Northwestern College
HISTORY OF IOWA
History 241-1, Fall Semester,
Second Half, 2010
(2 Credits)
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Professor: Douglas Firth Anderson
Office, Phone, & E-mail: VPH 212, x7054, firth@nwciowa.edu
Office hours: MWF, 2:10-3:10 p.m., or by appointment
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Class
Period:
MWF, 11:50-12:50 p.m.
Class Location: VPH 207
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WISDOM FOR THE JOURNEY
I. Why
Study History?
A. [W]e intend Northwestern
graduates to be persons who
Engage
Ideas
- Demonstrating competence in
navigating and contributing to the world of ideas and information,
having learned to listen, read, question, evaluate, [and] write ... with
a disciplined imagination.
- Pursuing truth faithfully in all
aspects of life; developing, articulating, and supporting their own
beliefs; and seeking meaningful dialog with those holding different
convictions.
From the
NWC Vision for Learning
B. Life can only be
understood backwards ... .
Soren Kierkegaard, as
quoted in Laurence J. Peter, ed., Peter's
Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (New York: Bantam Books, 1977),
305.
C. [H]istory
holds the potential ... of humanizing us in ways offered by few other areas
in the school curriculum. ...
The argument I make pivots on a tension that underlies every encounter
with the past: the tension between the familiar and the strange, between
feelings of proximity and feelings of distance in relation to the people we
seek to understand. ...
Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural
Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 2001), 5.
II. Why
Isn't Studying and Understanding History Simple?
A. [H]istory
[i]s a web of contingency. Contingency is
about events, choices, and agency. Webs are about structures and processes,
which amplify the agency of individual choices in some ways, and constrain
them in others.
David
Hackett Fischer, "Response to Yerxa, Kersh, Glen, and Morone," Historically Speaking 7
(Sept./Oct. 2005), 25.
B. The
historian … might well take as her credo this statement by Karl Marx
from The Eighteenth Brumaire
of Louis Bonaparte: “Men make their own history, but they do not
make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen
by themselves, but under circumstances directly
encountered, given, and transmitted from the past. …” Or, as
stated more concisely in The German
Ideology, “circumstances make men just as much as men make
circumstances.”
David Nasaw,
“AHR Roundtable: Historians and Biography. Introduction,” American Historical Review 114 (June
2009): 578.
C.
History-making . . . is a creative enterprise, by means of which we fashion
out of fragments of human memory and selected evidence of the past a mental
construct of a coherent past world that makes sense to the present.
Gerda Lerner, “The Necessity of
History,” in Why History Matters: Life and Thought, idem (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 117.
III.
Iowa and History:
Given [Iowa’s]
location, its time of initial settlement and its general social and
demographic characteristics, [an] apt description might be “middle
land.”
Dorothy
Schwieder, Iowa: The Middle Land (Ames: Iowa State University
Press, 1996), x.
Each region’s history
in its own special way suggests . . . the foolishness of docilely accepting a
national history that ignores place, that tells
history stories in terms of some abstract, geography-neutral process.
James H.
Madison, “Diverging Trails: Why the Midwest is Not the West,” in Frontier
and Region: Essays in Honor of Martin Ridge, eds. Robert C. Ritchie and
Paul Andrew Hutton (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997), 50.
IV.
How Might a Christian Perspective Shape Our Understanding of History?
Does
Micah’s injunction to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly
with your God” (6:8) have any bearing on a Christian’s historical
work? I believe that it does. We do justice when we give all the
historical actors their due, not privileging those who had the most power, or
for whom we have more data. Loving
kindness means exercising compassion towards our historical subjects. They were no more limited by their location
and biases than we are. They were
creating their lives as they went; we need to re-create those lives with a
minimum of moralizing. To walk humbly
is to recognize that even hindsight is not fully accurate and that our
accounts are never definitive.
G.
Marcille Frederick, “Doing Justice in
History: Using Narrative Frames Responsibly,” in History and the
Christian Historian, ed. Ronald A. Wells (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing, 1998), 220.
