|
|
 |
|
|
|
HISTORY ON THE LAND
Course Syllabus - Spring 2024
REQUIRED READINGS.
Required readings will be assigned from the following books,
which should be purchased if possible.
Town Planning in Frontier America is now out of print,
and a copy is on reserve at Bailey Howe Library and in Wheeler House.
In addition, you may be able to find used copies via the
internet.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS.
Supplemental readings have been identified for each class and a
separate bibliography will be distributed.
These readings are not required but are offered as optional
sources that provide greater depth regarding their respective topics or
that were used extensively in the preparation of class lectures.
They are also beginning points for research regarding your
paper topics.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic, 1-58.
2. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 3-43
Thursday, January 18th: Patterns
of Settlement: English Colonial Town Plans.
Required:
1.
Reps, Town Planning in Frontier America, 73-180.
2.
Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic, 59-69.
1. Paul Zucker,
2. Anthony N. Garvan, Architecture
and Town Planning in Colonial
Connecticut.
Tuesday,
January 23rd: Transport: Colonial Roads to Good Roads and the
Trails and Turnpikes Between
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 107-115,129-134.
2. Reps, Town Planning in Frontier America, 181-210.
Thursday,
January 25th: Transport:
Canals
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 115-134.
2. Reps, Town Planning in Frontier America, 211-237.
Supplemental:
1. Patricia Anderson, The
Course of Empire. The Erie Canal and the
New York Landscape, 1825-1875.
2. Robert J.
Kapsch, Canals.
Tuesday, January 30th: Transport: Railroads
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Metropolitan Corridor, 21-132.
2. Reps, Town Planning in Frontier America, 238-263.
Supplemental:
1. Carl Condit, The Port of New York. A History of the Rail and Terminal
System from the Beginning to Pennsylvania Station.
Thursday,
February 1st: Agriculture:
Landscapes and Barns
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 135-170.
2. Cronin, Changes in the Land, 1-15.
Supplemental:
1. Thomas Hubka, Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn.
2. Howard S. Russell, A Long Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of
Farming in New England.
Tuesday: February 6th: Urban
and Community Agriculture: Commercial Greenhouses
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 170-208.
2. Cronin, Changes in the Land, 127-156.
Thursday, February 8th: Commercial and Industrial Buildings: Turning Points in Evolution of Size, Structure and Materials, Part 1: Brick Bearing Walls, Trusses and Arches, and I-Beams.
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 265-309
Supplemental:
1. Cecil Elliott, Technics and Architecture.
The Development
2. H. Ward Jandl, ed., The Technology of Historic American
Buildings.
3. Carl Condit, American
Building Art. The Nineteenth Century (Vol.
1) and The Twentieth Century (Vol.
2).
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 309-324.
1. Carl Condit, American
Building Art. The Nineteenth Century
Tuesday,
February 20th Power:
Direct Drive Water
Required:
1. Miller & Melvin, Urbanization of Modern America, 47-104.
Supplemental:
1. Louis Hunter, Water Power - Steam
Power. A History of
2. Theodore Steinberg, Nature Incorporated.
Industrialization and the
Waters of New England.
Thursday, February 22nd: Power: Steam. ASSIGNMENT
PART ONE DUE
Required:
1. Miller & Melvin, Urbanization
of Modern America, 105-124.
2. Stilgoe, Common
Landscape of America, 339-346.
Supplemental
1. Louis Hunter, Water Power
- Steam Power. A History of
Tuesday, February 27th: Power: Coal-Fired, Steam-Generated Electricity and Hydro-Electricity
Required:
1. Miller & Melvin, Urbanization of Modern America, 125-174
Thursday, Februrary 29th: Factory
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 324-337.
Supplemental:
1. Grant Hildebrand, Designing for Industry. The Architecture of Albert Kahn.
Tuesday,
March 5th. Town Meeting Day Recess. No Scheduled Class. Voluntary Session. Select a Topic of Interest
Thursday, March 7th: MID-TERM EXAMINATION
Thursday, March 12th: Spring Recess - No Class
Thursday, March 14th: Spring Recess - No Class
Tuesday,
March 19th: Iron
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 99-107.
Thursday,
March 21st: Urbanity
1. David Ward, Cities and Immigrants: A Geography of Change
in
2. Roger Trancik, Finding
Lost Space. Theories of Urban Design.
Tuesday,
March 26th: Transit: Streetcars and Inter-UIrbans
Required:
1. Warner, Streetcar Suburbs, 35-116
Thursday,
March 28th: Transit: Rapid
Required:
1. Warner, Streetcar Suburbs, 117-166.
Supplemental:
1. Robert C. Reed, The New York Elevated
2. Michael W. Brooks, Subway City. Riding the Trains,
Reading New
York.
Tuesday, April 2nd: Community:
By Plan
Required:
1. Reps, Town Planning in Frontier America, 264-295.
2. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 209-231.
3. Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic, 131-155.
4. Ryczynksi, Last Harvest, 1-97.
1. Clarence Stein, Toward New Towns for America.
1. Cronin, Changes
in the Land, 19-81.
2. Rybczynski, Last Harvest, 101-183.
Supplemental:
1.
Galen Cranz, The Politics of Park Design. A History of Urban Parks
in America.
2. Witold Rbyczynski, A
Clearing in the Distance. Frederick Law Olmsted
and America in the 19th Century
Tuesday, April 9th: Community: By Park. Part 2: Progressivism and Municipal Reform Parks - City Beautiful Parks, Neighborhood Parks, Playgrounds, and School Parks; Progressivism and Conservation Era Parks - Forest Parks and Prairie Parks; Recreation Facilities; Pocket Parks; and Amusement Parks,
1. Stilgoe, Outside
Lies Magic, 103-129.
