Studies in American Cultural History:
The History of the Middle Class
Sarah McNair Vosmeier
First Page | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | |
Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | |
Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 |
Transcription project 12%
Exhibit project 13%
Primary source analysis 20%
Midterm 20%
Final 25%
Participation 10%
Nota Bene
Our class time provides an opportunity, rare in modern life, to focus for an extended time on a single task and conversation. Please do not multitask – to avoid distraction for others and temptation for ourselves, we will not use laptops, cell phones, etc. in our classroom.Late papers will be penalized, and in-class assignments cannot be made up. If you have an emergency and want to request an exception to this rule, contact me before the due date.
About items needed for this class:
All readings are available on reserve at the Duggan Library or online. Our discussions will be based on close readings of those texts, and you will need notes on the texts in the form of marginalia. Thus, you should budget appropriately for printing and photocopying in addition to the books you purchase. (My class records show that the printing costs associated with marginalia pay off in significantly better grades.) The following are available at the bookstore:About Writing Assignments, Exams, and Participation:
Writing Assignments
Transcription project: You will transcribe a portion of a manuscript from the Duggan Library Archives and write a short essay putting it in historical context (450-900 words).Exams
The exams will include identifications and essay questions.
Introduction, Definitions, and Background
Sep. 3, 2018 (Mon.) "Defining Terms" (lecture).
Sep. 5, 2018 (Wed.) Vosmeier, "On Marginalia," 2015 (online); Luhby and
Baker, "What Is Middle Class, Anyway?" 2016 (online);
Vosmeier, "Thinking about Class in History," 2012 (handout).
Sep. 7, 2018 (Fri.) "Documents for Thinking about
Culture and History," 1851, 1859, 1974, 2002, 2006 (online).
Sep. 10, 2018 (Mon.) Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto, 1848 (excerpt online).
Origins of the American Middle Class
Sep. 12, 2018 (Wed.) "Origins of the American Middle
Class" (lecture). Vosmeier, "On E.P. Thompson," 2014 (handout).
Sep. 14, 2018 (Fri.) Goloboy, "The Early American Middle
Class," 2005 (online -- click on "PDF full text" to the left, and
print out).
Sep. 17, 2018 (Mon.) "College Life: The Nineteenth Century" (lecture). "College Life at the University of North Carolina, 1795-1845" (online).
The Middle Class, 1850-1900
Sep. 19, 2018 (Wed.) "Late Nineteenth-Century America"
(lecture).
Sep. 21, 2018 (Fri.) Kasson, "Disciplining the
Audience," 1990 (online);
Headley, "Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Great Riots," 1873 (excerpt online);
Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1885 (excerpt online).
Sep. 24, 2018 (Mon.) Research workshop:
historical detective work. Meet in Duggan Library Archives.
Transcription due.
Sep. 26, 2018 (Wed.) Writing workshop: "Use of
Sources." "Style Guide for Chicago Manual Footnotes" (online);
Hacker, Rules for Writers, ch. 51, 54. Meet in the
Learning Center.
Sep. 28, 2018 (Fri.) Zakim, "The Business Clerk as
Social Revolutionary," 2006 (pdf
download); Spencer, Practical Penmanship, 1869
(excerpt (online).
Material culture workshop: writing tools.
Oct. 1, 2018 (Mon.) Alling diary,
1883-1884 (excerpt online).
Transcription essay due.
Oct. 3, 2018 (Wed.) McCarthy, "Class Struggle in the
Parlor," 2008 (online
-- click
on "pdf full text" to the left and print out).
Material culture workshop: china.
Oct. 5, 2018 (Fri.) Mahady, "Dominance of the Fittest,"
2002 (online
-- click on "pdf full text" to the left and print out).
Oct. 8, 2018 (Mon.) Review.
Oct. 10, 2018 (Wed.) Midterm exam.
The Middle Class in Museums and Archives
Oct. 12, 2018 (Fri.) Moskowitz, Standard of Living,
2004 (pp. 19-63). Material culture workshop: flatware.
Fall Break
The Middle Class through World War II
Oct. 22, 2018 (Mon.) "Early Twentieth-Century
America" (lecture). Material culture workshop: writing tools.
Oct. 24, 2018 (Wed.) Writing workshop: Exhibit
labels. Romanowski, Exhibit Label Script Guidelines," 2015 (online
pp. 3-9). Exhibit project: Essay due in class.
Oct. 26, 2018 (Fri.) Assignment t.b.a.
Oct. 29, 2018 (Mon.) Bibliographic
Instruction. Meet in Duggan Library computer lab.
Oct. 31, 2018 (Wed.) "College Life: Through World War
II" (lecture). "Chapter Houses," 1894 (excerpt online);
Hanover College news, 1903 (online);
College Equal Suffrage League news, 1912 (online);
Hanover Songs, 1924 (excerpt online).
Nov. 2, 2018 (Fri.) Moskowitz, 220-238; Peixotto, Getting
& Spending, 1927 (excerpt online).
Nov. 5, 2018 (Mon.) Smith,"Childhood, the
Body, and Race Performance," 2006 (online
-- click on "pdf full text" to the left and print out)
Nov. 7, 2018 (Wed.) Anderson, "Beautiful New Homes,"
2013 (online
-- click on "pdf full text" to the left and print out).
The Middle Class since World War II
Nov. 9, 2018 (Fri.) "Recent American History"
(lecture). Mills, White Collar, 1951(online);
Green, The Negro Motorist Green Book, 1948 edition (online).
Nov. 12, 2018 (Mon.) Hurley, Diners,
Bowling Alleys, and Trailer Parks, 2001 (on reserve: pp. 1-19,
107-10, 191-98, 227-36, 247-53).
Nov. 14, 2018 (Wed.) "Chapter Houses," 1894 (excerpt online);
Gelber, "Do-It-Yourself," 1997 (online
-- choose "download pdf").
Nov. 16, 2018 (Fri.) "College Life: Since World
War II" (lecture). "Additional Information for Soldiers," 1944 (online);
"Town and Gown in Jefferson County, 1969-1970" (online).
Nov. 19, 2018 (Mon.) Primary
source analysis due.
Thanksgiving
Nov. 26, 2018 (Mon.) Simpson, Above
the Shots, 2016 (Part Three: "A Bullet is a Drastic Answer," pp.
79-113, online).
Meet in the Duggan Archives.
Nov. 28, 2018 (Wed.) Brooks, Paradise Drive,
2004 (on reserve: pp. 142-45, 153-65, 173-85). Additional
assignment t.b.a.
N.B.: Nov. 28 film screening, 3:00,
Classic 102.
Nov. 30, 2018 (Fri.) Discussion of film t.b.a.
Dec. 3, 2018 (Mon.) Brooks, pp.
38-63, 69-77; Davidson and Blumberg, "Global Pool of Money Got Too
Hungry," 2008 (online).
Dec. 5, 2018 (Wed.) Reeves, Dream Hoarders,
2017 (excerpt online).
Dec. 7, 2018 (Fri.) Review.