HIST 384: Native American History: Home

Students may choose any topic but a good exhibit will (see full rubric): 

• Bring attention to a significant issue or aspect of Native American life/culture/history
• Provide solid, well-researched historical background to establish thoughtful connections between the past and present
• Be conceptualized and written in an accessible, engaging, and polished style for a wide public
• Use relevant and interesting items/documents to tell an important story
• Demonstrate overall coherence between the various sub-sections
• Be properly cited and formatted

Class Sessions

• Tuesday Sept 22nd: Brainstorming session- We will discuss possible themes for our exhibit. Groups will be formed and start thinking about their sections and how it will fit within the whole. Melinda McPeek will provide an introduction to virtual exhibits and walk us through the stages of creating our project.
• October 1st: Library session. Ian Post and Jen Piegols will join us to introduce some relevant collections and resources from the Nabb Center and other digital platforms. Students will practice identifying items that they could use in the exhibit.
• November 3rd: Tutorial- Students will learn how to enter the metadata in the system and start adding their selected items in the exhibit.
• December 1st: after groups will have entered all their text and materials in the system, we will dedicate this session to making sure all portions of the exhibit are polished and work well with each other. This will be our “fine-tuning” session before the launch of the exhibit.

Assignment Elements and Due Dates

• October 15th: Proposal and outline (1-2 pages) due. After we will have chosen an overall theme for the exhibit and formed the working groups, each group will do some general research to define their own topic. The proposal should introduce the theme and content of the project, and provide a tentative outline (2-4 subheadings). The proposal should also mention the type of evidence and materials the group is hoping to use.
• November 1st: Final list of materials and sources with citations due. After our library session, each group will research and identify the items they will use for their exhibit section as well as secondary sources they will use to ground their text/ideas. This should be a complete list of “items” the exhibit will be built around (primary sources), and of scholarly sources that will be consulted (secondary sources), with detailed and accurate citations in the Chicago Manual of Style format. That information will later be entered into the Omeka platform.
• November 10th: each group must have uploaded their items and created metadata for each in the Omeka platform (based on feedback on list of sources).
• November 17th: each student will turn in their draft for the text of their exhibit section in MyClasses. Groups are responsible for dividing the work fairly and equitably using the outline they designed earlier in the semester. The texts will not be long (about 250 words per page) but should be as clear, well-researched, and accurate as possible. This is a great way to practice efficient writing (putting a lot of important and interesting information in a concise way). A survey will allow students to provide feedback on their group mates and overall experience.
• December 1st: Groups will have worked on the layout of their pages in Omeka prior to our review session.
• December 8th: all text and metadata must be carefully proofread, corrected, and entered into Omeka and ready for live launch of exhibit. We will work as a class on the main introduction for the overall exhibit.