dutchman Illustrate the “Other.”

(Go to: www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/introduction and compareWhite’s watercolor images of the Roanoke Indians with de Bry’s later etchings.    

 Also read Kupperman “The Carolina Algonquians on the Eve of Colonization”) What examples can you find of ways that de Bry altered White’s paintings when he made his etchings? Do White’s paintings support Kupperman’s argument about his attitude toward the Algonquians?

Sept.12: Material Objects as Evidence of Cultural Encounters (Ulrich, The Age of Homespun “An Indian Basket”) How does Ulrich use the basket to explore the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans?

Early American Domestic Forms and Rituals

Sept. 15: House Forms and the Development of America (Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten “i would have the howse stronge in timber”) How does Deetz use changing house forms to explore changes in Anglo-America culture?

Sept. 17: Embroidery as Social Expression (Age of Homespun “A Chimneypiece”) How does Ulrich tie female needlework to Early American social values and status?

Sept. 19: The Anglo-American Tea Ceremony (Rodris Roth “Tea Drinking in Eighteenth Century America: its Etiquette and Equipage”) What does Roth identify as the significance of tea-drinking and its material culture?

The Rhetoric of Clothing in Colonial America

Sept. 22: The Language of Daily Dress, Women and Men (Baumgarten, What Clothes Reveal “Common Dress: Clothing for Daily Life” pp. 106-122) How did 18th century American clothing “speak?”

Sept. 24: The Language of Daily Dress, Servants and Slaves (“Common Dress” contin. pp. 122-139) Same question as above.

Sept. 26: Clothing as an Expression of Faith: the Case of the Moravian Brethren (It’s all on me today—enjoy the break and get ahead on your reading)

Objects and the Creation of a New Nation

Sept. 29: The Political and Cultural Significance of Homespun (Age of Homespun—surprise!—“Two Spinning Wheels in an Old Log House) In what way, and why, did the spinning wheel come to be viewed as a patriotic object?

Oct. 1: An American Tool (“The American Difference Revisited: the Case of the American Axe” in American Material Culture) What is the argument for and significance of the emergence of a peculiarly American axe form?

Oct. 3: Leather and Literature (no, not what you think, “Leather Stockings and Hunting Shirts” in American Material Culture) What political uses did frontier clothing come to have?  Can you think of modern equivalents?

Oct. 6: Midterm Paper (more to come on this)

The American Way of Death

Oct. 8: Headstones as Cultural Artifacts (Deetz, In Small Things “remember me as you pass by”) What significance does Deetz find in the changing iconography of American gravestones?  Do you think cemeteries are still important in American culture?

Oct. 10: African Burial Practices in America (“Community, Ethnicity and Agency in the Burial Practices of the First African Baptist Church of Philadelphia 1810-1841) What is McCarthy’s evidence for the use of African burial traditions in the First African Baptist Church cemetery?

Oct. 13: Fall Break!! (and none too soon—what, you thought only the students got excited about this?)

Oct. 15: The Cemetery as Park (“The Rural Cemetery Movement: Urban Travail and the Appeal of Nature”) What relationship does Bender outline between urban development and the rise of rural cemeteries?

Landscape as Artifact

Oct. 17: “Field Trip” to Professor Livi Smith’s class for a fabulous lecture on the industrial revolution and its mill towns (with pictures!) Initial proposal for final project due (details on this to come)

Oct. 20: The Significance of Place (History from Things “Common Landscapes as Historic Documents”) How does Lewis think we can “read” a landscape?

Oct. 22: The Planned Town (look at the town plan of Fredericksburg posted on the resources section of the HISP departmental website; I’ll also give you some handouts)

Technological Objects and Social Change

Oct. 24: The Impact of Industrial Technology on the American Home (one group will read “Conduits and Conduct: Home Utilities in Victorian America” and the other will read “Coal Stoves and Clean Sinks: Housework Between 1890 and 1930”) How do the respective authors tie technological developments to changes in domestic ideals?

Oct. 27:  Machines as Social Expressions (History from Things “Machine Politics: the Political Construction of Technological Artifacts”) How does Lubar think machines “reveal culture?”  Do you agree?

Victorian Domestic Culture

Oct. 29: Animals in the Parlor (“Material Culture as Rhetoric: ‘Animal Artifacts’ as Case Study” in American Material Culture) What role did animal artifacts play in the Victorian self-image?

Oct. 31: The Transformation of “Private” Places (“A History of American Beds and Bedrooms 1890-1930”) What happened to the bedroom between the late Victorian period and the “roaring twenties?”

Gender and Space

Nov. 3: A Woman’s Place (“Women and the American Luxury Hotel”) In what ways were luxury hotels “feminine?”

Nov. 5: A Manly Space (“The Lair of the Bachelor”) How does Wagner define places as “masculine?”

Food, Glorious Food

Nov. 7: Video “Food and Life” (no reading) but…second writing assignment due (4-6 pages), also revised final project proposal

Nov. 10: The Social Context of Food (The Way We Eat: Why our Food Choices Matter, introduction and chapter 1; also some handouts) How are eating patterns influenced by social circumstances and cultural values? 

Nov. 12: Food as Fun (“The Evolution of the Ice Cream Stand”)

The Modern American Consumer and Society

Nov. 14: Selling It (“Tupperware: Product as Social Relation” in American Material Culture) What made (or makes) Tupperware socially and culturally significant?

Nov. 17: The Doll Controversy (“Getting Ready: Doll Play and Real Life in American Culture 1900-1980”) What meaning(s) does Washburn identify for dolls within American culture?

Nov. 19: Video “Barbie Nation” (no reading—get working on your final project)

Nov. 21: Extra Day (because you never know when you might need one)

Nov. 24: Guest Lecture by Professor Stanton on “Thanksgiving: a Ritual’s Tradition, Myth, and Evolution” (outline of final project due)

Nov. 26-28: Happy American Ritual Eating Day(s)!

Dec. 1: Student Presentations

Dec. 3: Student Presentations

Dec. 5: Student Presentations

Dec. 10: Final Project Writeup/Paper due to me by 6:00!---

The Office of Disability Services has been designated by the University as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities.  If you receive services through that office and require accommodations for this class, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodation needs.  Bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment.  I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise.  If you need accommodations, (note taking assistance, extended time for tests, etc.), I would be happy to refer you to the Office of Disability Services.  They will require appropriate documentation of a disability.  Their phone number is 540-654-1266.