HIST 7710/01 – Local History Research & Resources

#11158 – Spring 2007

Instructor:  Dr. Thomas A. Scott

Sat 9:30 A.M.  - 12:15 P.M. – SS 3032

 

 

 

Office:              SS 4100

 

Office Hours:    MW 3-4, Saturday before or after class, or by appointment.   

 

Office Phone:    770-423-6254

Cell Phone:       404-421-8319

FAX:                770-423-6432

e-mail:              tscott@kennesaw.edu

Website:           http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tscott/

 

Books:

 

You will need a personal copy of these books:

 

Butchart, Ronald E.  Local Schools:  Exploring Their History.  The Nearby History Series.  Nashville:  American Association for State & Local History, 1986.

 

Marius, Richard, and Melvin E. Page.  A Short Guide to Writing about History.  5th ed.  New York:  Pearson Longman, 2005.

 

Excerpts from these books can be accessed through WebCT Vista under Readings: 

 

Metcalf, Fay D., and Mattew T. Downey.  Using Local History in the Classroom.  Nashville:  American Association for State & Local History, 1982.

 

Scott, Thomas A.  Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South:  A Twentieth-Century History.  Marietta:  Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society, 2003.

 

Temple, Sarah Blackwell Gober.  The First Hundred Years:  A Short History of Cobb County, in Georgia.  Atlanta:  Walter W. Brown Publishing Company, 1935.

 

Note:  Metcalf and Downey’s book is now out of print.  Should you want your own copy, the two Cobb County surveys can be purchased at the Root House at Marietta Parkway and Polk Street (headquarters of Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society) or the Marietta Museum of History in the Kennesaw House just west of the Marietta Square.  The books are also in all the Cobb County libraries and various other locations.

 

Course Description:

            

HIST 7710 (Local History Research & Resources) is partially a history content course and partially a “how-to-do-it” course that introduces you to resources and methodologies for using local history in the classroom.  The First Hundred Years and Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South will focus on the history of one county in a larger context of the history of metropolitan Atlanta and North Georgia.  A Short Guide to Writing about History, Local Schools, and Using Local History in the Classroom should give you some ideas on how to introduce local history into the classroom and how to research and write history.  We will also visit several museums, libraries, and archives to familiarize ourselves with resources available in this area.   

 

Course Objectives:

 

1.      To develop a more sophisticated understanding of what history is and how to apply this understanding to teaching and practicing history.

 

  1. To acquire a fundamental knowledge of Cobb County, North Georgia, and Georgia history as a framework on which the other course objectives can be built.

 

  1. To learn how local history can enrich and expand one’s comprehension of the major themes in American history.

 

  1. To become acquainted with the various resources, persons, libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and government officials who can provide access to local history materials.

 

  1. To learn how to develop a local history course or curriculum.

 

Grading:

 

All work will be graded on a scale of A = 90-100, B = 80-89, C = 70-79, D = 60-69, and F = 0-59.  The final grade will be determined in the following manner:

 

1.      Midterm Exam – 25 percent:  The exam will be over the readings and lectures.  It will consist of 15 questions of which you will answer 10.  The questions can be answered in 250 words (about a half page) each.  You can write out your answers on notebook paper, or you can type the test on your laptop and e-mail it to me at tscott@kennesaw.edu.

 

2.      Final Exam – 25 percent:  Same type of test as the midterm.

 

3.      Contributions to the Intellectual Community – 25 percent:  Participate in online Vista discussions each week (at least one substantive posting of 15-20 lines per week).  Attend all class discussions and field trips.  Make one presentation to the class toward the end of the semester on the findings of your term paper.

