Syllabus

Please remember to check the syllabus for changes. For more information on assigned papers, please visit the "Assignments" page. All classes will be held in the Watson CIT, room 219, unless otherwise specified. *** Mission Statement *** *** Bibliography *** September 7 Introduction to the Course ** University Convocation ** September 9 An Introduction to Gravestones as Material Culture September 14 Puritan Religion In New England September 16 Puritan Iconography September 21 An Eighteenth-Century Burying Ground ** Class Visit to North Burial Ground, Providence ** September 23 Sources of Styles in Early New England Gravestones September 28 Evolution in Customs, Evolution in Forms September 30 The Craft of Gravestone Cutting ** Special In-Class Presentation, Nick Benson** October 5 Studying Artifacts October 7 Artifacts as Tangible Manifestations of Shared Mental Structures ** Class Visit to the RISD Museum ** October 12 Style as Evidence of Cultural Change October 14 Neoclassical Style in the Eighteenth-Century Burying Ground ** Class Visit to St. John’s Burial Ground, Providence ** ** Gravestone/Furniture Paper Due ** October 19 New England Gravestones and the Neoclassical Style October 21 ** Midterm Examination ** October 26 The Rural Cemetery Movement October 28 The Rural Cemetery Movement November 2 The Rural Cemetery ** Class Visit to Swan Point Cemetery, Providence ** ** Proposals for Final Projects Due ** November 4 New Orleans Cemetery Design and Architecture November 9 The Jewish Cemetery at Newport: Cultural Syncretism in Material Evidence ** Rural Cemetery Paper Due ** November 11 The Material Evidence of African-Americans in Eigteenth-Century New England November 16 African-American Gravestones in Eighteenth-Century New England November 18 Icons and Epitaphs in the Twentieth Century November 23 Ethnicity and Regionalism November 25 ** Thanksgiving ** November 30 Ethnicity and Regionalism December 2 Sculptural Memorials December 7 ** Final Reports ** December 9 ** Final Reports **