From Martha Ballard to Martha Stewart: Domestic Advice
and Experience in the United StatesHonors Seminar--Spring 2002 Wednesdays 1:20 - 4:00Introduction TextsDue Dates Guidelines for Assigments Class Schedule Changes/Additions
Nancy G. Rosoff Robeson 205
Assistant Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences x6486
Course Description: This course will examine the nature of domestic life at various moments in the American past as well as advice offered about the proper conduct of domestic life. We will visit the worlds of an early American midwife and 19th century middle-class families as well as examining life in the suburbs and exploring recent guides to domestic bliss. Students will use primary and secondary sources to explore the dimensions of domestic life, focusing on four themes: cooking, cleaning, child rearing, and creating domestic space. Much of our analysis will be driven by the consideration of gender. We will also be exploring the transition from domestic experiences based on production to those driven by consumption. In addition, we will examine how domestic advice and experience are constructed and reflected by popular culture. Students may expect to prepare and bring appropriate comestibles.
I believe strongly that students learn best when they, not the professor, are the focus of the classroom. To that end, I expect students to be thoroughly prepared for class discussions and other activities; this view of the classroom demands that you do the reading in a timely manner. This also means that participation in class is essential to your success and to that of the class. You will note further down the syllabus that you are generally required to submit discussion questions to me via email before class.
Office hours--Due to my responsibilities as Assistant Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, I will not have specific office hours. However, I am generally on campus every day (at least from 7:30 a.m. till late afternoon) and will be happy to meet with you at a mutually convenient time. Call x6486 or email me to set up an appointment. In addition, you should feel free to communicate with me by email; I check messages frequently, even when I am not on campus.Teaching Assistant--We are very fortunate to have the assistance of Chris Evans, who will be available to help you with writing and other assignments and will also join me in leading our discussions. She will be reading and commenting on the rough drafts of your final paper. Chris will be available on the days when we would normally meet but do not have class scheduled; you can meet with her in our classroom. She will also be happy to meet with you at another time by appointment. You can contact her via email: cevans@camden.rutgers.edu .
You should plan to meet with Chris Evans about two specific assignments: the Martha Ballard assignment and the final paper. Chris will be available to meet with you by appointment on 26 February (preceding the due date of the Martha Ballard assignment --this meeting is optional) and on 9 or 16 April (the two weeks preceding the due date for the rough draft of your paper--this meeting is required).
Texts--We will read the following books as well as some materials that will be supplied to you in class or are available online. The books are available in the campus bookstore as well as through other sources.
You should note that, while not many books are required reading for the course, those texts we will read require significant time. I expect you to read thoughtfully and carefully, so that you will be able to contribute appropriately and intelligently to our collective discussions.
Leavitt, Sarah A. From Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart: A Culutral History of Domestic Advice. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. New York: Vintage, 1991.
Beecher, Catharine E. and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The American Woman's Home. Rpt. of 1869 edition. Ed. Nicole Tonkovich. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002Class Assignments and Grading:
You will be graded on several short written assignments over the course of the semester as well as on the quality of your contributions to our class discussions. Throughout the semester, as noted on the schedule, you are expected to submit questions or topics for discussion prior to our class meeting. Please be aware that your contribution to our discussions is essential and expected, as is class attendance. Excessive absence will certainly affect your performance in the class and may well lead to a lower grade than you would otherwise receive.
Assignment -- click on a specific assignment for details about it. Due Date Value Contemporary Culture Collage 29 January 25 points Broadcast Views 19 February 100 points Martha Ballard Assignment 12 March 200 points Magazine Messages 2 April 100 points Class Presentation 23 or 30 April 50 points Rough Draft 23 April 50 points Change over Time? (paper) 9 May 150 points Discussion questions/participation ongoing 75 points All assignments should be typed or word processed, using the twelve point size of a standard font. Be sure that you double space and that your margins are of a standard size. Assignments are expected on time; ten percent of the grade will be deducted for each day they are late. I remind you gently of the folly of waiting to the last minute to complete assignments.
You must be sure to cite carefully all sources of information, using a standard format. If you need help knowing what or how to cite, please ask me or one of the reference librarians for help. You can also consult a style manual such as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Please be aware of what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it. The University defines plagiarism as “the representation of the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise.” You may find the following links useful as you seek to avoid problems of this nature.Advice from the Paul Robeson Library, "How to Avoid Plagiarism"Guidelines for Specific Assignments:Web page maintained by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice about plagiarism and how to avoid it
For each assignment, you should try to relate the materials you are asked to examine to the four themes of the course (cooking, cleaning, child care, and creating domestic space). In addition, though no journal is required for the course, you should consider and include your personal response to the ideals being constructed or depicted in the materials under consideration.
