Objectives Drawing on the resources of the Oberlin College Library, the Oberlin College Archives, and various sites on the World Wide Web, students will undertake major research projects on selected aspects of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. The goal is to learn the historian's trade by "mucking about" in the raw materials of the past rather than by reading secondary sources or neatly packaged anthologies of reprinted documents. Students will choose their own research topics, and they will have the option of presenting their findings in either print or electronic format. As the research projects develop, students will read and comment upon each other's work. The final result of a research project should be a 25-35 page research paper or a scholarly Web site of similar magnitude.

Format The class meets regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 to 2:50 p.m. Sometimes we will meet for discussion; other times we will have "hands-on" sessions on the use of library, archival, and electronic resources. In addition to meeting as a class in "real" space, we will get together periodically in "virtual" space using E-mail and AltaVista Forum. N.B.: Students are required to attend all class sessions and to participate faithfully in online exchanges of questions, comments, outlines, and paper drafts.

Evaluation Students will be evaluated on the basis of their in-class participation (20%), their online participation (10%), their research prospectus (10%), their rough draft (20%), and their finished research paper or Web site (50%). Students must complete all written and electronic assignments to receive credit for the course. The instructor reserves the right to exercise some discretion in assigning final grades.

Purchases The following books should be purchased at the Co-op Bookstore. They are also available on reserve at the main library.

• Winthrop D. Jordan, Tumult and Silence at Second Creek: An Inquiry into a Civil War Slave Conspiracy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1993)
• Gerald F. Linderman, Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War (New York: Free Press, 1987).
• Jacqueline Jones, Soldiers of Light and Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks, 1865-1873, reprint ed. (Athens: Univ. of Georgia Press, 1992; orig. ed. 1980).
  

Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 5	Introduction
Tuesday, Feb. 10	Discussion: Primary Sources, Historical Analysis, and the Case Study Approach Jordan, Tumult and Silence at Second Creek, entire, including appendixes
Thursday, Feb. 12	Print Resources and Library Research (meet at Mudd 212)
Tuesday, Feb. 17	Discussion: The Causes and Coming of War Eric Foner, "The Causes of the Civil War: Recent Interpretations and New Directions," in Foner, Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1980), 15-33. [on reserve] Michael F. Holt, "The Problem of Civil War Causation," in Holt, Political Parties and American Political Development from the Age of Jackson to the Age of Lincoln (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1992), 313-322. [on reserve] James Tice Moore, "Secession and the States: A Review Essay," Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 94 (Jan. 1986): 60-76. [on reserve] William Freehling, "Unlimited Paternalism's Problems: The Transforming Moment on My Road Toward Understanding Disunion," in Freehling, The Reintegration of American History (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1994), 105-137. [on reserve]
Thursday, Feb. 19	Manuscript Resources and Archival Research (meet at Mudd 420)
Tuesday, Feb. 24	Discussion: The Experience of War Linderman, Embattled Courage, 7-110, 156-265, skim 298-314 Jim Cullin, "'I's a Man Now': Gender and African American Men," in Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber, eds., Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1992), 76-91 [on reserve] James Marten, "For the Good, the True, and the Beautiful: Northern Children's Magazines and the Civil War," Civil War History 41 (Mar. 1995): 57-75 [on reserve] Research Project Assignment Distributed
Thursday, Feb. 26	Electronic Resources and Web Publishing (meet at Mudd 212)
Tuesday, Mar. 3	Discussion: The Outcome of War, Emancipation, and Reconstruction Jones, Soldiers of Light and Love, 2-166, 191-208, skim 209-229 Nancy Cohen-Lack, "A Struggle for Sovereignty: National Consolidation, Emancipation, and Free Labor in Texas, 1865," Journal of Southern History, 58 (Feb. 1992): 57-98. [on reserve] Lou Falkner Williams, "The South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials and the Enforcement of Federal Rights, 1871-1872," Civil War History 39 (Mar. 1993): 47-66. [on reserve]
Thursday, Mar. 5 Monday, Mar. 9	Discussion: Preparing a Research Prospectus Prospectus due online by 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Mar. 10	Discussion: Research Prospectuses
Thursday, Mar. 12	Discussion: Research Prospectuses
Tuesday, Mar. 17	No class; professor available for consultation
Thursday, Mar. 19	No class; professor available for consultation ****Spring Break****
Tuesday, Mar. 31	Discussion: Scholarly Apparatus for Research Papers and Web Sites "History: Chicago Style" in Diana Hacker, Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age Melvin E. Page, "A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities"
Thursday, Apr. 2	No class
Tuesday, Apr. 7	Discussion: Research in Progress
Thursday, Apr. 9	Discussion: Research in Progress
Tuesday, Apr. 14	No class
Thursday, Apr. 16	Discussion: Outlines Note: Outlines should be posted to AltaVista Forum by 10 p.m., Wed., April 15, and reviewed before class
Tuesday, Apr. 21	Discussion: Outlines
Thursday, Apr. 23	Class luncheon (beginning at noon at 271 West College St.); Tour of Civil War era sites in Oberlin
Tuesday, Apr. 28	No class
Thursday, Apr. 30	Discussion: Drafts Note: Submit drafts on Alta Vista Forum by 10 p.m., Wed., April 29
Tuesday, May 5	Discussion: Drafts Note: Submit drafts on Alta Vista Forum by 8 p.m., Mon., May 4
Thursday, May 7	Discussion: Drafts Note: Submit drafts on Alta Vista Forum by 8 p.m., Wed., May 6
Tuesday, May 12	Final papers and Web sites due by 4:30 p.m.

Resources Class E-mail addresses   AltaVista Forum for History 422   List of research resources

"Contrabands," 1863 (Library of Congress) Background: