Hist 340		MICHAEL R. H. SWANSON Ph. D
*Critical Periods: Colonial America*		OFFICE: Feinstein College 111
ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY		Hours: M, T, Th, F 9:00-10:00
CAS 123		Or By Appointment
M W F 12:00 - 12:55		PHONE: (254)-3230
Spring, 2001		E-mail: mrhs@alpha.rwu.edu

Week of Monday, April 30

For Monday, April 30

READ: in Reich,
Chapter 21, Language and Literature pp. 235-244
It has been remarked that America and England are two countries separated by a common language. The topic for today is the development of an American approach to literature and language. We're going to want to look at regional and economic differences. In other words, when Reich uses the plurals "tastes" and "Americans," he's speaking to a condition of diversity, rather than Uniformity.

WEB WORK: Posted on the website

For Wednesday, May 2

Tutorial Session in the Psych Lab. Unless informed otherwise, proceed there directly.

For Friday, May 4

READ: in Reich,
Chapter 22, Colonial Arts and Sciences pp. 245-254
It is important to recognize that these categories don't represent professions in the current sense of the word. Many of our "scientists" were also our printers, our planters, our preachers, and our merchants. It is important, too, to recognize that certain fields of scientific and artistic endeavor had greater importance than others, and to understand why those fields predominated. This will give another clue to American national character.

WEB WORK

The web is a rich repository of work on colonial American Arts and artists. I'd like to set you to browsing in selected areas of it.
A useful "Webliography" can be located at http://134.10.2.252/academic/departments/am_studies/Early_American_Art.html
For and example of early American Painting, see The Teacher's Guide to American Art, Slide One.
Examples of American Furniture and Decorative Arts can be found at commercial sites (Auction houses, antiques dealers, and the like. The illustrations change as items are bought and sold, but there is usually something worth looking at. For example, visit. Equinox Antiques.
For examples of American Science, its nature and practitioners, visit this page on The Electric Franklin. For Colonial Medicine, see Cotton Mather's thoughts on smallpox inocculation. For a sense of the multiple careers of Colonial "scientists" read the brief biography of John Winthrop, Jr.