Contemporary Culture Collage--Create a collage of words and images that suggest what comprises the domestic ideal in today’s world. Your piece should consider such questions as: what should our homes look like? what sort of food is deemed best? how should it be presented? how and where should our family lives unfold? what should families look like? In additions, bring in three advertisements that suggest what “ought to be” in our homes. Be prepared to discuss the effects of such images and expectations on the lives of ordinary people. Multimedia extravaganzas are welcome.
Broadcast Views--Watch four programs on network or cable television that relate to contemporary domestic experience. One of the shows must be a drama or comedy that has domestic advice as its central focus. At least two other programs should be drawn from those that offer advice about food, gardening, and home design or decoration. The fourth program can be from either of these two categories.For each program that you view, provide a plot summary and then discuss how the four themes of the course are reflected. What messages are being sent about the roles of women and men, boys and girls? What are the domestic ideals conveyed in these programs? Finally, what did you find most interesting, intriguing, or alarming about the programs you watched (either individually or collectively)?
Martha Ballard Assignment--see separate webpage with directionsMagazine Messages--Obtain and examine four or five recent (from January 2002 to the present) magazines devoted to creating a domestic ideal. The following titles suggest appropriate types of periodicals, but you may use any similar type of magazine (if you’re not sure whether a magazine is appropriate, see me): Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, and Woman’s Day. You may also use one magazine devoted to a particular ideal (e.g., cooking) or to the recent movement to simplify our lives.
If you would like to use the web versions of these magazines, you may do so; however, you must use at least one print version. Below are links to some of the magazines that would be appropriate for this assignment:
Better Homes and Gardens Good Housekeeping Bon Appetit Martha Stewart online Cooking Light Real Simple Family Circle Woman's Day As you read through the magazines, compare and contrast how they address the themes of the course. For example, what messages do they send about how to create and maintain the ideal house? Consider as well the role(s) of various individuals (especially women and men) in the domestic realm. How does what you found compare with Leavitt’s analysis of domestic advice literature? Feel free to incorporate your personal responses to the advice offered in the pages you read. You should discuss these questions in a four to five page essay; feel free to use examples from the magazines (but the pages of examples do not count in the page total!).
Change over Time?--With the members of the group to which you’ve been assigned, examine at least four issues from each decade of the Ladies’ Home Journal (1900-1970; the Paul Robeson Library has these years of the Journal on microfilm--be sure to allow yourself time to locate the film, learn how to use the readers, and read through multiple issues). Please note that you have been allocated two weeks of class time to work on this project. Consider how your topic has been treated in the pages of this magazine. Discuss the nature of the articles about your topic and what advice they offer. Do you get a sense of the audience at whom the articles are directed? Do different audiences get different advice? Do the articles suggest any consequences of not following their advice? What message would readers get from perusing the pages of such periodicals.In addition, find two advertisements per decade related to your topic and analyze them by asking questions similar to those listed above. Please make copies of the advertisements to use in your presentations (see below).
Each person will write an eight-page paper about the results of this study, focusing on what has changed and what has remained the same over time. Please note that the papers are not a group project and that I expect individual discussions and conclusions from each of you. You should offer an explanation of what ideals have changed or continued during the first seven decades of the 20th century. In the last part of your paper, compare what you found historically to the ideals that prevail today.
You must turn in a rough draft of your paper on 23 April 2003; it will be read, commented upon, and returned to you on the 30th so that you have plenty of time to make appropriate revisions by the due date. You should schedule an appointment with Chris Evans during class time on 9 or 16 April to discuss your progress on the paper.
Class presentation--Each group will make a presentation about their topic during the last two weeks of class. Your class presentations should focus on the advertisements you found that are related to your topic, using them as a means to analyze change and continuity over time.Thus, your paper will focus more on your individual interpretation of the articles you found and your group’s presentation will look more closely at the messages and techniques used in advertising.
Class Schedule:
Additions to the syllabus or changes to the schedule:
Date Class Schedule 22 January Introduction: what lies ahead? 29 January Collage due. Discussion of domestic images in contemporary culture.
