Description: This course is an introduction to the goals, methods, and tools of historical research and writing. Students will learn how historians formulate research questions, how to locate and read primary sources, how to use secondary sources, how to develop research topics that are incisive and focused and how to organize and present one’s research in oral, written and visual form. This course is of particular benefit to students majoring or minoring in history and other humanities, education students preparing to teach, and students in any field interested in research projects.

In this course, we will study the discipline of history by “doing” history. Our focus in the Spring 2019 semester will be on War Letters, particularly those found in two “special collections” held by UNE: the Randall Cushing Collection which features nearly 2000 letters from World War One and Two; and the Maine Women Writers Collection which archives work by and about Maine women writers. As we explore these rich archives of primary source documents we will try to make sense of these individuals’lives in the context of the period in which they lived. We will focus on three areas of study: letters as a historical source; the content & context of war letters; and the historical stories we can tell based on war letters.

This semester we have a unique opportunity. We will tell our historical stories in an exhibit in the UNE library gallery space focused on World War II in the Pacific Theater. As we plan our exhibit, we will examine the various ways historians have shared stories from history. We will learn to work with primary sources and pull engaging stories from within and across this archive. Exercises will provide experience in research and writing skills as you become familiar with a wide variety of information sources and learn how to draw evidence from them.