Interdisciplinary Arts 0276 - Past Recaptured: Photos, Facts

This is a research course for intellectuals who are artists and artists who are intellectuals. The course has two goals: (First) To investigate life in the U.S., 1890-1910, an era whose inequities and injustices, inventions and ambitions, panics and disasters eerily resemble our own. Students will sift through collections of archival photographs and an array of primary and secondary written documents to carry out their investigations. Photographs will come from large, on-line, archival collections; newspapers and novels published during the era will serve as primary written sources. (Second) To teach students how to discover and then use visual and written documents to build image/text narratives that, like documentary films, tell true stories about a tumultuous era that gave birth to what now passes for modern life. Prerequisite: Secondary school Advanced Placement(AP) American history and/or American literature.Or: Introductory/Survey college courses in American/European history or American/European literature.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research In this course, students are expected to spend at least ten to twelve hours a week of preparation and work outside of class. This time includes reading, note-taking, writing of multiple drafts, and real-world fieldwork.