Guest: Librarian Julie Still will visit our class and provide some guidance and instruction in using the electronic resources available through the Paul Robeson Library. Our class will begin in the regular classroom, but will then move through the library.5 February Reading: Leavitt, introduction and chapters 1-4.
Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m.12 February Reading: Leavitt, chapters 5-7 and conclusion.
Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m.19 February Broadcast Views due.
Reading: Ulrich, pp. 1-161. You might want to visit the site developed for PBS when they aired the documentary; one section provides information about historical context. You might also want to compare Ballard's practices to those described by Hannah Woolley, a seventeenth- century Englishwoman, in The Gentlewoman's Companion (1675) or The Compleat Midwifes Practice (1656).
Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m. back to top26 February Work on Martha Ballard assignment; schedule an appointment to meet with me if you need assistance (no class). Chris Evans will also be available to meet with you (please make an appointment with her). 5 March Reading: Ulrich, pp. 162-352.
Film of A Midwife’s Tale.
Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m.12 March Martha Ballard assignment due.
Reading: Barbara Welter, “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,” American Quarterly 18 (Summer 1966): 151-174.
Reading: excerpts from Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, The Gates Ajar (ch. 5), Beyond the Gates (ch. 9 and 10), and The Gates Between (ch.12).
Reading: Beecher, Introduction and chapters 1-2; be sure also to read Nicole Tonkovich’s introduction to the reprint edition.
Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Karin E. Gedge, Department of History, West Chester University19 March Spring Break--no class back to top 26 March Reading: Beecher, chapters 3-36; read the chapters assigned to your group and be prepared to discuss their contents in class. Please note that the chapters are generally fairly short and that the division below represents a relatively equal number of pages.
Cooking: chapters 9, 10, 13
Cleaning: chapters 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34
Child rearing/families: chapters 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, and 24
Creating domestic space: 3, 4, 5, and 6
EVERYONE: chapters 7, 8, 22, 23, 26, 17, 28, 20, 25, 26, 27, 35, and 362 April Magazine Messages Due.
Reading: Margaret Marsh, “Suburban Men and Masculine Domesticity, 1870-1915,” American Quarterly 40 (June 1988): 165-186.
Reading: Margaret Marsh, “From Separation to Togetherness: The Social Construction of American Suburbs, 1840-1915,” Journal of American History 76 (September 1989): 506-527.
Be sure to take careful notes on the reading so that you can discuss these articles with their author. Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to
Professor Rosoff by 10:00 a.m. Bring your discussion questions to class as well as any questions you have about the process of doing historical research.
Guest speaker: Dr. Margaret Marsh, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences & the Graduate School and Distinguished Professor of History, Rutgers-Camden9 April work on the Ladies’ Home Journal project (Change over Time?) individually and with your group (no class). Chris Evans will be available to meet with you (please make an appointment with her). 16 April work on the Ladies’ Home Journal project (Change over Time?) individually and with your group (no class). Chris Evans will be available to meet with you (please make an appointment with her). 23 April Rough draft of paper due to Professor Rosoff in person or via email (by 1:30 p.m.). NO CLASS -- time to continue work on your group presentation. 30 April Class presentations of Ladies’ Home Journal research 9 May Change over Time? assignment (paper) due in my office (third floor--Armitage Hall) by 1:30 p.m. 29 January -- Librarian Julie Still will visit our class to provide information about using particular library resources. Click here for more information.
5 February -- add chapter 4 of Leavitt to reading for today; next week's reading will be chapters 5-7.
19 February -- links to background information for "A Midwife's Tale."
25 February -- if you are interested in the article I mentioned last week, here's the citation: Edmund Morgan, "The Puritans and Sex," New England Quarterly 15 (1942): 591-607. This link may take you to the article, if you have access to the library's electronic resources. If you are unsuccessful in getting the article and would like to read it, I'll be happy to make a copy for you.
4 April -- some updated information about the schedule and your research project:
We are going to do all the class presentations in one fell swoop on 30 April (and therefore will not meet for class on the 23rd--unless there is popular demand to do so). If your group needs special equipment (i.e., VCR or a setup to do powerpoint),
please let me know by the 23rd, so I can figure out how to get stuff there.If your group has planned a time to get together for an initial foray into the microfilm, I can try to meet up with you for part of the time to provide some guidance for you. If you'd like this to happen, let me know as soon as possible when y'all are going to be
in the library and I'll check my schedule to see if I can be there too. No obligation, but I'm happy to help.
