Colloquium 245 - Archival Research

This course is part of a new model of tutorials at Amherst designed to enable students to engage in substantive research with faculty. Amherst College is home to one of America's most extraordinary archives of theater history: the Samuel French Collection. In this course, you will work extensively with this collection, using it to enrich your understanding of dramatic literature. Hands-on exercises will teach you basic archival skills. Then, we will collaborate on a large-scale archival project as a class. In frequent seminar-style discussions, we will apply what we learn in the archive to our reading of printed plays.

The theme will vary from year to year. This year’s theme will be “Things Onstage”—that is, the material culture of theater.

Open to sophomores and juniors interested in research. Limited to 6 students. Spring semester. Professor Grobe.