 

4.      Term paper – 25 percent.  The term paper should be fifteen (15) pages of text plus an annotated bibliography.   Use footnotes to cite your sources, using Chicago style as demonstrated under Term Paper Format in the course home page on Vista.  It’s never too early to begin thinking about a topic.  Start with general subjects that interest you (such as women’s history, business history, African-American history, the history of education, sports history, church history, etc.)  Then discuss with me how you can narrow down that interest to something on the local level that can be exhausted in fifteen pages.  Sometimes, the best papers are of a particular institution or individual.  For example, you might even want to write a history of the school where you teach.  Below are a few examples of papers written by students in this class in previous years:

 

“William Oliver Smitha and the South Cobb Controversy” by Kirsten Perla (2001)

“History of Smitha Middle School” by Christy Knox (1999)

“Early History of McEachern High School” by Marianne Rogers (1986)

“Education of Girls at McEachern High School” by Phyllis Tschudi-Rose (2005)

“The Summer Hill School of Cartersville” by James Jones (1988)

“History of Mt. Bethel Elementary School” by Marsha Quayle (1990)

“Luke Garrett Middle School:  Thirty Years of Change” by Tricia Cauffiel (2001)

“Blackwells Consolidated District:  Beginnings of the Modern School in Cobb” by Karen Strickland (1993)

“Acworth Elementary School” by Janet Ellis (1988)

“Acworth Cotton Mill’s Eli Whitney School” by Trista Neeley (2001)

“Community Reaction to the Integration of Schools in Bartow County” by Jennilynn Hawn (2001)

“Service Learning in the Cobb County School District” by Deborah Moore (2005)

“Cobb County Association of Educators” by Mary Ann Lasseter (1999)

 “The Establishment of Christ the King Cathedral” by Lindsay Fernandez (2005)

“History of the 1873 Bartow County Courthouse” by Jacob R. Griffith (2004)

“Dr. John Harrison Patton of Marietta’s First Presbyterian Church” by Deborah Stockdale (1986)

“REA:  A New Deal for Rural Cobb” by Xan Jordan (1993)

“Revitalization of the Marietta Square” by Debra Pickett (1986)

“The Chalkers of Kennesaw” by Kristy Prillaman (1999)

“Iron Magnolias:  Southern Women of Will during the Civil War” by Marjorie Kellogg (1990)

“History of Milford Baptist Church” by Robin Bearden (1993)

“Arch McCleskey” by Karen Kleinschmidt-Humphreys (1986)

“Clark Treadmill, Clarkdale, Georgia” by Dianne Neal (1988)

“Col. Sam Tate and the Georgia Marble Company” by Jennie Hobson (1988)

“Mars Hill Cemetery and Schoolhouse” by Reva Brown (1999)

“Park Development in Cherokee County” by Richard Landolt (1997)

 

Daily Class Schedule:

 

No class on January 6:  Instructor will be attending the annual meeting of the American Historical Association.

 

Class # 1:  January 13:  Removal of the Cherokees and Origins of the Northwest Georgia Counties:   Read Temple, First Hundred Years, chap. IV and V, pp. 32-45.  Marius & Page, Short Guide, chap. 1, pp. 1-28.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, “Introduction,” pp. 1-16.  For Temple and Metcalf & Downey, go to the Vista Home Page and click on Readings.  You will find them there.  Then go back to the Vista Home Page and click on Discussion 1.  Do at least one substantive posting (approximately 15-20 lines) on the question(s) for the week.  The posting should be completed before the Saturday morning class.  If you want to respond to what your classmates are saying, feel free to post as many times as you please.

 

Class # 2:  January 20:  Ante-Bellum Culture and Slavery:  Read Temple, First Hundred Years, chap. XII and XIV, pp. 149-73 and 198-213.  Marius & Page, Short Guide, chap. 2, pp. 29-51.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 1, pp. 1-10. 

 

Class # 3:  January 27:  Civil War:  Read Temple, First Hundred Years, chap. XXI, pp. 342-56.  Marius & Page, Short Guide, chap. 3, pp. 52-74.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, Chap. 1, pp. 19-52. 

 

Class # 4:  February 3:  Late Nineteenth-Century:  Read Temple, First Hundred Years, chap. XXIV, pp. 387-413.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, chap. 3, pp. 85-126.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 2, pp. 11-32.

 

 Tour of the Root House, 145 Denmead Street, Marietta (headquarters and house museum of Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society), conducted by Maryellen Higginbotham (770-426-4982).  This is the one tour of the semester that includes a fee.  The Root House charges $2 a person for the tour.  Meet at Root House at 9:30.

