What is History?
An Archivist's View of Sources and Imagination in
The Search for Explanation
JHU MLA AS 450.756.01
Hodson
316
Wednesdays 6:15-8:30
Schedule:
Please note that the schedule is subject to revision each week and
should be referred to on a regular basis throughout the semester
Wednesday, September 3
Distribution, discussion of syllabus; flash drives distributed for seminar assignments
discussion of first transcription, editing assignment due October 15
Begin the introduction to note taking and writing with Zotero (http://Zotero.org)
Wednesday, September 10
1) Continue the introduction to note taking and writing with Zotero. Students with laptops to bring them to class. Discuss draft of instructions.
Transcription and Editing Assignments: Part I
2) Lecture: "An Archivist's View of Sources and Imagination in The Search for Explanation: The Future of Public Archives"
3) Have read and prepare to
discuss:
"MahVuhHuhPuh" from The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, by Sven Birkets. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1994, pp. 11-32.
History's Ethical Crisis from The Journal of American History, March 2004
Leo Tolstoy, the Second Epilogue to War and Peace (http://tolstoy.thefreelibrary.com/War-and-Peace Second Epilogue Chapters I-XII)
Gertrude Himmelfarb, "Where have all the Footnotes Gone?"
Wednesday, September 17
1) Finish presentation of web resources at the Archives (and elsewhere as they relate to the objectives of the seminar); Discuss draft of instructions for Zotero and note taking in general; using the white board in Zotero for composition.
2) continue discussion of the reading from last week, especially History's Ethical Crisis from The Journal of American History, March 2004 and Gertrude Himmelfarb, "Where have all the Footnotes Gone?" .
3) Schama:
Begin discussion of Schama, pp. 1-72
(After break) continue discussion of Schama, pp. 73-170
Wednesday, September 24
continue discussion of Schama and the Webster Case, pp. 171-273.
after break conclude discussion of Schama, pp. 274-326, and discuss reviews
Wednesday, October 1
review/discuss zotero note
taking and transcription assignments; refer to draft
of instructions for implementing Zotero and backing up transcription
assignments.
view and discuss the American
Experience program, Murder at Harvard
discuss Robert Sullivan, The
Disappearance of Dr. Parkman
Wednesday, October 8
Introduction to the Wikipedia assignment and the process for selecting topics
Transcription and annotation assignment discussed
be prepared to discuss Stryon, Confessions next week
Wednesday, October 15
Transcription/editiorial assignment, minimum of 1st 10 pages due for review
Begin discussion of Styron, Confessions, through ca. p. 200.
Wednesday, October 22
Wednesday, October 29
possibly begin discussion of Aptheker. Nat
Turner's Slave Rebellion
Wednesday, November 5
Student Progress Reports and discussion of sources; Wikpedia assignment questions
Wednesday, November 12
Student Progress Reports and discussion of sources ; Wikipedia assignment questions
Wednesday, November 19
Student Progress Reports and discussion of sources ; Wikipedia assignment questions
Wednesday, November 26
No Seminar. Allocate Seminar time to research and writing.
Wednesday, December 3
Wednesday, December 10
Hand in flash drives (with CD documentation if more space is needed); evaluate the seminar at the
Papenfuses, 206 Oakdale Road, Baltimore 21210 during usual seminar time; return to a discussion of Tolstoy's struggle to explain the relationship between fiction (the novel) and history.