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COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
What is this course? This course surveys
from a historical perspective the natural, social, and cultural landscapes of
the place now known as Iowa. Various aspects of Iowa history will be examined, including
geography, agriculture, towns and cities, industry, racial and ethnic groups,
and religion.
What will class meetings be like? The course will meet
three times a week. In general, lectures will constitute much of in-class time.
Additionally, however, significant time will be regularly taken in discussion
of the readings; occasionally, visual materials (slides and films) will be the
in-class focus.
What will be expected in general of each student? The workload of the
course reflects both liberal arts expectations in general and historical method
in particular. Attendance at all class meetings is, of course, expected.
Some 1200 pp. of reading will be required. Writing will include
two exams as well as a book essay. Discussion time will be provided for.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES (WHAT DIFFERENCE THIS COURSE SHOULD MAKE):
1.
To
become familiar with major elements and examples of Iowa’s
social and cultural history, since Iowa is where the Northwestern
College community is
located and also the home place of many of NWC’s students, staff, and
faculty. Critically knowing one’s
locale—the social and cultural landscape in interaction with the natural
landscape—is essential to living “in but not of” a place
(having roots yet not being rootbound).
2.
To
further develop beyond general education history courses skills in analytical
reading, critical thinking and writing, and oral discussion through course
assignments and activities, since such skills are key tools for learning how,
with the Apostle Paul, to "take every thought captive to obey Christ"
(2 Cor. 10:5).
3.
To
further develop beyond general education history courses the practice of
historical method through deeper attention through course material to the 5 Cs
of historical work: change over time, context, causality, contingency, and
complexity, since historical method can be a tool for living "wise as
serpents and innocent as doves" (Mt. 10:16).
4.
To
provide tools and opportunity for beginning the integration of an understanding
of the concept of place with a Christian perspective on faith and life, for
"in [Christ] all things hold together" (Col. 1:17).
COURSE OUTLINE:
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Date
(MWF)
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In-Class
Subjects & Major Due Dates
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Reading
Assignments
(to be done FOR class on
the date noted)
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Oct.
20
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Course
Introduction
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Oct.
22
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The
Prairies & Iowa as a Middle Place
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*Scheese,
in MyNorthwestern
*Schwieder,
in Bergman
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Oct.
25
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The
First Iowans
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*Bunge,
in MyNorthwestern
*Green,
in Bergman
*Anderson
1, in MyNorthwestern
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Oct.
27
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Prairie
Frontier I
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*Olson,
in MyNorthwestern
*Riley,
in Bergman
*Bogue,
in Bergman
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Oct.
29
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Prairie
Frontier II
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*Cook,
in Bergman
*Dykstra,
in Bergman
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Nov.
1
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The
Civil War I
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*
Elder, pp. ix-129
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Nov.
3
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The
Civil War II
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*
Elder, pp. 130-227
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Nov.
5
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The
Civil War III
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*
Elder, pp. 228-336
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Nov.
8
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Railroads,
Towns, and Industry I
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*Stromquist,
in Bergman
*Silag,
in MyNorthwestern
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Nov.
10
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Railroads,
Towns, and Industry II
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*Morain,
in Bergman
*Hewitt,
in MyNorthwestern
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Nov.
12
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EXAM
1
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Nov.
15
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Railroads,
Towns, and Industry III
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*Larson,
in Bergman
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Nov.
17
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Railroads,
Towns, and Industry IV
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*Ostler,
in Bergman
*Jensen,
in Bergman
*Anderson
2, on MyNorthwestern
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Nov.
19
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Villisca: Living with
a Mystery
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Nov.
22
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Heartland
or Backwater I
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*Schwieder
& Wall, in Bergman
*Fink,
in Bergman
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Nov.
29
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Heartland
or Backwater II
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*Freidberger,
in Bergman
*Mohr, in Bergman
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Dec.
