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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 400 Level Courses > HISP 471X Historic Preservation and Public Memory

 

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

HISP 471 X
Historic Preservation and Public Memory
Combs 25 

Fall 2007
Mr. Hudgins
TR 2:00-3:15                                                                                                        

This seminar, intended for advanced historic preservation students, will explore the role of public memory of things historical in American life and culture.  Historic preservation majors know, as well as any Americans, that historical memory connects our national past to our present and future and that historical memory is shaped by, and depends upon, purposeful tending.  This course will, through discussion of assigned readings and a research project, examine how public memory is created, edited, shaped and shared through processes that include commemorations, festivals, museum exhibits, historic sites, and monuments.  Because this course is sponsored by the Department of Historic Preservation, it will be grounded in subjects that are pertinent to the disciplines and professional areas that contribute to the larger endeavor we call historic preservation, among them historic house museums and museum exhibits.  Our broad goal will be building an understanding of how civic memory creates shared understandings of our past and history’s relevance to how we perceive ourselves, our culture, and our national purpose.  Our exploration of how public memory is created will also give us an opportunity to consider how historical memory reflects regional and national attitudes. 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

  • Readings.  The following books are available in the College Bookstore and, since they will shape our discussion of history, historic preservation and public memory, are required:

    Thomas A. Dejardin, These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory

    Tom Engelhardt and Edward Linethals, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past

    Richard Handler and Eric Gable, The New History in An Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

    Patricia West, Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America’s House Museums
  • Written Examinations.  There will be two, a short quiz on October 4 and a final examination in December.
  • Assignments.  To energize our discussion of how public memory is shaped, we will address four out-of-class assignments.  Assignment #1: Paul Revere contains two parts: First, send me [chudgins@umw.edu] by noon on September 5 an electronic image that depicts Paul Revere; these will be gathered into a Power Point presentation that will guide our discussion on September 6.  Second, bring a 1 to 2-page analysis of the traits of person and “facts” of history that the image you submitted conveys.   Assignment #2: Selling the Past:  You must first order a copy of the catalogs distributed by Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, the Smithsonian, or Winterthur (your order should be placed before class convenes on August 30th).  Submit on October 2 a 2 to 3 page analysis of the contents of one of these catalogs:  Accepting the argument that the income these catalogs secure supports museum operations, what is the shape and texture of the past they invite us to own?  Assignment #3: Dead and Gone:  We will divide the class into two teams, each of which will claim responsibility for completing an analysis of the plan, character and intention of Fredericksburg’s National and Confederate cemeteries.  Your reports, due on November 1, must be illustrated with plans and photographs, should not be longer than 10 pages) exclusive of illustrations) and should lead our discussion that day toward what the cemeteries commemorate.  Each group should plan a presentation of their findings 15 to 20 minutes in length.  Assignment #4: Select from a list of distributed during the first week of classes the topic of a research paper, to be not longer than 10 pages, that analyzes the public purposes and historical intentions of a Fredericksburg area activity, monument, shrine, or site.  We will devote our last three class meeting to short presentations and discussion of the result of your research. More will be said about each of these assignments in class, and additional instructions will be distributed via Blackboard. 
  • Class Participation.  Your active involvement in discussions will be critical to the success of this class.  How historic preservation both shapes and reflects public memory, for our time and for earlier generations of Americans, will become clear only if we talk to each other.  I expect all of you to come prepared to discuss all of the assigned readings.  Finally, because much of the course does turn on your understanding of the readings, you should make and retain notes on each assigned text.
  • Grading Scale.  We will follow The University of Mary Washington grading scale:
    A      “Unusual Excellence” (93 or higher=A; 90-92=A-)
    B      “Work Distinctly Above Average”   (87-89=B+; 83-86=B; 80-82=B-)
    C      “Work of Average Quality”  (77-79=C+; 73-76=C; 70-72=C-)
    D      Work of Below Average Quality (67-69=D+; 60-66+D)
    F      Failure, No Credit”   (0-59=F)
    Final Grade.  Your final grade will be a composite of the following:  the quiz (10%), the final examination (20%), the first essay (10%), the second essay (10%), the third essay (10%), the fourth essay (20%), and class participation (20%).
  • Late Assignments:  Assignments are due at the beginning of the class meeting on which they are due.  Unexcused late work will be severely punished by the loss of ten points, a full letter grade, per day.
  • Honor Code:  This is one of The University of Mary Washington's distinguishing hallmarks and will frame our conduct in this class.
  • Office Hours: I will maintain office hours from 10:00 until 11:00 and 3:00 until 4:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays and from 4:00 until 5:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also available by appointment and can be reached at the Department of History and American Studies where my e-mail address, should you need to communicate with me electronically, is chudgins@umw.edu.  My office phone number is 654-1471.  At home, my phone number is 368-9741.  
  • Topics for Research Papers:

Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery
National Cemetery, Fredericksburg
Other Civil War Era Cemeteries near Fredericksburg
Presbyterian Church Bell
Fredericksburg NPS Visitor Center
Mary Washington Monument
James Farmer Monument
Hugh Mercer Monument
Religious Freedom Monument
Cannon Ball Myth (Presbyterian Church, Kenmore, James Monroe Museum)
Ferry Farm
Chatham
Fredericksburg Dog Mart
George Washington’s Silver Dollar
Mary Washington House
Rising Sun Tavern
Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop
APVA
Fredericksburg Visitor Center Ads
NPS Visitor Center Orientation Film
Fredericksburg Area Museum

CLASS SCHEDULE

I reserve the right to alter the topic of any class meeting, but the days on which papers, readings, and tests are due will not be changed.

CLASS            TOPIC                                                                                  
UNIT ONE:  THE HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUM

August 28            Introduction to the Course                       

ORDER MATERIALS FOR ASSIGNMENT #2

August 30            The Nature of Memory

September 4            Mount Vernon 
Reading                 West, 1-38

September 6            Paul Revere: Visual Memory.  A Discussion

ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE.

September 11            Orchard House
Reading                       West, 39-72

September 13            B.T. Washington
Reading                       West, 129-162

September 18            Monticello
Reading                        West, 93-128

UNIT TWO:  COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG AND HISTORY MAKING

September 20            The “New History” in an Old Place
Reading                         Handler, 3-77

September 25            Presenting the Past
Reading                        Handler, 78-169

September 27            The Culture of History
Reading                        Handler, 170-236

October 2            Retail History: A Discussion

ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE.

October 4            A Short Examination

UNIT THREE: SHAPING THE CIVIL WAR                                                                          

October 9            What Happened at Gettysburg
Reading          Desjardin, 1-60

October 11            Archaeological Society of Virginia

October 16            FALL BREAK

October 18            Markers and Memory
Reading                 Desjardin, 61-126

October 23            Death and Reconciliation
Reading                  Desjardin, 127-192

October 25            Marble Balm
Reading                   Desjardin, 193-206

October 30            Watching the Civil War
 
November 1            Civil War Cemeteries. A Discussion.

ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE.

UNIT FOUR: A RECENT BATTLE FOR THE PAST                                                 

November 6            By the Bomb’s Early Light 
Reading                 Linenthal, 1-62

November 8            Patriotic Memory
Reading                  Linenthal, 63-114

November 13            Who Owns History?
Reading                   Linenthal, 115-170

November 15            Battles for the Past
Reading                       Linenthal, 171-250

UNIT FIVE:            RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS                                                             

November 20            Who Owns Jamestown?

November 22            THANKSGIVING BREAK

November 27            Student Presentations

ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE.

November 29            Student Presentations

December 4            Student Presentations

December 6            Public Memory and the Nation’s Future: A Closing Discussion

Final Examination Thursday, December13, 3:30 – 6:00