2. Rybczynski, Last Harvest,
187-201.
Supplemental:
1. Leonard K. Eaton, Landscape Artist in America. The Life and
Work of Jens Jensen.
Thursday,
April 11th: Community: By Forest
Required:
1. Cronin, Changes in the Land, 82-126.
Supplemental:
1. Robert McCullough, Landscape of Community. A History of Communal
Forests in New England.
Tuesday,
April 16th: Community: By
Footpath
Required:
1. Cronin, Changes in the Land, 159-170.
1. Laura and Guy Waterman, Forest and Crag.
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Common Landscape of America, 231-264.
Supplemental:
1. Charles Little, Greenways for America.
Tuesday, April 23rd: Roads for
the Automobile. ASSIGNMENT
PART TWO DUE
Required:
1. Liebs, Main Street to Miracle Mile,
1-151.
2. Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic,
89-101 & 157-178.
1. Bruce E. Seely, Building the American Highway System.
Engineers as Policy Makers.
2. James J. Fink, The Car Culture.
Thursday,
April 25th: Roadside: Fast
Food
Required:
1. Liebs, Main Street to Miracle Mile, 153-227.
Tuesday, April 30th: Roadside: Motel
Required:
1. Stilgoe, Outside
Lies Magic, 71-88, 179-187.
Supplemental:
2. John Jakle and Keith Sculle. The
Motel in America
Thursday, May 2nd: Escape.
Thursday, May 11th: FINAL EXAMINATION: 4:30 to
COURSE INFORMATION
ASSIGNMENTS.
Students will be asked to prepare a written paper divided into
two parts, each part due separately.
The paper will be based on a selected topic that involves any
feature of the cultural landscape, such as a building, structure, site,
transportation corridor, or designed landscape.
The paper will combine the use of periodical literature and
trade journals with field study. A
description of the assignment will be provided.
In final form, the two segments should be typed, and each
should be approximately one thousand (1500) words long.
The due dates for a one-page outline of the topic and
periodical literature selected, time-spans included, and for the first
and second segments are identified in the course schedule.
Students are welcome to submit drafts of their papers in
advance of the deadlines. In addition to those two papers, graduate students are also required to research the life of any historical figure in Vermont who made significant contributions to any aspect of the built or cultural environment in this state, during any period, and to prepare a paper four pages in length, double spaced, providing a biographical sketch of that individual and analyzing his or her important works. Research should rely on digitized newspapers and archival resources.
ATTENDANCE.
Class attendance is required, and the instructor must be
notified regarding any absences (See grading below)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
A bibliography of readings for further study on each of the
lecture topics will also be posted on the instructor's web page.
This list should be considered as a beginning point for
research concerning the topics identified and should be consulted during
selection and preparation of the written assignment.
EXAMINATIONS &
GRADING. Preliminary
and final examinations will be based on assigned readings, class
presentations, and discussion. The
dates of these examinations are noted on the schedule.
The course grade will be determined as follows: preliminary,
30%, final exam 30%, paper, 30%, attendance and class participation,
10%.
FIELD TRIP / EXTRA
SESSIONS. A field
trip may be scheduled depending on interest and available time.
Extra presentations may be offered in the evening depending
upon student interest. Available
topics include Spanish and French patterns of town planning; urban and
community agriculture; and the fossil fuel industry.
Others can be developed as desired.
Students can select convenient dates, with at least one week’s
prior notice.
IMPORTANT PLACES, DATES,
AND PERSONS. Each
student will receive a list of important places, dates, persons, etc.,
mentioned in the lectures. These
are arranged by lecture topic and provide a skeleton outline of the
course. Students should
review these lists before class.
OFFICE HOURS.
Office hours will be announced, but other arrangements are
possible as required
THEMATIC OVERVIEW.
The course seeks to provide students with a basic understanding
of the historical document that is our cultural environment, whether
built or natural. The
subject is vastly complex, and the course is not intended to provide a
comprehensive study of any one aspect of the landscape.
In truth, any of the topics (and many of the sub-topics)
appearing on the syllabus could be developed into an entire course.
Nevertheless, the syllabus does provide a skeleton that
suggests the essential reasons why our landscape appears as it does.
With fundamental understanding, students will be able to read
this historic document, to absorb some of the information that it holds,
and to explore other segments more deeply without losing sight of the
basic structure. Several
themes will be traced throughout.
1.
The discipline of historic preservation seeks to identify and
preserve those parts of our physical heritage that hold valuable
information about our culture. Evaluating
historic significance -- the process of selecting those monuments worthy
of preservation -- is fundamental, and the course will probe the means
by which we make this assessment. In
short, what are the economic, social, technological, political,
aesthetic, and intellectual contributions that any given part of our
physical heritage makes?
2. At the same
time, we should all be able to recognize and understand the picture
puzzle that is our cultural landscape without resorting to structured
analysis of historic significance.
Hopefully this will lead to a stronger understanding of American
culture and a deeper appreciation of all that surrounds us.
3. Historic
preservation's emphasis on the built environment has sometimes resulted
in neglect of the natural environment and its culturally assisted
evolution. The unfortunate
result is that alliances with other disciplines that pursue goals common
to those of historic preservation have failed to materialize.
The course will make strong efforts to connect the two.
4. The study of
methods for reading the landscape is as important as learning about the
history that exists if only we know where to look. The course will seek
to develop both goals.
5. The study of
landscape history is one of examining overlapping layers on the face of
the land. Those layers can
be confined to a small area and be readily visible, for example a
building with clearly defined alterations added over the years.
Alternatively, the layers can be complex and difficult to
separate, as in urban areas where human existence has forced sweeping
change over the centuries.