1
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The Straight Story, Pt. 1
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Dec.
3
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The Straight Story, Pt. 2
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Dec.
6
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FILM
ESSAY DUE/
Contemporary
Iowa and the First Iowans I
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*Foley,
pp. vii-83
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Dec.
8
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Contemporary
Iowa and
the First Iowans II
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*Foley,
pp. 84-149
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Dec.
10
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Contemporary
Iowa and
the First Iowans III
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*Foley,
pp. 150-246
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Dec. 14
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EXAM
2 (assigned final time, Tu., 8-10 a.m.)
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COURSE
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Reading:
·
Anderson,
Douglas Firth. “Wapello” and “Allison, William
Boyd.” The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. Edited by David Hudson, Marvin
Bergman, and Loren Horton. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008. ON MYNORTHWESTERN
·
Bergman,
Marvin, ed. Iowa
History Reader. [Rev. ed.] Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008. ISBN
9781587296345
·
Bunge,
Robert. “Indian Iowa.” In Take This Exit: Rediscovering the Iowa
Landscape. Edited by Robert F.
Sayre. Ames: Iowa State University
Press, 1989. ON MYNORTHWESTERN
·
Elder,
Donald C., III, ed.. Love Amid the Turmoil:
The Civil War Letters of William and Mary Vermilion. Iowa
City: University
of Iowa Press,
2003. ISBN 101587296098
·
Foley,
Douglas E. The Heartland Chronicles. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. ISBN
0812215621
·
Hewitt,
William L. “’Wicked Traffic
in Girls: Prostitution and Reform in Sioux
City, 1885-1910.” Annals of Iowa 51 (1991): 123-148. ON
MYNORTHWESTERN
·
Olson,
Greg. “Tragedy, Tourism, and the
Log Cabin: How Abbie Gardner Sharp and Charlotte Kirchner Butler Preserved and
Promoted the Past.” Iowa
Heritage Illustrated 82 (Summer 2001): 56-77. ON MYNORTHWESTERN
·
Scheese,
Don. “Changes in an Iowa
Landscape.” In Take This Exit:
Rediscovering the Iowa
Landscape. Edited by Robert F.
Sayre. Ames: Iowa State University
Press, 1989. ON MYNORTHWESTERN
·
Silag,
William. “The Conquest of the
Hinterland: Railroads and Capitalists in Northwest Iowa
after the Civil War.” Annals of
Iowa 50 (1990): 475-506. ON MYNORTHWESTERN
·
The
Straight Story.
DVD. Directed by David Lynch. 1999; Burbank, CA:
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, n.d.
·
Villisca:
Living with a Mystery.
DVD. Produced by Kelly and Tammy Rundle. 2004; Moline, IL: Fourth Wall Films,
2006.
2.
Assignments:
A. TWO EXAMS will
constitute 60% of the course grade.
1.
A midcourse
exam will be given in class on Fri., Nov. 12. It will constitute 25%
of the course grade.
2.
A final
exam will be given during the scheduled finals week time (Tu., Dec. 14,
8-10 a.m.). It will be comprehensive, and it will constitute 35% of the
course grade.
3. Each exam will each comprise at least
two essay questions to be written in class.
4. For each exam, a study sheet will be
distributed a week ahead of the exam.
5.
On exam days, no textbooks or other course material should
be used during the exam (on penalty of voiding the entire exam) except for one
8 ½ x 11 inch exam note sheet of outlines and notes (typed or handwritten,
both sides if necessary). This exam note sheet must be handed in with the exam
blue book.
6.
Blue books will be required for
each exam. (These are available in the NWC bookstore.)
B. QUESTIONING ARTICLES
will constitute 20% of the course grade.
1. There are ten class days for which one
or more article from Bergman’s book or from MyNorthwestern are assigned
reading.
2. For each of these ten days, your
admission to class is a “Questioning Article” page (QA). That is,
if you do not offer a QA page to me at the beginning of each such class, you
will need to leave the class, since you will not be prepared for participation.
