Submitted work by Erik Therkildsen
Analyzing Objects
Porcelain
Musket Ball
Smallpox
Nail
Reaper
Shirtwaist
Transistor
Coffee
Record
Tire
Dishwasher
Dress
Stereograph
Stone
Shoe
Question 1:
Historical thinking is not just knowing the important dates, names, , events and locations. It is taking this information, typically told in a kind of story format, a analyzing it into a bigger picture, What we actually learn from the facts. For instance you can look at a list of American Civil War casualty statistics that there were between 620,000 to 750,000 deaths during the war, and approximately 2/3 were due to disease. What can you determine from these facts alone? Probably that the medical practices during the mid 1800s were of low quality if disease was that rampant.
Question 2:
The use of objects, or artifacts, are a great way to encourage historical thinking. This reminds of a time when a brought two Dual Enrollment VA/US history students to the Appomattox Museum of the Confederacy for a field trip and my students attended a classroom session, before exploring the museum, where they were given access to historic items to investigate and see if they could figure out what the items purpose was, who would have used it, where would it have come from, etc. While walking around I could see the curiosity in their faces and the high level of interaction when the curator would ask them questions about the items.
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Module Id: 689
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 15:08
Question 1:
When looking at this object the first thing that I notice is that it is a sealed can. Looking at the label, very plain, you can learn that it is Coffee extract produced by the Nestle company. The condition of the can shows abuse/wear and tear in the way of scratches, scrapes, and dirt.
Question 2:
Looking at the packaging, you can probably assume that the coffee meant to last for a prolonged amount of time, being sealed in a can. Also durable packaging, it can take some abuse, which you can clearly see from its condition. Another thing about the label. With it being so plain it was probably not intended to catch anyones attention. That being said it was probably not sold in stores. A more likely scenario would be that it was a part of a soldiers food rations. I would venture to guess that this can of coffee dates back to the Vietnam War or earlier because in the post-Vietnam military canned goods were less common in soldiers rations as the military began moving to plastics for packaging food.
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Module Id: 1147
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 15:50
Question 1:
The primary things that you can notice about this object are that it is a piece of mail. But, looking closer at it you can then notice that it is stamped as originating from the Confederate States of America so it is from between the years of 1861 and 1865. You can also see that it is marked as official business so there is the possibility that it could be Confederate government related.
Question 2:
Represented in this object we see elements of the political evolution and oppositions that it has gone through. Also, we can see the evolution in communication that human kind has gone through as a whole. No longer wax seals on rolled up parchment, but sealed envelopes that allow addresses and names to be more readily labeled for a larger postal service to process and deliver them.
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Module Id: 1021
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Sunday, July 25, 2021 - 15:43
Question 1:
At first look the object in question looks like it is a cup and dish from a tea set. Looking more closely you can notice the characteristically white and thinness of the material indicating that it is most likely a porcelain. You can see that it is finely decorated, but not with complete uniformity. This is probably an indication of made from hand craftsmanship of an artisan more than likely in a pre 20th century studio/workshop.
Question 2:
This object connects to broader themes in American history by what it represents. Porcelain was not a commodity that could have been easily made in the Americas until the late 19th century at the earliest. So what this could represent is one of two things. One, the object was bought at a high price by some one of wealth to show off their wealth. Two being that the tea set was imported in from Asia and could represent the international trade agreements between the United States and Asian countries, such as China and Japan, that were beginning to form during that later half of the 19th century.
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Module Id: 951
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Submitted: Monday, August 2, 2021 - 18:46
Question 1:
At first glance this object is obviously an electric dishwasher. Judging by the kitchen cabinet and hardware designs it is most likely from the late 1940s to early 1950s. The dishwasher looks to be of higher quality so it probably belongs to a middleclass household.
Question 2:
This object may connect to broader themes in American history by its representation in the economic growth of Post WWII America. Over the course of WWII the American economy was able to fully recover from the Great Depression and continue to thrive because of the excess cash that many Americans had saved over the course of the war years when there was a shortage of goods for the general public. So with readily available funds Americans were looking for items to make the daily labors of life easier, such as washing dishes.
