Current and Recent Course Descriptions and Schedules
Spring 2020 Course List
- HIST 410: Writing Public History (Dr. Elliot Gorn)
- HIST 450: 19th Century America (Dr. Timothy Gilfoyle)
- HIST 464: Transnational Urban History (Dr. Edin Hajdarpasic)
- HIST 482: Archives and Record Management (Kathy Young)
- HIST 558: Studies in American Cultural History (Dr. Michelle Nickerson)
Spring 2020 Course Descriptions
HIST 410: Writing Public History
Tuesdays 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Mundelein Center, Room 515
One of the most important forms of public history begins with old fashioned words on the page. Focusing on the U.S., we will explore writing as a form of public history. What is the relationship between academic history writing and writing for the public? How do we assess the work of non-academic historians? Of journalists? Who gets to be called a historian? We will read a range of historical narratives.
HIST 450: 19th Century America
Wednesdays 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Crown Center, Room 528
Modern, industrial America was born in the nineteenth century. The United States experienced its most remarkable changes between the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. American cities and per capita levels of immigration increased at their greatest rates ever. The most sophisticated form of coercive labor in world history became a dominant institution. A new feminine ideal flourished. The factory was born and industry replaced agriculture as the nation’s dominant economic force. The public school, the Mormons, the prison, the department store and "Wall Street" were created. The United States completed its final continental boundaries. Political officials left imprints which still define American politics and culture: James Madison, Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. An American literary renaissance produced canonical writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, Edith Wharton and Walt Whitman. And the century witnessed the most devastating war in U.S. history. This colloquium provides a historiographical introduction to some of the major questions and issues of nineteenth-century America. More broadly, since many contemporary American institutions and social problems originated during these years, this course will enable students to better comprehend the history and culture of their own time.
HIST 464: Transnational Urban History
Mondays 4:15 pm – 6:45 pm
Cuneo Hall, Room 212
This class exposes students to the history of cities across a broad spectrum of time and place. The level of analysis is both more global and more local than traditional narratives of the nation state.
HIST 482: Archives and Record Management
Wednesdays 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Information Commons, Room 215
(registration requires instructor consent)
Kathy Young
The purpose of this course is to introduce and understand core concepts and methods of the archives profession. Students are introduced to issues and principles in archives and gain insight into the practical application of these principles.
HIST 558: Studies in American Cultural History
Thursdays 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Dumbach Hall, Room 124
Research seminar using primary sources in American cultural, social, technological, intellectual and institutional history. Students will learn how to locate and analyze archival materials to develop an original article-length research paper.
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Fall 2019 Course List
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HIST 400: 20th Century Approaches to History
- HIST 410: Professional Lives of Historians
- HIST 459: Environmental History
- HIST 461: 20th Century America
- HIST 479: Public History Media
- HIST 480: Public History: Method and Theory
- HIST 483: Oral History: Method and Practice
Fall 2019 Course Descriptions
HIST 400: 20th Century Approaches to History
Wednesday 4:15 pm -6:45 pm
(registration requires instructor consent)
Dr. Edin Hajdarpasic
The course focuses on twentieth-century historical writing, emphasizing changing interpretive paradigms and innovative methodologies, and will introduce students to the range of topics and influences that now shape the discipline.
HIST 410: Professional Lives of Historians
Tuesday 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Dr. Patricia Mooney-Melvin
This course explores pedagogical, professional, and ethical issues of importance to historians. We will examine the many identities of historians and the relationship between training in history and career pathways. Required of all second year and first year PhD students. Open to all other students as an elective. The course begins in the fall and ends in the spring semester. The fifteen weeks of the course will be spread over two semesters. Each student will complete a professionalizing project.
HIST 459: Environmental History
Thursday 4:15 pm - 6:45 pm
Dr. Theodore Karamanski
Environmental history expands the customary framework of historical inquiry, incorporating such actors as animals, diseases, and climate alongside more familiar human institutions and creations. While the majority of the books will address North American environmental history, we will also read selected works exploring the subject from a transnational perspective. This class will be based on weekly discussions of classic and cutting-edge environmental history books. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their participation in discussion and on a research or historiographic essay due at the end of the term.
HIST 461: 20th Century America
Tuesday 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Dr. Michelle Nickerson
Reading and discussion seminar, students will read monographs and articles in recent US history, including social, cultural, intellectual, and other approaches. Final assignment will be a long historiographic paper.
HIST 479: Public History Media
Thursday 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
(registration requires instructor consent)
Dr. Elizabeth Hopwood
An introduction to the use of digital humanities and public media. Through a series of assignments, the class will explore current conversations in digital humanities and new media, and address practical problems involved in digital humanities-based methods and methodology toward the preparation of various media projects, such as exhibits, podcasts, public conferences, video documentaries, web-based media, and community-level outreach projects. For the purposes of this course, the class will constitute itself as a historical consultant company and work as a group. The final product of each assignment will be a full-blown proposal appropriate for each type of media project.
HIST 480: Public History: Method and Theory
Monday 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
(registration requires instructor consent)
Dr. Patricia Mooney-Melvin
This course explores the field of public history with special emphasis on the theoretical and methodological challenges faced when preserving or presenting history outside of a formal classroom environment. Also under consideration will be the professional and ethical responsibilities of the historian both inside and outside of the university setting. Students will be able to understand the theoretical and methodological issues of importance to the field of public history, reflect upon ethical issues involved in the collection, curation, and presentation of history, and participate in applied projects drawing upon public history methodologies and presentation modes.
HIST 483: Oral History: Method and Practice
Tuesday 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
(registration requires instructor consent)
Dr. Meagan McChesney
This course will give students a basic understanding of oral history by asking several questions of the discipline, including: What exactly is oral history and what sets it apart from other historical research methodologies? What are the ethical issues involved in undertaking oral history? How does one conduct, record, and archive an interview? What steps are necessary in constructing an oral history project? What are the merits of the various products that can be derived from oral history in both texts and multimedia? In addition to reading oral historical texts and theory, students will conduct at least two interviews and participate in an ongoing oral history project.
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