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PUBLIC HISTORY TOURS
Public history is a challenging
art. As public historians you must strike a balance between academic
rigor, accessibility and a compelling presentation. The goal is to inform
and edify, but to do so in a captivating, concise and, yes, entertaining
manner. This is not as hard as it may seem, once you
begin to see history as a set of meaningful narratives instead of a
litany of disconnected facts. Your job is responsible and rigorous storytelling.
The tour component is integral to
the course. There will be five tours: Lower Manhattan, Lower East Side, Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Heights, Harlem and Central Park, and The World Trade Center and the Syscraper. Each tour corresponds to material we will cover in
class, but we will be learning much of the material through the tours. Indeed, there are some topics, Central
Park, for instance, that we will study only as we prepare the tour. Tours are graded using the grade sheet, below.
Each tour will be preceded by the creation of a virtual tour on the web, and followed in class by a short quiz based on the tour,
comprising 20% of your tour grade.
A. Research
You will be working in groups of
3-5, each named for a borough: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan , Queens,
Staten Island. For each tour there will be five categories of historical
research: social/cultural, literary, architectural, political and economic.
Students will rotate through the categories. As you have probably noticed, each tour is locate both in time
(period) and space (place), so that you will be studying the events
that occurred in a particular "where" during a specific "when."
You will be responsible for locating
primary sources on your own, with the consultation of the teacher.
Primary sources are documents or images from the period that tell us
something interesting or useful about the period/place we are studying
for the tour. Such sources would include photographs, lectures, news
articles, editorials, essays, diaries, poetry, prose, etc. There are
source books of materials for each tour (in the classroom bookshelves) , from which you may draw items, but much of your research
will be in historical societies (NY Historical Society, , Brooklyn H.S.,
Museum of the City of New York) and libraries (Fieldston, NYPL). Keep
an eye out for good quotes and visuals that you can laminate and use
on the tour.
Secondary sources will provide context
and analysis for the primary sources you locate on the period/place.
You should begin with the books assigned in class. The books from which
handouts are drawn are on reserve at the library, where you will find
a large selection of sources both on reserve and on the New York shelf
in the stacks. Check also call numbers 974.71, 914.471 and REF 974.71
. The Encyclopedia of New
York City and The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York City
are always good places to begin. The library also has a list of recommended books
on file. There is also a good bibliography in your Homberger. For other
books think of appropriate keywords and use the catalogue to locate
useful material. The librarians will assist you with the electronic
media available. Books from the literature course may prove to be primary
or secondary sources depending on when they were conceived and how you
use them.
B. Tour Preparation
As you look for sources consider
possible themes and topics that will help organize the material for
your audience. Remember, your listeners will be on their feet, not at
a desk, and must be engaged with compelling concepts, clever phrasing,
visual aids, anecdotes, etc. Themes, ie. opportunity, or modernization,
are broad conceptual umbrellas under which you can group various ideas
and events, while topics are more local categories, such as trade-unionism,
or immigration. Look for anecdotes and statistics- the story of a
sweatshop laborer, the number of synagogues on Hester Street- that encapsulate
these larger categories so people are not overwhelmed. Actual quotes
can be very compelling and useful and visual aids are encouraged.
The most important source is the
city itself. You must choose your sites/sights with care and cleverness.
Begin by browsing through the various walking tour books on reserve
(but do not become a prisoner of them, as you will only learn by doing,
and you can do a better job!). Then, after you have begun your primary
and secondary source research, and have some ideas about themes and
topics, go with map in hand (blank maps are in the source books) and
begin to map out your stops with the other members of your group. Remember
to think about which stops will be most memorable, as well as those
which will permit you to include the most important information. Think
about what handouts you might like to have at each stop. Back in the
classroom, you will combine your research with those from the other
groups to decide who will say what where, and produce the final itinerary.
C. Tour Presentation
Tours should be approximately two-and-a-half
hours long. We will finalize the itinerary in class, combining the information
from the five groups. Each tour will have a lead group, responsible
for organizing the itinerary, helping with site selection and collecting
tour notes and multiple choice questions before the tour (see below).
The teachers will coordinate this effort. When we are on-site, the teachers
will make a brief introduction, and then it's up to you. Everyone must
have an opportunity to speak, as you will be graded on your tour preparation
and presentation, as well as your ability to work with others.
Even if you choose not to read directly
from them, prepare notes. These should be in longhand on sheets or notepaper.
The lead tour group will collect these notes, so be neat. Transfer these notes to notecards for the tour,
one notecard for each stop at which you will present. There should be
10-15 stops of 5-10 minutes each. At
each stop, herd the group together, so as to avoid blocking the sidewalk
and prevent losing your voice. Rule of thumb: heels to the curb or heels
to the building. Watch for lights and look ahead to catch walk signs
( so we're not wasting time standing at a corner). Always have more
to say than you plan to use, just in case you need more material. And
remember to stand in the shade.
For the tour, each student should
take their notes and put them on notecards. Each individual student
should have between one and three stops at which to present. Each
student should have the following:
Remember to ask your audience questions and to
ask them for questions. Tours work better as Socratic dialogue, not lecture.
Speak clearly and slowly enough for people to understand you. And, like,
avoid like, um, y'know. it's,
um, not a good way to, um, like, establish credibility, y'know? See
History Tour grade sheet below for more guidelines.
D. The Tours
Click here for a list of tours, schedules and starting points
E. Trip Requirements
F. Quizzes
You will have a 10-question
quiz the first class day after the tour. The quizzes will
make up 20% of your tour grade.
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