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Module Id: 1093
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Tuesday, August 10, 2021 - 13:04
Question 1:
Some of the first things that you notice when looking at this object are that, one, it is a vinyl record, and two, that t is old. You can see dates on it from 1895, 1903, and 1905. When you are getting involved with years like these in vinyl records you are looking pretty early in their history. And with that being the turn of the century that means that it is the beginning of pop culture in the United States. So entertainers having merchandise available for purchase to bring home and listen to is becoming an all new thing to consumers.
Question 2:
What this object represents to broader themes in American history is the advancement is technology that was occurring at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. The invention of pop culture and recreational activities like listening to music at home and not live out somewhere shows that there was excess income available to families at the time for such luxuries.
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Module Id: 1128
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Submitted: Sunday, August 15, 2021 - 16:32
Question 1:
Looking at this photograph, what you first notice is that it features a large pile of what I would assume are old and used tires. You can also notice that they are piled up outside of a large building, possible a warehouse or factory.
Question 2:
This object may connect to broader themes in American history by what it could represent. Between the years of 1941 and 1945, World War II, rationing of materials and resources was a major concern for the American government. Something the that the American citizenry was able to do to contribute to the war effort was scavenging for items like scrap metal and old tires that could be melted down and be remade in to war materials that the military needed.
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Module Id: 1108
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Submitted: Sunday, August 22, 2021 - 19:38
Question 1:
The first thing that we can notice about the object is that it is labeled as a musket ball. But upon closer inspection we can see that there is a lot of wear and tear on the musket ball. This might suggest one of two things, one being that it's just old, and two, that it had gotten bang around a bit when making contact with a target.
Question 2:
This object might connect to broader themes in American history because it was the gun that made the creation and expansion of America possible. Without firearms the colonists would never have been able to fight a successful revolution against Great Britain. There would never have been a successful westward expansion against native tribes in North America with out the technological advancements of firearms. The story of America is one of gun powder, lead, and blood.
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Module Id: 955
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Submitted: Monday, August 30, 2021 - 13:15
Question 1:
Historical thinking, like previously stated, is investigating a fuller picture based off of the initial facts that you are resented with, whether it is a list of information or an artifact. If you are able to ask investigative questions such as what the items purpose was, who would have used it, where would it have come from you can get a much fuller picture. For example, during the American Civil War there were 364,511 Union soldiers that died. But did you know that 67,088 were killed in action, 43,012 were mortally wounded, 224,580 died of disease, 30,192 died as prisoners of war, 24,881 died of non-battle causes, 1,804 members of the Navy were killed, and 3,000 died of wound of accident. You wouldn't know all of that information unless you were to ask the question were all of those deaths caused by battle?
Question 2:
I believe that my initial statements about using objects to encourage historical thinking was spot on. When I brought two Dual Enrollment VA/US history classes to the Appomattox Museum of the Confederacy for a field trip and my students attended a classroom session, before exploring the museum, where they were given access to historic items to investigate and see if they could figure out what the items purpose was, who would have used it, where would it have come from, etc. It was great seeing how students were able to piece together a fuller picture of what life could have been like 150 years ago.
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Module Id: 689
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Submitted: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 - 20:05
Question 1:
The idea of how instant coffee connect to broader themes in 20th-century history goes along with the "modernization" of products. Companies producing for the WWII effort wanted to continue making their new products because of all the money, time, and research that went into food reservation so they needed to come up with new methods for marketing. These "instant" products were now being marketed as time savers like the ready-made cake mixes where you just add an egg and you're good to go. Fast forward these advertising methods 70 years and you have our modern instant gratification world.
Question 2:
The limitations of analyzing advertising for understanding the ways in which women's roles in the household changed in the 20th century are that we are only seeing the "positive" side of what these products are doing. They don't tell you about the possible scandal at the block party if people found out if Martha's famous peach cobbler was made with a batter mix and canned peaches. And because of instances like these women would now have more time on their hands for other activities, whether it's around the house or neighborhood.
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Module Id: 1147
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Submitted: Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 17:06
Question 1:
The mail connects to broader themes in 19th-century history by way of spreading the evolution of political ideas in the United States. The example that stands out is from the page documenting the attack on the post office in Charleston, SC where we are given a quote from the Postmaster General that "the Constitution protected political speech, and that the Post Office had been created in part to disseminate political information to a growing nation."
