First Year Seminar in Honors: Text in the City

59.102 First Year Seminar in Honors: Text and the City

Fall Semest= er, 1 credit

Instructor		Class Section
Office		Class Days
Office Hours		Class Times
Phone		Class Location
E-mail		Campus

The First Year Seminar in Honors (FYSH) uses Lowell as its tex= t. Rich in history and culture, and h= ome to your chosen home for the next four years, the City of Lowell offers a perfe= ct venue for students to connect to their surroundings while learning how to v= iew the city through the lens of the Humanities. Along the way, students will devel= op library research skills and an appreciation for the narratives that lie in buildings, objects, and what people leave behind. As important, we hope our students form strong connections to each other, to the faculty, and to the community. The fall seminar meets once/week and is a one-credit course; it = is paired with a follow-up spring course worth two credits. The Honors Program is pursuing gen= eral education credit in the Humanities for successful completion of this course sequence.

Goals. At the conclusion of this cour= se, students will:

Requirements.= Students are expected to attend class regularly and actively. Seminars are distinguished by joint student-faculty participation and contributions to the learning experience.&= nbsp; You should come to class fully prepared to discuss any readings or assignments for that day, and should participate in class field trips, aski= ng questions and making observations as appropriate.

There are three projects for this semester:

1.&n= bsp; Midterm Project:&n= bsp; This project is designed allow you to integrate what you have learned about the history of Lowell creatively. You will produce a collection of journal entries reflecting the experience of different stakeholders in the Lowell Industrial Revolution.

2.&n= bsp; Final Project:&nbs= p; This project is designed to focus on primary and secondary sources. = You will assemble an annotated bibliography on a topic relevant to Lowell history or culture containing bo= th types of sources, and present what you have learned in class.

3.&n= bsp; Engagement Assignment: This assignment is designed to fos= ter engagement in the City of Lowe= ll while providing choice in the exact nature of that involvement. You will receive a list of venues = and events that qualify for this assignment and must attend three of them across the semester, and then submit a one page reflection paper on the experience.

Texts. Although t= he Honors Program will supply students with two required texts for this course, the primary text is the City of Lowell. Others are:

Dublin= , T. (1982). = Farm to Factory: Women’s Letters 1830-1860. New York: Columbia University Press.

Mrozowski, S.A., Ziesing, G.H., & Beaudry, M.C. (1996). Living on the Boott: Historical Archaeo= logy at the Boott Mills Boardinghouses, Lowell, Massachusetts. Amherst, MA: University of Massa= chusetts Press.

*Foundations*
*Week*	*Date*	*Topic*	*Activity*
1		Introduction	<= /o:p>
2		How it started	Field Trip: Waterwheel
3		Factories & Industry: 19^th Century	Field Trip: Riverway
4		Factories
5		Factories & War: 20^th Century	<= /o:p>
6		Factories & Change: Little Canada & Urban Re= newal
7		Rediscovering the River = and Reinventing Lowell
8		Institute to University: UML	Allen House tour
*Discovering History*
9		Library research	UML Library presentation
10		Primary sources
11		Secondary sources
12		People as sources:&= nbsp; Interviewing, Oral Histories, and Narratives	Mo= gan Center, Oral Hist= ory Projects
13		Things as sources:&= nbsp; Urban Archeology
14		Presentation= s I	<= /o:p>
15		Presentation= s I
16	12/9 evening	Common Final= Class Party Featuring th= e ethnic cuisine of Lowell	Revolving Museum
Annotated bibliographies; primary and secondary sources &nbs= p;