HIST
200 Introduction to History
Clio (Nuremberg, 1514)
The point of this
class it for you to learn to think like a
historian. All
of you are interested in history, and all of you have chosen to become
historians and spend your life doing history. This class will help you
figure
out if you have made the right choice and to understand how history is
done. We
will look at the types of questions historians ask, what sorts of
sources we
base our answers on, how these answers are constructed, and what sorts
of
things historians produce. Once you are done with this class you will
be able
to understand better what is going on in your history classes and in
all the
books, articles and other things you will be reading. You will also be
in a
position to start working as a historian yourself.
Professor Alan
Baumler 216 Keith phone phone
7-4066
E-mail baumler@iup.edu Office Hours MWF 11:00-12:00 and
1:30-2:30
http://www.chss.iup.edu/baumler/index.html
Books
Arnold, John
H. History: A Very Short Introduction.
Oxford University Press, USA, 2000.
Benjamin, Jules R. A Student's Guide
to History. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.
Cohen, Paul A. History in Three Keys.
Columbia University Press, 1998.
1/14 History in Indiana,
Pennsylvania.
Why do people care about history? How do they care about history?
Despite the grumbling historians sometimes do people care an awful lot
about history and we will look at some of the historical infrastructure
that exists here in Indiana.
Public History in Indiana. The history department at
IUP. History on TV
1/28 History: A Very Short
Introduction
We are of course not the first historians, and Arnold will introduce us
to many of the things historians have done and how they have approached
history. We will also spend some time on how to read a book,
understand what the author is trying to do with the book and how to
discuss it in class.
Read Arnold, Thucydides
2/4 More Introduction
We will continue with Arnold and do a bit more with the modern uses of
history.
More Arnold, Saburo
Ienaga
2/11 Electronic history
Although historians have been around for a while some of the tools we
use are quite new. Your professors had to learn to find books in card
catalouges and had to write bibliographies by hand (in the snow!)
Thanks to modern technology most of this work can be done for you
automatically
Zotero
Diigo
World Cat and all that
2/18 History in Three Keys
This is the monograph we will be reading together.
We will discuss what a monograph is and why historians take them so
seriously,
Read first part of Cohen
Event history and how historians create it.
2/25 Cohen Part Two-How people
experience events
Experience (making an event). Lived experience and the Long Duree. Is a
famine an event?
Read second part of Cohen
3/7 Cohen Part Three -What
people do with events
We will discuss Cohen's use of the term "myth" and the
uses people have for history.
Spring Break (A good time to visit
some historical sites)
3/17 Primary Sources.
Historians love primary sources, and working with them is part
of being a historian. We be analyzing and writing about a few
sources on the Boxers and also some other things.
Guide to working
with primary sources
Twain
To the Person Sitting in Darkness
Selections from Weale Indiscreet
Letters from Peking
3/24 Primary sources. Finding them for
yourself
Lots of history is done with primary sources provided to
you in source books or whatever, but will will also work on finding
them in the wild.
3/31 Research and bibliography
History students love doing research. Part of this class will
involve doing some of the preliminary research for a research paper on
a topic of your choosing. This week we will be working on framing
a question and basic research tools.
4/7 Film and history
Lots of people get their ideas about history from
the movies, and looking at film is a way for us to discuss the
relationship between popular and academic history. We will be
watching Fifty-Five
Days At Peking which in addition to being possibly the worst acting
job of Charlton
Heston's career manages to be about both the Boxers and the Cold War.
4/14 Research II
We will continue with the research project and how to present your
research. Part of this is learning Turabian style
and also learning to do an annotated bibliography.
Read Benjamin
4/21 Jobs and such
How historians pay for food. We will talk about
teaching, public history, and other fields that historians go into.
Grades
Arnold
Paper
15%
Primary source project
20%
Cohen paper
20%
Film review
10%
Research
project
25%
Quizzes and class participation
10%
Attendance policy-- You are expected to come to class every day,
but the point is not just to come to class, but to come having done
your reading and being ready to talk about it.
Academic dishonesty-- All students are required to abide by the
University's
policies on Academic Integrity, as found in the catalogue.
