Home Department: Historic Preservation

Faculty

History and American Studies: Krystyn Moon, Jeffrey McClurken

Curriculum (18 Credits)

Course Offerings

• 309 – Anthropology of Art (3)
  Anthropological approaches to understanding art, focusing but not limited to non-western art forms such as painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, textiles, body art; relationship among meaning, material, and aesthetic; mutual influences of western & non-western art; collection, globalization, and copyright of non-western art.

• 341 – Practices of Memory (3)
  Prereq: ANTH 101 or 200 or permission of  instructor. Collective memory, or a shared understanding of the past, plays a vital role in group identity and in the way present events are understood.  But memories are made in the present, and they are always selective.  Indeed, remembering always involves forgetting.  What is remembered and forgotten can be extremely important: the stories we tell about our past, the events we commemorate, the museum exhibits we visit, the films we produce and watch, and the monuments we build all play a significant role in defining our identity by shaping how we view the past.  For this very reason representations of the past are a source of political power and often become the focus of conflict. In this course we will examine the concept of collective memory, consider the ways different groups construct representations of the past in different contexts, and explore conflicts over remembering.

• 342 – Touring Cultures (3)
  Prereq:  ANTH 101 or 200 or permission of instructor.
  In this course we will explore “touring cultures” – cultures of tourists and tourism, as well as the cultures of those toured and the effects of tourism on them.  Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world today, but also represents a specific form of experience and a culture unto itself that some authors have compared to religious pilgrimage.  We will examine interactions between tourists, local residents, and institutions; and the ways people, places, and historic periods are produced and packaged for consumption by tourists.  Other topics will include the connections between tourism and issues of leisure and consumption, globalization, class and ethnic identities, authentic vs. manufactured experiences, and sex tourism.  We will also examine the increasing dependence of many communities on tourist dollars for their livelihood and how this affects those communities.

• 371 – Special Topics
• 491, 492 – Individual Study and Research
• 499 – Internship

• 315 – Art Museum Studies (3)
  Prereq: ARTH 114 and 115, advanced standing in Studio Art or Art History, or permission of instructor.  Examines the art mu
  seum and its role, including: developing and managing collections and exhibits; interpretation and museum education for diverse audiences; funding, governance; and ethics and values.

• 317 – Laboratory in Museum Studies (3)
  Prereq:  ARTH 315 or HISP 200 or permission of instructor. Through the creation of a hypothetical museum, students gain experience working in a team environment as they apply their knowledge about museum audience, collections, education, exhibition, organization and administration, physical plant, and public relations.

• 470– Special Studies in Art History
• 491, 492 – Individual Study in Art History
• 499 – Internship

• 380 – Archaeology of the Greek and Roman World (3)
  Prereq: ARTH 114 or Classics/CPRD 101.  Overview of the history of Greek and Roman archaeology; techniques of excavation, cataloguing, and conservation; and ethics, global issues, and sensitivities classical archaeologists face.

• 491, 492 – Individual Study in Classical Civilization
• 499 – Internship

• 200 – Introduction to Museum Studies (3)
  Survey of the history, philosophy, and management of history museums, including curatorship and public interpretation.

• 208 – Introduction to Conservation (3)
  Overview of conservation as a specialized professional discipline, including the field’s history, ethics, and common practices for documentation, stabilization, analysis, and treatment.

• 303 – Archives & Society: combines both the organization, maintenance, and preservation of archives with the use of archives for research. Availability of this course is dependent upon funding.

• 463 – Laboratory in Museum Design and Interpretation (3)
  Prerequisite: HISP 200 or permission of instructor.  Examination of the principles of museum exhibit design and interpretation, including participation in exhibit preparation.

• 471 – Special Studies in Historic Preservation

471 LL: Preserving and Interpreting African American Sites and Structures
An introduction to the methods and processes the nation, working through both private and public organizations, has sought, through the preservation and interpretation of places and buildings related to the African-American past,  to recover and to honor, the contributions African-American men and women, slave and free, made to the founding and flowering of our nation. But, because this process is still very young, this course, organized as a seminar, will provide an opportunity for us to contribute to what we know and how we should protect it for future generations. In short, we will be learning about the African American experience, reviewing how it has been interpreted, and contributing to its recovery, analysis, and interpretation. The course is particularly relevant to students who have indicated that they are interested in a career is history museums.

471 SS: Education and Interpretation in Museums and Historic Sites (3):
The job of museum curators and educators is to provide interpretation and context for the objects and information put on display or websites.  These professionals are charged with guiding museums and historic sites in the choosing of objects, crafting the stories the objects can tell, and determining the best means of communicating these stories.  This course will provide an overview of this process and will consider the general connections in the interpretive and educational aspects of all types of museums.  We will examine object-based history, the successes and pitfalls of the public presentation of history, and the relationship between educational theory and practice.

471TT:  Museum Curation and Collections Management in the 21st Century (3):     This class will focus on an understanding of the principles and practices of developing, exhibiting, and caring for collections.  The first part of the class will cover the larger cultural and intellectual perspective necessary for identifying collections needs, developing an effective collection, and exhibiting artifacts from the collection.  The second part will focus on practical issues of managing the collection, from accessioning to de-accessioning, and will include training in the use of Past Perfect software and Nomenclature.  Examples and discussion will be drawn primarily from the fields of history and art, although we will also cover the anthropological aspect of natural history museums.  As a 400 level class, students will be expected to engage with the readings and participate in class discussions.  It will also include opportunities for hands-on and individual experience in both the curatorial and managerial aspects of collections.

471X: Historic Preservation and Public Memory (3):            This seminar will explore the role of public memory of things historical in American life and culture. Historical memory connects our national past to our present and future and that historical memory is shaped by, and depends upon, purposeful tending. This course will, through discussion of assigned readings and a research project, examine how public memory is created, edited, shaped and shared through processes that include commemorations, festivals, museum exhibits, historic sites, and monuments. Because this course is sponsored by the Department of Historic Preservation, it will be grounded in subjects that are pertinent to the disciplines and professional areas that contribute to the larger endeavor we call historic preservation, among them historic house museums and museum exhibits. Our broad goal will be to build an understanding of how civic memory creates shared understandings of our past and history’s relevance to how we perceive ourselves, our culture, and our national purpose. Our exploration of how public memory is created will also give us an opportunity to consider how historical memory reflects regional and national attitudes.

• 491: Individual Study in Historic Preservation
• 499: Internship

• 471– Special Studies in History

471 C3 – Digital History (3)
Prerequisite: HIST 299 or with permission of instructor
This seminar will focus on the process of creating digital history. The course readings, workshops, and discussions expose students to the philosophy and practice of the emerging field of History and New Media. The course will be centered on the creation of four digital history projects, all of which are related to making local resources available online. These projects include the creation of an online presence for the James Monroe Papers, the construction of a site expanding on the state historical markers in the Fredericksburg area, the expansion of digital work previously done on James Farmer’s presence on campus, and the digital exhibit for UMW’s Centennial.

• 491 – Individual Study
• 499 – Internship