History on Display

History on Display
Spring 2006
Taught for History, the Honors College, and Graduate Liberal Studies
510:280:01 – History
525:112:01 – Honors Seminar
606:613:02 – Graduate Liberal Studies

Texts

Class Schedule

Guidelines for Assignments

Due Dates

Changes/Updates/Additions

This course will offer the opportunity to consider how historical displays are constructed and the impact such displays have on viewers. We will use multiple museums in London, such as the Museum of London, the British Museum, and the Imperial War Museum, and the surrounding area, including Stonehenge and Bath, as our sources.

Visits to other sites in and near London will be arranged. Our readings will consider a number of issues connected to historical displays, which we will then use as the basis of our site visits. We will examine what displays tell us about history and what they do not say. Our classes leading up to the trip will explore the connections between how history is studied and how it is displayed. We will also consider how history is portrayed on the Internet.

The class will meet eight times during the semester and travel to England during spring break.

Please note that this syllabus is subject to change. Students should check both email messages and the section below called Changes/Additions/Updates.

Objectives:

By taking this course, students should be able to:

understand how museums seek to convey a variety of message to the public;
evaluate how effectively museums offer displays of historical materials;
analyze critically multiple sources of information;
appreciate the cultural experiences available in another country; and
express themselves clearly orally and in writing.

Office hours:

Due to my responsibilities as Associate Dean for Administration and Academic Program Development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, I will not have specific office hours. However, I am generally on campus every day (from at least 7:30 a.m. till late afternoon) and will be happy to meet with you at a mutually convenient time. Call Ms. Betty Skyta, my administrative assistant (x2149), 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. You should also check your email regularly, as I will send messages related to class fairly often. This will be especially important as we get close to the departure date for our trip.

Expectations:

Students are expected to follow these guidelines:

attend class and participate actively and constructively in class discussions,
complete all assignments thoroughly and on time,
show respect for the ideas and beliefs of all members of the class,
treat all members of the class and any visitors with courtesy,
be open to the experiences of visiting another culture, and
read, and respond appropriately to, email related to class, especially that from the professor.

Texts:

We will be reading excerpts from several books about museums and historical displays, as well as a social history of London. Although several of these texts focus on American museums, the points they make will be important ones to carry across the Atlantic with us. In addition, you may wish to purchase a travel guide to London (one is recommended below).

Readings:

Roy Porter, London: A Social History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994).

Selections from Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Englehardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996). Handouts distributed in class.

Selections from Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, eds., Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991). Handouts distributed in class.

Recommended: The Rough Guide to London (New York: Rough Guides, 2005)

Books can be purchased through the University District Bookstore or via an online source such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Class Schedule:

17 January	Introduction to course and trip: assignments, signups, and trip itinerary
24 January	Please turn in your Travel Information Sheet at the beginning of class. Part I: How to build a web page – special guest Emily Corse, Program Administrator for Instructional Design & Technology at Rutgers-Camden. This skill will be useful as you complete the Digital Diary assignment (see below for details). Part II: What do museums do? Read and be prepared to discuss the readings listed below. Submit two questions or topics for our discussion by email to Dr. Rosoff by 10:00 a.m. Museums and Exhibits: Spencer R. Crew and James E. Sims, “Locating Authenticity: Fragments of a Dialogue,” in Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, eds., Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 159-175. Elaine Heumann Gurian, “Noodling Around with Exhibit Opportunities,” in Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, eds., Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 176-190. Museums and controversy Edward T. Linenthal, “Anatomy of a Controversy,” in Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Englehardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), 9-62. Paul Boyer, “Whose History Is It Anyway?: Memory, Politics, and Historical Scholarship,” in Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Englehardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), 115-139. Mike Wallace, “Culture War, History Front,” in Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Englehardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), 171-198.
31 January	Part I: Living in London – special guest Paul Bernstein, Assistant Professor of Theater Part II: Presentation of history on the internet (see separate assignment info); History on the Internet analyses due
7 February	Trip preview and logistics
21 February	Discussion of Porter, part I; analysis of Porter, Part I due Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 1-184
28 February	Discussion of Porter, part II; analysis of Porter, Part II due Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 185-385.
7 March	Save this date for possible trip logistics meeting.
10 – 19 March	Trip to England!!!!!
21 March	Trip debriefing; help available for work on Museum Evaluation and Digital Diary assignments
3 April	Journals due
3 April	Museum Evaluations #s 1-4 due
11 April	Presentations of Digital Diaries
24 April	Museum Evaluations #s 5-8 due

Class 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. Missing more than one class (unless excused) will certainly affect your performance in the class and will lead to a lower grade than you would otherwise receive; you should of course see me if extraordinary circumstances arise.

The assignments, together with their due dates and value, are listed below. Details about each of the assignments can be found below. Your grade for the semester will be based on the percentage of points you earn of the total possible.

Due Date	Assignment	Points
31 January	History on the Internet Analyses (2)	50 pts. each
21 February	Porter Analyis, Part I	50 pts.
28 February	Porter Analysis, Part II	50 pts.
3 April	Journal	100 pts.
3 April	Museum Evaluations – #s 1-4	400 pts.
11 April	Digital Diary	100 pts.
24 April	Museum Evaluations – #s 5-8	500 pts.
Total possible points from assignments; note that additional points will be assigned for constructive class participation.		1300 pts.

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. Assignments that are due on days when our class meets should be turned in at the beginning of class; assignments due on non-class days may be emailed or brought to my office.

