Arts Sample Assignment

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HIST 496: Colloquium

Office Hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 11:15 A.M.-12:15 P.M.

Second Paper Assignment, worth 10% of the final grade:

DUE THURSDAY, April 1, 1999

Each student is required to write a 2-3 page report on a visit to a historical site or museum. Each paper should focus on one particular exhibit within that historical site or museum. It should include a clear account of the purpose and nature of the historical site or museum, as well as the particular exhibit. The paper should also address issues raised in the attached article from the New York Times, as well as in the handout, "Public History and Disney's America". It should address such questions as whether the exhibit has an academic orientation or is geared for a mass audience, how objective it is, how much it was influenced by special interest groups and/or political pressures, how much it reflects trends of multiculturalism, race and gender issues, etc.

Museums that students have visited in the past include:

Ellis Island
South Street Seaport
Museum of the City of New York
New York Historical Society
NYC Transit Museum
Museum of the Native American Indian
Settlement House Museum
Sleepy Hollow Restorations (Hudson River Museum, Washington Irving's House, etc.)
Van Cortlandt House Museum
Holocaust and Jewish Heritage Museum in Battery Park