3.
Each
QA page is to be on one of the assigned articles for that class day. If there
is more than one assigned article to choose from on a given day, which article
to do is up to each student (excepting the two Anderson articles; they are too
short, and they are of a different sort than all the others).
4.
A QA
page should consist of the following:
a) One page, typed single spaced, with a
header (your name, date, RSC Box #, and the title and author of the chosen
article).
b) One paragraph summarizing the substance
of the article (i.e., thesis, main points, key evidence).
c) A one-sentence question or problem
arising from the chosen article.
d) One or more paragraph (up to a page)
explaining your question or problem (i.e., what in/about the article evoked the
question/problem) and speculating on a possible answer(s) or ways of
investigating the question/problem.
e) When quoting or otherwise referring to
specific pages in the assignment, note the page(s) in parentheses, e.g.
(17-18).
5. Each QA page is worth 2% of the course
grade (2% x 10 = 20%). The grade for each QA page will be x out of 10.
6. The criteria for evaluation of each QA
page are
a) How have you met the stipulations of the
assignment?
b) How historically attuned is your
question/problem, explanation, and speculation (i.e., how thoughtfully have
read the chosen article, considered it in historical context, and shown
awareness of interpretive challenges)?
c) How lucid and cogent is your writing?
C. A FILM ESSAY will constitute 10% of the course grade.
1.
A written
film essay is due by 11:55 p.m., Mon., Dec. 6.
2.
The essay
should be on The Straight Story.
3.
The essay
should critically relate the film to course materials and issues through
responding to the following question: How much does The Straight Story
mythologize or romanticize Iowa society and culture? That is, does this
film suggest more a real, historic Iowa
or more a "field of dreams"? The essay should critically (i.e.,
thoughtfully and analytically) relate the film to the Iowa of history.
4.
The report
should be 4-5 pp., typed, double spaced, with a header containing the
student’s name, the due date, e-address, and a title.
5.
Quotations
should be in Chicago
style form, either foot- or endnotes. See form guides available through
the Ramaker Library homepage (http://www.nwciowa.edu/library/research/citing_sources.aspx).
6.
The essay
should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file (that is, .doc or rtf. files;
.docx files occasionally pose problems for our older programs) through MyNorthwestern
(when in your MyNorthwestern account, click on this course, then click on
coursework, then click on the appropriate paper, then, in the drop box, search
for your Word file, select it, and send it in). MyNorthwestern will
automatically send your paper to Turnitin.com. If you encounter
trouble in submitting the paper through MyNorthwestern, consult with the folks
in the Computer Center, especially Tina Jansen and the Help Desk folks (helpdesk@nwciowa.edu). A graded copy will be returned to you by
e-mail attachment.
7.
Evaluation
of the essay will
include the following factors: 1) how completely and well are all of the formal
specifications above met? 2) how clear and coherent is
the essay? 3) how accurately, thoughtfully, and insightfully is the film
understood, analyzed, and evaluated in relation to Iowa’s history?
D. CLASS PARTICIPATION will constitute 10% of the course
grade.
1. Class participation is a portion of the grade based on the
instructor’s estimation of the integrity of each student’s timely
engagement with the course material and the classroom environment.
2. In part, this portion of the grade will
be based on the various course assignments detailed above. How promptly
and well are they done?
3. In part, this portion of the grade will
be based on an assessment of the overall consistency and quality of each
student's attentiveness and involvement in the course. Attentiveness
and involvement include discussion, listening, and note-taking.
Talkativeness is not the standard, though, any more than is silence.
Rather, the goal for each student is an overall consistent engagement with the
material of the course in class, which, while allowing for differences in
personalities and variety in class sessions, could by a reasonable observer at
the end of the course be deemed, if
exceptional, "excellent," or if not exceptional, at least
"good."