Many of your own assignments will be essays, rather than research projects. Nonetheless, 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 or Student's Guide for Writing College Papers, both of which are commonly available. 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.” Be sure to become familiar with our campus Academic Integrity Policy.

Guidelines for Specific Assignments:

History on the Internet: The Internet provides access to masses of information. Many sites devoted to historical topics permeate the Internet. For this assignment, you will explore and analyze two of these sites according to guidelines distributed in class. Each essay in which you analyze your selected web site should be about three pages long and prepared separately. In addition, each student will present a web site she or he has studied to the class, presenting some highlights and noting its strengths and weaknesses. These presentations will be made on 31 Janaury. Click here to see the specific directions and links for this assignment.

Analysis of Roy Porter, London: A Social History: We will discuss Porter’s work in class, using the analysis you will write as the foundation of our discussions. For each part of the book, write a three-page discussion of the questions below. Part I = pp. 1-184; Part II = pp. 185-385.

How did London change during the time periods described?
What were the major physical changes that occurred in the city?
Who were some of the key individuals involved? What role did they play?
What social, cultural, political, and economic effects developed from changes in the city’s physical structure?

Museum Evaluations: For each museum we visit, you will complete an evaluation of how history is displayed. This is the centerpiece assignment for the course, so be sure that your evaluations reflect the importance of the assignment. You will have a series of questions to answer about each museum, so be sure to take ample notes while you are at the museum, since you will probably be writing your evaluations once we return. Click here to see the questions you should use as the basis for your evaluation.

Journal: You are expected to keep a journal during the trip. In your journal, you should record what you have done on each day and your responses to what you have seen. Some topics/questions you might address could include what you learned, how what you saw was different from what you expected, what surprised you, what made you uncomfortable, what you found pleasant, and how your ideas were challenged. For some further guidance about keeping a journal, go to the web site at Eastern Washington University; look particularly at the sections on appropriate and inappropriate journal topics.

Digital Diary: Your journal will form the basis for this assignment, for which you will create a web page that reflects your experiences on this trip. You will also need pictures to illustrate your digital diary; they can be images you’ve taken with a digital camera (probably the easiest option) or with a film camera (you can get a CD-ROM of your pictures when you get them developed at many places) or scanned images of postcards and other printed materials. Your digital diary will have at least ten entries (and thus ten illustrative images); each entry will describe a place you visited or an experience you had and will be accompanied by an appropriate illustration. Please note that your digital diaries will be posted online and thus available for the world to read; you should not put material in your digital diary that would embarrass you (or another member of the class) nor should you post any material that is offensive. During one of our first classes, we will have a workshop on building web pages; you must have a Rutgers account (and a NetId) to complete this assignment.

Changes/Additions/Updates:
Any changes to the schedule will be posted here.

***There will be no class on 3/21. Students may make appointments to meet with Dean Rosoff if they need help or advice on the assignments, all of which are due as originally scheduled. The museum evaluation assignment has been slightly modified in light of the closure of the museum at Wimbledon; click here to see the modified assignment and here to see the addendum to the assignment.

* Graduate Liberal Studies students will need to complete all assignments for the class as well as an additional assignment, which follows. Select a topic related to English history; find, read, and review two books on that subject, discussing the thesis and key points made by the authors and the evidence each uses to support her or his conclusion. Please discus your topic (and book selections) with Dr. Rosoff before proceeding too far into this assignment, which is worth 100 points. We will arrange a due date individually, no later than 1 May.

Museum Evaluation

For each of the museums visited, answer the following questions. Your answers should be in complete sentences and in paragraph form – use the questions below as a starting point. Each evaluation should be 3-4 pages long and is worth 100 points, except for the Stonehenge and Imperial War Museum evaluations, which are worth 150 points each and might be a bit longer. The total value of this assignment is 900 points.

Museums to be evaluated:
1.      Tower of London
2.      Museum of the City of London
3.      Roman Baths
4.      Hampton Court Palace
5.      British Museum
6.      National Portrait Gallery
7.      Imperial War Museum–London; be sure to visit the Children at War exhibit and devote a separate section of your evaluation to it, considering similar questions to those below, but focused on that particular exhibit)
8.      Stonehenge (see Stonehenge-specific questions below)

Name of Museum:

What was the purpose of the museum? How effectively did it meet this goal?

What was your first impression of the museum?
What kinds of materials were displayed? Were the captions and explanatory panels useful? Explain how they were or were not helpful.
What kinds of history (social, political, military/diplomatic, cultural, economic, etc.) were explored and portrayed? What made this an historical museum?
Were the exhibits within the museum effective? What kinds of exhibits worked best? Which were least successful?
Discuss the organization of the museum (topical? chronological? other?). Did the organizational scheme help tie things together and relate one part of the museum to others? Explain how the organization was or was not effective.
What did you find most intriguing or appealing about the museum? Why?
What changes would you make in the museum? Why?
How did the actual museum compare to what you expected to see based on its web site? [Note that you should visit the web site before going to the museum! J]. Would you make any changes to the web site after visiting the museum?
For Stonehenge, examine the plans for the future of Stonehenge. Two sites offer information on these plans: the English Heritage site on the Future of Stonehenge and The Stonehenge Project. After reviewing these plans, discuss what effect you think they will have on how future visitors to Stonehenge will experience the site. What will be different? better? worse?