Writing History at the University of Houston

Web Project 3– American Stories

The Women’s Pavilion at the Centennial Exposition
Philadelphia, December 1876.
Albumen photograph. Centennial Photographic Co.
The pavilion housed examples of women’s achievements from painting to patented inventions.

For your third web project you will be asked to become the historian and tell one of America’s stories from the nineteenth century in our visual web format. As we have seen, different historians, all looking at the same evidence, can make different choices regarding what to include and how to construct their narratives. We have also seen how the continuing story of America creates emphasis and erasure, depending on point of view.

Your task will be to take one of the suggested topics and to craft, within our limited parameters, a narrative that explains your topic and informs your viewer. You will have to do the work of any teacher or historian, deciding what to include, what to exclude, and how to tell the story. You should see yourselves as contributors to the national narrative.

List of Topics

For your project consider the following:

A brief overview of your topic.
Primary source material. The historian’s first job is to examine the evidence. You have already done this in examining the slave ads and the paintings. Think about what might be considered primary source material related to your topic. Texts? Photographs? Newspapers? Maps?
A timeline in any format you choose, with at least 5 entries.
Biographical sketches, if your project suggests these.
An interpretation of how your topic fits into or affects the larger concerns of nineteenth century America. Try here to make your own leap, from evidence to interpretation, and not to depend entirely on someone else’s view.
Think about this assignment as a logical extension of your first two projects which included description, historical context, and interpretation.

You are free here to organize your material in any way you choose. Think about how the story will logically flow, both textually and visually. Always keep in mind your audience, that is, someone intelligent and curious, who is not already familiar with the material, and who appreciates a clear, direct, and interesting presentation.

Checklist:

Original title
Brief overview of topic
Some primary source material (ask if you have trouble here)
At least 3 sources, excluding your images
A timeline in any format with at least 5 entries
Interpretation
Approximately 400-500 words of text (excluding the timeline)
In-text parenthetical citations for all material either quoted directly or paraphrased
Acknowledgement of all your sources, both text and image, in MLA format

Tech check:

Page name that reflects the project
Links from your menu page to the project, and from your project back to the menu page
At least 3 images
Alt tags for your images
Link to at least one external website, opening in a new window, giving your viewer more information
Thumbnail of an image

Optional:

More than one page with navigation between the pages
Jumps/bookmarks

Project due – Tuesday, November 27

Image of Women’s Pavilion reproduced from:

Victorian Ideals of Gender. The Library Company of Philadelphia. 23 October 2004. <http://www.librarycompany.org/HookBook/case3labels.htm>