4. Of course, attendance is essential to
class participation (see also below under section labeled Time In and Out of
Class). When appropriate, the instructor is prepared to be flexible with
occasional student scheduling problems, but the instructor must be
consulted. “Exceptions” are
not an entitlement.
COURSE
MISCELLANY:
1.
Late Assignments
1. All assignments are due as stated in the
syllabus or announced in class.
2. Extensions due to illness, approved field trips,
regularly scheduled games or performances, or other reasons outside the control
of the student can be made, but it is up to the student to petition the
instructor for such legitimate extensions.
3. Paper: If a paper is handed in late up to a week after it was
due and without a legitimate extension, it will normally receive a penalty of
at least one full grade down from whatever score the work merits apart from the
penalty. If a paper is over a week late and without a legitimate
extension, it will not be accepted.
4. Finals: Finals can only be rescheduled through
application to the Registrar's Office; a Final Exam Change form is linked to
the Registrar's Form webpage. Travel plans are not a legitimate reason for
rescheduling finals. All course material must be in to the instructor by
the scheduled period; no materials will be accepted thereafter.
2.
Academic Honesty
1. It is expected that all reading and
written work done in and for the course will be done
with integrity. That is, reading and writing as assigned is to be done
with honest single-mindedness by each student, without undue reliance on others
to do the work and without deceit about the work's timeliness, authorship, and
sources. Integrity of this sort is not easy or convenient; it does not
provide shortcuts or guarantee "As." Yet it is the best path to
growth in wisdom, and wisdom is the fruit of education most to be savored.
2. Academic dishonesty includes cheating
and plagiarism, as defined in the Student and Faculty Handbooks.
3. Cheating in exams, plagiarizing in
papers, and other forms of academic dishonesty, will, when duly determined,
lead to a "0" score for the assignment involved and the filing of a
report with the Office of the Provost, per the Student and Faculty Handbooks.
3.
Grading
1.
We the faculty of the History Department do not believe that
"grade inflation" is good for you. Jesus admonishes us to "Let
your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'" (Mt. 5:37); in other words, let grades
have integrity as indicators of knowledge and/or competence for a given
assignment or course.
2.
Therefore,
an A=excellent or outstanding work; B=good work (more than
adequate but not excellent); C=sufficient work (the assignment or the
course’s requirements have been met, but not with any remarkable
quality); D=insufficient work (does not fully meet the assignment); F=failing
work.
3.
Grades
for assignments and for the course as a whole are based on a 100% scale, as follows:
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A = 90-100
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B = 80-89
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C = 70-79
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D = 60-69
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F = 0-59
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4.
Within the
100% scale for letter grades, + and - will be given on the following scale
(exceptions: no A+ or F + or F-):
·
Remember--grades are NOT a measure of your
personal worth; that is already established by God! Grades are measures of the
quality of your work for a given assignment and/or course--nothing more and
nothing less.
4.
Advice for Doing Well in History Courses:
A.
READING
·
There
are three important things you should do with the reading: Read it all; take
notes on it so that you can use it; and draw on all of it that may be relevant
for each course assignment.
·
Reading for history courses is not so much
about memorizing data, but about seeing the structure, the argument, and the
supporting evidence in a reading, and to also think critically about context,
authorship, and audience. Mark and take notes on these things as you
read. The time you take on making notes as you read will save you time
later when you go back to look for material for your writing assignments.
·
There
is not enough in-class time to go over all the reading, but, if there is
something in the reading you wish to ask about or discuss, please, do not
hesitate to raise your question or make your observation. If you become an active, engaged reader, it
will help you learn, not just in this course but others as well.
B.
WRITING
·
Writing
is the primary method by which you will show me that you have read the assigned
material and not only considered it thoughtfully, but also considered in-class
discussions, films, and other materials.
·
In
most history courses, including this one, some research is required.
Research is not, in and of itself, mysterious, but, to be done well, it needs
to be done critically (i.e., analytically) and thoroughly. This
criticalness and thoroughness demands time, and also, of course, reading, but
the end result is written.
