Reference no: EM133814429

Historical Artifact Essay

Historical artifacts are important to understanding the history of the women in our own or adjacent families or communities. For this assignment students chose an historical artifact from the centuries we have studied through 2010.

Historical artifacts can teach us a great deal about the past, about daily life, hopes and aspirations, skills and needs of individual women or groups of women who used or produced them and passed them on.

Sometimes these artifacts are treasured family heirlooms or simply well-used conveniences. Kitchen gadgets, apparel, photographs, books, and more are appropriate ‘lenses' through which to think about women's history. If you have in mind a family
heirloom that symbolizes an aspect of women's history, please write your essay on that. Students have written about a prized quilt made by a female family member and a tupperware set or a stand mixer. The object should be clearly associated with women's lives and roles.

If you prefer you may take a less personalized approach and choose a decade and an artifact (like the 1940s and the Bikini bathing suit) and explain what the artifact teaches us about the decade and women's lives then. You may also wish to discuss an artifact in relationship to the women's history it connects with over more than one decade, focusing on a theme or themes. Students have written about red lipstick, for example, and Sunday hats in the African American community, for another. There is a dedicated discussion forum for the assignment and any questions that may arise available from the Learning Modules in the weeks just before it is due.

Your essay should, when applicable, reference materials covered and knowledge gained in this course and use historical citation. Use of relevant, informative images of the artifact or one similar is encouraged (with permission if from family members). Each essay should offer a clear historical interpretation of the artifact and its relationship to
women's history ( a sample outline/template appears below.)

Assignment Philosophy and Purpose: This is a summative assignment to demonstrate student's development of the skills of historical concepts, research, thinking, writing, and citation. The PrimaryAnalysis essays prepare students to analyze an artifact (by describing, assessing, then analyzing a primary source). When students share the links to their essays, this creates a shared ‘tapestry' of our collective

understanding of US women's history concepts and experiences and helps to show how material culture can teach us about women's lives. The essay is inspired by the bookSample Outline/Template for the Historical Artifact Essay (Provide citations for any research you do).

Introduction
Describe the artifact and its function. Make us interested in your essay!
Describe its family significance or why you chose to discuss this artifact. Place Your Order Now!
Make the case for what it shows about US Women's History (Thesis)
Brief historical background on the object
Brief historical background for the women's history of the decade you discuss or the main historical development/s across the decades you wish to discuss.
Analytic Discussion (Choose the topics that make the most sense for your artifact. At least two required)
Family member who produced or from whom you inherited the artifact
Use/s of the artifact. Who used it? What did it do?
Women's history connection/s for the artifact (every essay should include this)
Symbolism of the artifact: Freedom/constriction or opportunity/loss? (Optional)
Function of the artifact (while being produced and or while being used)
Connection to historical movements/milestones/experiences/developments that we have studied in this class. Reference course material with an example or quote here.
The artifact's importance or change across decades (if doing a non-family
artifact) or for a decade/set time period, or across the generations, or to you or your family member
Different components of the artifact. Here you might discuss things like whose clothing is featured in a quilt or when an appliance was first introduced. You can discuss the skills required to produce the handicraft.The use consumers/users made of the object or why you think it was popular.

Conclusion: (A and at least one more element below).
The most important elements of the artifact AND
What historical context/development they connect to

The artifact's historical significance/significance to American Women's History.
Where the artifact sits/is used (if used) today.
What the artifact symbolizes for women's history and or your family.

Note: the outline elements above may not each be a paragraph. They could be components of a paragraph.There are other possible organizations for you to present the historical meaning of the historical artifact you have chosen in an essay.