Question 2:
This particular module has enhanced my understanding of the years leading up to the Civil War in how information was being spread. Typically you get the blanket phrase that the word was spreading about abolition and anti-abolition, but you never really here about how it was spreading. Yes, you can assume speeches and newspapers, but you can forget about the mail. It was only just the largest distributer of information in the world at that time in any country you went to. In particularly this comes to play with where we were told about how copies of William Lloyd Garrison's "The Liberator" were mailed to homes throughout the South spread abolitionist propaganda.
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Module Id: 1021
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Submitted: Sunday, July 25, 2021 - 17:10
Question 1:
Porcelain connects to broader themes in 18th-century history because it represents the system where all luxury goods were forcefully being only imported into the British colonies from England. It represents the domination that England had over the colonies and what was believed to be unfair taxation policies by the British government. Among these taxes being the tea and stamp acts.
Question 2:
Before making an argument about the causes of the American Revolution I would want additional information related to why exactly the British government seemed to be so reluctant to have colonial representation in Parliament. If this had been allowed the colonies would have remained under British control for perhaps several more decades before revolution would have begun.
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Module Id: 951
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Submitted: Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - 19:41
Question 1:
The dishwasher connects to broader themes in 20th-century history not only in how there was economic prosperity in the United States in a post WWII world but it also represents the competition for technological superiority between the two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Nowhere was this more apparent then the portion of the module where we watched a video from 1959 where then Vice President Richard Nixon accompanied America’s industrial capabilities when they went on display in Moscow. The confrontation and blunt words of Soviet Premier Nikkita Khrushchev showed the charisma he possessed along with the "Don't mess with us we will bury you" attitude that he was known for. This could very much be seen as a metaphor for the cold relationship between the United States and Soviet Union for most of the Cold War.
Question 2:
The resources of this module helped to enhance my prior understanding of the Cold War in the way that it portrayed how the United States and the Soviet Union were a lot closer in technological competition to one another then I had previously been aware. The moment when Nikkita Khrushchev told Vice President Nixon that the Soviets had developed colored television as well.
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Module Id: 1093
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Submitted: Tuesday, August 10, 2021 - 22:42
Question 1:
The song connects to broader themes in 20th-century history by what it tells us in its lyrics. It tells us the immigrants story of how our ancestors came here from all over the world to make a better life for their families, getting a piece f the American dream that could even lead to their own children or grandchildren becoming President. Lines more specifically like
"We'll put them in our melting pot, teach them the golden rule,
then we'll hatch our future president in any public school."
The song really does bring to mind what people thought that America was, a place where they could change their futures, stack the deck in their favor for once. Their were no kings to kneel to, just the progress that a hard days work could pay off for you and your family and make something of yourself.
"We'll put them in our melting pot, teach them the golden rule,
then we'll hatch our future president in any public school."
The song really does bring to mind what people thought that America was, a place where they could change their futures, stack the deck in their favor for once. Their were no kings to kneel to, just the progress that a hard days work could pay off for you and your family and make something of yourself.
Question 2:
Other kinds of sources might be used to better understand the history immigration in the United States are economic records from around the world. Many people would decide to could to America for economic opportunities so understanding the job markets, income levels, and unemployment rates in other countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries would be very beneficial to understanding the pull factor of the United States.
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Module Id: 1128
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Submitted: Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - 21:44
Question 1:
Like stated earlier, the tires connect to broader themes in 20th-century history because of what they represent for the rationing of war materials during WWII. Like with the example of the poster that had the middle aged woman carrying her groceries home from the store instead of driving home from the store. The purpose being to not waste fuel or tires that could be used to fight against the axis powers.
Question 2:
The kinds of questions that would be important to ask when analyzing posters like the ones in the module would be questions like, What message is the audience being told? Who is the audience? Who are we trying to get the audience to help? What feeling do we want to give the audience?
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Module Id: 1108
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Saturday, August 28, 2021 - 19:26
Question 1:
The musket ball connects to broader themes in 18th-century history because of what it represents for militaries of the time. We see that during this time soldiers were not drilled in marksmanship because of the inaccuracy of firearms during the 18th century. This in turn explains why soldiers would fire volleys in line formation with this almost mob mentality. It can also be said that because of this trained mob mentality with armies that there became a general distrust between troops and civilian populations in the colonies, adding to the sore feelings between the two groups in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Question 2:
Other primary sources might help us understand how people in the late 18th century viewed armies and soldiers are the news of the times. Newspaper articles and political cartoons of the late 18th century will depict what the thoughts of the everyday citizens was.
