ETA SIGMA CHAPTER OF PHI ALPHA THETA
Stephen F. Austin State University History Department
Student Organized & Operated Platform
Previous Graduate Courses
Fall 2022, Dr. Hampton
Historiography
This course focuses on the nature and development of the discipline of history and how historians have understood and interpreted historical events. The course will concentrate on historiography, theoretical questions, and methodological debates. Reading and writing assignments will be used to focus on topics such as definitions of history, methods of assessing the past, and recent approaches to writing history. More specifically, the course will develop an understanding of the religion in 20th-century United States history, and also examine the importance of race, culture, gender, and class in formulating historical interpretation. Over the course of the semester the seminar will provide you a more complete understanding of the various interpretations and methodological approaches to the writing of history.
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Reading List:
Jeremy Popkin, From Herodotus to H-Net: The Story of Historiography
George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture
Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street
Matthew Sutton, Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America
Lerone Martin, Preaching on Wax
Randall Stephens, The Devil’s Music
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne
Spring 2023, Dr. Taaffe
Civil War Era
The purpose of this class is for students to understand and evaluate the various social, political, ideological, and economic factors that shaped the Civil War era and continue to influence contemporary events. Students will demonstrate their mastery of material through their performance on exams, papers, and class discussion. By the end of the semester students will be able to use their newly acquired knowledge to interpret, analyze, and assess historical sources and contemporary interpretations of the past so as to place current societal debates in historical context.
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Reading List:
James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
James McPherson, Ordeal By Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Class is on a Repeating Schedule, Dr. Sandul
Collections Managment
The course is an introduction to the broad fields of museum and archival work from the history of both areas to issues of theory, practice, development, care, and the use of collections. Staffing and management concerns, educational development, and the social, economic, and political trends that shape collections will also be covered.
This course will introduce students to the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully conduct the management of archival or museum collections. Students will read short essays, extended monographs, and technical briefs as they become familiar with the processes, critical issues, and standard terminology and practices of collections management.
Class is on a Repeating Schedule, Dr. Sandul & Dr. Beisel
Introduction to Public History
An introduction to the ways in which traditional academic history and public history complement and enrich one another. Addresses historical work in such areas as oral history, historical societies, editing projects, businesses, libraries, historic preservation projects, museums, and archives. Includes lectures, guest speakers, field trips, individual projects.
Class is on a Repeating Schedule,, Dr. Beisel
Historic Preservation
This course will introduce students to the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully conduct historic preservation in the United States including laws and best practices, architecture, and preservation theory in American society. Students will read short essays, extended monographs, articles, and technical briefs as they become familiar with the processes, critical issues, and standard terminology of historic preservation. The assignments will include individual and group projects, written and oral reviews, examinations, field trips, and in-class presentations. The “hands-on” emphasis of this course will provide “real world” experiences to complement the traditional reading and lecture phases of a graduate-level course.
Class is on a Repeating Schedule, Dr. Beisel
Nonprofit Management
This course will examine the history, function, and establishment of nonprofit organizations with a specific focus on cultural institutions. The course readings, research presentations, and projects will focus on nonprofits’ legal documentation, guiding statements, board selection and duties, personnel positions and personalities, manuals and policies, and fiscal responsibilities including fundraising and reporting. Although geared towards students interested in organizations such as museums, historic sites, and historical associations, this course will be relevant for any graduate student who plans to work for, consult, or assist nonprofit organizations through occupations in social services, government agencies, tourism, and business.
Class is on a Repeating Schedule, Dr. Sandul
Oral History
This graduate seminar is both a reading seminar and a practicum concerning oral history practice, as well as public history. The relationship between oral history and public history is intimate, precisely because oral history is a major tool utilized by public historians and often oral history projects are historical works geared toward a public audience. Nevertheless, oral history has its own history, development, and unique issues. This course will hence explore how oral history represents a unique historical source that is both similar to and different from other more traditional historical sources, such as written documents, and how oral history has evolved. We will also seek to define the goals, aims, and guidelines for the practice of oral history, including the use of technology and the production of an oral history transcript. More excitingly, this course will offer students the opportunity to be practicing oral historians by working with and interviewing individuals in and around East Texas.
Class is on a Repeating Schedule, Dr. Sandul
Oral History
This graduate seminar is both a reading seminar and a practicum concerning oral history practice, as well as public history. The relationship between oral history and public history is intimate, precisely because oral history is a major tool utilized by public historians and often oral history projects are historical works geared toward a public audience. Nevertheless, oral history has its own history, development, and unique issues. This course will hence explore how oral history represents a unique historical source that is both similar to and different from other more traditional historical sources, such as written documents, and how oral history has evolved. We will also seek to define the goals, aims, and guidelines for the practice of oral history, including the use of technology and the production of an oral history transcript. More excitingly, this course will offer students the opportunity to be practicing oral historians by working with and interviewing individuals in and around East Texas.
Fall 2023, Dr. Beisel
Cultrual Landscapes
This course will introduce students to the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully conduct cultural landscapes research and management in the United States including the field’s historiography, notable laws and best practices, element identification and history, the role of cultural landscapes in American society, and the leading cultural landscapes practitioners and organizations. Students will read short essays, extended monographs, articles, and technical briefs as they become familiar with the literature, processes, critical issues, and standard terminology of cultural landscapes. The assignments will include individual projects, oral reviews and examinations, field trips, and in-class presentations. The primary course objective is for each student to develop the visual and intellectual acuity to perceive cultural landscapes and to investigate their significance in the past as well as how to manage them for the future.