 

Class # 5:  February 10:  Segregation, Anti-Catholicism, and Anti-Semitism:  Read Scott, Cobb County, “Preface,” pp. xiii-xv, chap. 2, pp. 21-40, and part of chap. 3, pp. 69-76.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 3, pp. 33-45.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, chap. 6, pp. 181-206. 

 

Tour of Noble Hill Wheeler Memorial (a historic African American Rosenwald School), 2361 Joe Frank Harris Parkway (U.S. 41), Cassville, conducted by Marian Coleman and Dr. Susie Wheeler (770-382-3392).  Built in the 1920s with a combination of county, community, and Rosenwald money, the Noble Hill School served black youth in Bartow County.  Julius Rosenwald, a chief executive of Sears & Roebuck, set up the Rosenwald Fund at the urging of Booker T. Washington to construct African American school buildings in the South.  The museum preserves and interprets the history of black public schools in the days of segregation.  Meet at Noble Hill at 9:30.

 

Class #6:  February 17:  Great Depression and New Deal:  Read Scott, Cobb County, chap. 4, pp. 79-108.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 4, pp. 47-68.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, chap. 5, pp. 151-79.

 

Class #7:  February 24:  Midterm exam

 

Friday, March 2:  Last Day to Withdraw without Academic Penalty

 

March 3:  No class.  Start of Spring Break

 

Class # 8:  March 10:  World War II and Bell Bomber:  Read Scott, Cobb County, chap. 5, pp. 109-40, and chap. 6, pp. 141-78.  Metcalf & Downey, Using Local History in the Classroom, chap. 7, pp. 207-19.  The following is a study guide for the Bell Aircraft 1944 documentary B-29s over Dixie:   B-29s Over Dixie.doc .

 

Class # 9:  March 17:  Impact of Lockheed:  Read Scott, Cobb County, chap. 8, pp. 211-33, and part of chap. 13, pp. 341-48.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 5, pp. 69-100. 

 

            From 11-12:15 today Mr. Robert B. Ormsby, Jr., will visit the class to discuss the new Aviation Museum at Marietta, Georgia.  Mr. Ormsby was president of Lockheed-Georgia from 1975-84.  He has played the central role in creating the Aviation Museum and is president of its Board of Directors.

 

Class # 10:  March 24:  Building a Modern Infrastructure and School System:    Read Scott, Cobb County, part of chap. 9, pp. 235-49, chap. 15, pp. 387-404, and chap. 16, pp. 405-25.  Butchart, Local Schools, chap. 6, pp. 101-15. 

 

            From 9:30-10:45 we will be visited by Jennifer Biddy, the Social Studies Division Chair and Gifted Coordinator at North Cobb High School; Abbie Parks, a community activist and member of the Acworth and Cobb County Historic Preservation commissions; and Carla Miller, a NCHS teacher who currently is on maternity leave.  Five or six years ago Carla initiated an elective local history course for accelerated learners at NCHS.  Abbie played a central role in helping to schedule field trips to historic sites in the area and in helping to schedule guest speakers.  The class proved so popular that Jennifer offered a second section last year and has taken over the course this year while Carla is on leave.

 

Class # 11:  March 31:  Civil Rights and School Desegregation:  Read Scott, Cobb County, part of chap. 10, pp. 274-85, part of chap. 13, pp. 348-59, and chap. 14, pp. 361-85.   Turn in Preliminary Bibliography to Term Paper.

 

April 7:  No class.  Instructor will be attending the annual meeting of the Georgia Association of Historians in Milledgeville.  However, we will continue with the reading assignments and Vista discussions.  The assignment for this week is Scott, Cobb County, chap. 18, pp. 449-69, and chap. 22, pp. 535-56.

 

Class # 12:  April 14:  Growth of a Two-Party System:  Read Scott, Cobb County, chap. 19, pp. 471-92, and chap. 20, pp. 493-512.

 

Class # 13:  April 21:  Economic Expansion and Demographic Change at the Start of a New Milennium:  Read Scott, Cobb County, chap. 28, pp. 685-705, chap. 32, pp. 783-96, and the “Epilogue”, pp. 797-98.

 

Class # 14:  April 28:  Term papers due today.  Most of today’s class will be devoted to class presentations.  Prepare to speak for about 10 minutes on the topic of your term paper.

 

Class # 15:  Final Exam.