History 693E - S: Early American History

This course is designed for students interested in research, writing, in a topic that interests them in early American history, 1620-1840. It aims to develop each student?s repertoire of historical skills in pursuing his or her own definition of what is important and simultaneously a community of early American historians at UMass. The focus will be developing students' abilities to use primary sources of various kinds to develop their hypotheses and arguments concerning topics of their own interest. At the beginning of the course I will require each student to declare a specific interest (e.g. Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson's politics, Native American monetary systems, slave trade in Rhode Island, rum-drinking in Boston, etc.). The student will be then responsible for that topic or area.

Open to Doctoral and Masters History students only. Students may change focus slightly or radically during the course. Students will explore each week a different kind of primary source (probate records, court records, letter books, newspapers, material culture) and how the use of such a source might develop an argument about his or her topic. I will assign essays to offer some historiographical context and examples, but virtually all work will focus on the relationship between primary sources and student topics.

As the semester develops so too should students' research skills,
methodologies, and their mastery of their own topics. Students will write several short papers (five to seven pages) developing their topics and the beginnings of a seminar paper (c. ten pages or more), which some students may elect to finish under an independent research seminar in the spring.