These are my courses for next spring. Feel free to reach out with questions!
Undergraduate
Cities and Suburbs, 50:512:364 (catalog title “City & Suburban America” / cross-listed with Digital Studies Special Topics, 50:209:303:01)
T-Th 3:45-4:55 pm
This workshop-style class will explore why we live where we live, and the circumstances and choices that have shaped the cities and suburbs we inhabit. In this class, you will learn to uncover hidden histories as we dig into the past of our campus and then follow our questions and interests to investigate the wider history of cities and suburbs in the United States. Our class time will be spent doing research together using online sources, exploring the urban landscape on and near our campus, and sharing visuals to illustrate and amplify assigned reading. A series of short assignments will build into a research report by each student; a range of options for final projects will be available and based upon student interests. (No previous experience with digital tools is required for this class — all training will be provided.)
Two required books:
- Lisa Krissoff Boehm and Steven H. Corey, America’s Urban History (available as an e-book rental).
- Jeffrey Dorwart, Camden County New Jersey: The Making of a Metropolitan Community.
- In addition, you will need access to Ancestry.com for research using city directories, the Census, and other sources. Ancestry.com is available free through many county library systems or by individual subscription.
Public History Practice, 50:509:300:01
By arrangement
Get your hands on history: This is an individualized opportunity to gain knowledge of local and regional history while contributing to a public history project based at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden. The options include historic house research and curatorship for the Cooper Street Historic District and research and digital publishing for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to readings in local and regional history, students will be provided with training and ongoing supervision and feedback while working approximately six hours per week on-site on their selected projects. This course is by arrangement, with permission of the instructor, and is open to juniors and seniors with a GPA of 3.0 and above.
Graduate
Public History Practicum, 56:512:587
By arrangement
In collaboration with an on-campus center engaged in public humanities, each student will devise and carry out a project that builds knowledge and skills needed for independent historical consulting. This is an individualized experience, by arrangement. Students who intend to enroll should contact Professor Mires immediately to begin a discussion of project proposals.