Assignment 1

History in Your Community

 

The assignment addresses two of the goals of the course: learning to think like a historian, and proficiency in discursive prose. Do two things to complete the assignment.

 

1.      Visit a historical museum or a historic site. It is not possible to define precisely what constitutes a "historical museum" or a "historic site," and so let's stick with museums or sites that are officially constituted or designated as such. Historical museums are constituted by historical organizations; historic sites are designated (and usually marked) by historical agencies. You already know what I'm talking about in a common-sense way, but I want to be as explicit as possible for purposes of the assignment. If you have a question whether a museum or site is suitable, ask your instructor. The museum or site can be anywhere—in Fargo, in your old home town, in your current residence, in Moscow, for that matter—but it must be a physical museum or site, not a virtual one.

2.      Write a paragraph reporting on your visit to the museum or site and your thoughts about it. This paragraph should be sound in composition and should be not only descriptive but also reflective. You should make an evaluation of the museum or site in the manner of a historian (see remarks and rubric below).

 

Here's a hint about evaluating a museum or site in the manner of a historian. Recall the discussion in Lecture 1 about the purposes of History: judgment and identity. Museums and sites are about identity. In constituting a museum or designating a site, someone is asserting an identity. Someone is telling a particular story in a certain way. The story has purposes, values, and interpretations in it. Sometimes these are explicit, sometimes you have to induce them, and sometimes they are sort of mixed up, but it is up to you to note and evaluate them. Concisely, since this is a short assignment.

 

 

 

Rubric for Grading "History in Your Community"

 

Is the museum or site clearly identified—name, location, organization, date of visit?

2

Is the museum or site described clearly and concisely?

10

Are the outstanding features of the museum or site noted?

6

Does the report evaluate the purposes, values, and interpretations conveyed by the museum or site?

10

Is the report sound as to rhetoric and style?

2

Total Points Possible

30

 

 

Assignment 2

 

Note: Before answering this part of the assignment, please read Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, edited and abridged by Heffner.

 

Read the introductions, by both the editor and the author, to Democracy in America. Reading the introduction by Tocqueville himself, consider what he is trying to do in his book. Also read the background material provided by Heffner. Here are a few questions you might ask yourself and then answer the following questions:

 

·         What sort of a man was Alexis de Tocqueville? What was his background?

·         Why did he come to America in 1831-32? What was his quest?

·         Why does Tocqueville want to study American democracy? Why is the subject important? What does he think of democracy? What is the future of democracy?

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