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Module Id: 955
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Submitted: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - 14:13
Title: Artifacts in the Classroom
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
Something that I have done in the past when teaching is I have brought in objects that I own. When teaching about American Civil War injuries I bring in reproductions of bullets that were used by the combatants and will describe the types of injuries that they could inflict. When discussing WWII I will bring in a blood chit for students to investigate and see if they can figure out what it is. They can usually piece together the overall purpose and then I will go more in-depth describing how these silk items were printed with writing in several languages for downed pilots to use to provide a message to civilians in the Pacific theatre seeking assistance in evading Japanese soldiers and returning to American lines.
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Module Id: 689
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Submitted: Tuesday, July 13, 2021 - 20:12
Title: Emergence of the Modern Commercial World
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
I would be able to incorporate the content from this module in how I teach students about that post-WWII economic boom from 1945 through the 1950s. This period being were many new products were introduced to the American people and have since become staples in American life.
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Module Id: 1147
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 17:11
Title: Spread of Ideas
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
To incorporate the purpose of the module in to my own teaching I would engage my students in a class discussion about the pre-Civil War era. In this discussion I would pose the question "We know that ideas are spreading during this time, but how are they spreading exactly? How do you reach millions of people in a country as large as the United States, even at the size it was back in the 1840s and 50s."
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Module Id: 1021
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Sunday, July 25, 2021 - 17:15
Title: What Good is Luxury?
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
To use the information from this module with my students I would have to be sure to establish what the purpose of setting up colonies was during the 16th to 18th centuries. From here I could use the information in this module to represent that relationship like we see in maps of the trade patterns during this time: raw materials going from N. America to Europe, manufactured products going from Europe to Africa, slaves and gold going from Africa to N. America to help with manual labor to get more raw material and continue the cycle. Of course I would explain how luxury goods would go to N. America as well and explain that through the navigation acts the British colonies could only buy products from British trade ships so that British money stayed in British hands.
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Module Id: 951
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - 19:52
Title: Economics, Not War
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
With the introduction of the nuclear bomb the face of warfare was changed forever. Governments were capable of destroying the entire planet at the flick of a switch. We know had to come up with less destructive, yet equally devastating, methods of combat. The resources of the module show how this process can be done. We are shifting from the bullets and bombs of WWII to the wallet, who can make the other go bankrupt and collapse their economy first. To help get my students into this line of thinking I would pose the question, "Besides killing, how can you destroy an enemy?"
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Module Id: 1093
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Tuesday, August 10, 2021 - 22:47
Title: Why Immigration?
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
Providing students with a more immersive experience into the immigration process of 120 years ago could be a more eye opening lesson for them. Providing pieces of the culture at the turn of the 20th century will help to provide a look in to the minds of the American citizenry and the new comers looking to make a new life for themselves and their families. By showing film footage, photography, and listening to music of the time you can see what was in the minds of the people of the time, much like you can today in the social commentary of audio and visual artists. Using these elements students can put faces and names with the events on a more personally level then they previously could have. When teaching lessons on this topic myself I have included aspects of my own families history coming here as immigrants 100 years ago. I provide pictures of relatives and talk about what their experiences were crossing the Atlantic, while providing a photo of the ship they came here on, and that immigrants could sometimes needs sponsors and jobs already lined up for when they got to the states.
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Module Id: 1128
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - 21:52
Title: Rationing
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
In order to engage students with the content and strategies of this module I would show the students photos related to the module, rationing and collecting, while posing the question, "What does it take to win a war?"
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Module Id: 1108
User Id: 1498
Submitted: Saturday, August 28, 2021 - 19:37
Title: The Story a Bullet Tells
Grade Level: High
Short Answer:
The use of a musket ball in class is actually something that I have done before. I have reproductions of a musket ball and a mini ball bullet that I will show to my students to demonstrate to them how older styled firearms worked and the damage that they could do to the human body. As a part of my demonstration I will pose the question "Now knowing what these weapons and projectiles were capable of, what type of reaction do you think that the regular citizen would have when seeing soldiers coming in to the community by the hundreds or thousands?"
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Module Id: 955
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Submitted: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 - 14:18