·
Since
this is a history course, grammar, spelling, syntax, and other such things that
might well be graded in a writing course are not the focus in your writing
here. Nonetheless, the better you are at writing a clearly worded,
coherently ordered essay with an introduction, a thesis or claim, several main
points (with supporting evidence from the reading and other course materials),
and a summary conclusion, the better the historical substance of your writing
will stand out. For help with writing, please don't hesitate to see
history tutors in the Writing/Academic Support Services Center (VP127).
C.
THE PACE OF THE CLASS
·
This
course may seem "slow" in terms of written assignments, but do not
take the slowness for lack of rigor in how the main assignments will be graded.
·
As
the past itself took time, so this course about the past has to let some things
unfold before there can be meaningful interaction with course material.
Moreover, research takes time: to select a topic, to do the research, and write
the paper. Thus, there is no good way around the necessity to have more
than 50% of the course grade with assignments due in the second half of the
class.
·
So,
plan ahead! Don't let yourself fall behind; all the major due dates are
in the syllabus, and the reading assignments are there as well. A good
habit to cultivate is to read ahead, especially for materials that will be the
focus of class discussion.
D.
TIME IN AND OUT OF CLASS
·
The
old wisdom still stands: "you reap what you sow" (Gal. 6:7b). Sooner or later, what one puts
into something is usually directly related to what one receives, whether one is
engaging in farming, music, sports, drama, or studying.
·
As
noted above, reading is central to this class--and reading takes time.
Research also takes time. (And, history courses are 2/4 credits,
further reflecting the importance for work outside class.) A rule of
thumb for humanities courses (history, literature, philosophy, religion) is
that spending 2 hours on the class in addition to every hour in class usually
brings better fruit than spending less than that. That is, for a
3-hour-a-week, 4 credit class, an average of 6 hours
per week on the class is a reasonable goal if you wish to do well in the class.
·
If
you signed up for this course, I expect you to be in class. Yet, I do not take class
attendance. I have other ways I would rather spend class time, and I
assume that you are adults and that you will thus be in class unless an
emergency intervenes. I hope that you are interested in the course (or
that I can awaken interest in you for the course), and that you will thus want
to come. I will try hard not to waste your time. Apart from this,
someone is paying lots of money for you to attend here, and presumably you (and
whoever else is involved) are interested in getting your money's worth from
your investment. And, the less you are in class, the more you miss
opportunities for understanding the course material: discussions; concepts
explained; themes noted; issues to ponder; connections to make; additional
material presented; explanations of assignments or other things; etc.
Someone else's notes seldom do a good job of capturing such things.
Finally, I (and other faculty) notice more than you might think. If you
are absent a lot, and with no legitimate explanation, then when it comes time
for me to total up your work for a course grade, I will have little to no
reason to give you any benefit of the doubt.
E.
STUDY ADVICE
·
Rule
of thumb: If you wish
to do well in history classes, generally plan on two hours of outside work
for every in-class hour. Much reading and some writing is involved, and
this takes time to do adequately, let alone well.
·
Spirituality: Approach your studies with a prayerful
attitude. Pray for discipline, for attentiveness, for discernment and
understanding. Christ is Lord of all of life, so is he Lord of our learning.
Give him the glory with the mind he has given you. We don't think of playing an
instrument or playing basketball without practice; why would anyone think that
glorifying God with our minds takes any less time--any less prayer and
disciplined action?
·
Reading: READ ATTENTIVELY AND INTELLIGENTLY.
For history courses, the point of reading is to gain information AND to put
that information within some context, or thesis, or pattern. For the main text
for the course, watch for all the cues authors give you as to 1) what detail is
more important than others and 2) how the details are marshaled into larger
patterns that "tell a story" or "make a point."
·
Further
Help: You should be
able to handle this course with sufficient time and attention. After all,
hundreds of other students have. However, if you run into problems, DON'T
HESITATE TO ASK FOR HELP: me, my student assistant, folks in the Writing Center.