HISTORY 340
Critical Periods in American History
Roger Williams University
12:00  M, W, F
CAS 123
Spring, 2001
Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D.
Office:  CAS 111
Hours:  9-10:  M, T, Th, F
or by appointment
Phone:  (254) 3230
For Monday, March 5                            Continuation of the Computer Tutorial

Meet directly in CAS 153.  Depending on how much was accomplished in Friday's session I'll discuss search techniques.  There may also be a chance to show some of your page designs.

For Wednesday, March 7.                                                   House and Home

READ: in Hawke
4.The House47-57
5.The Home58-71

These two chapters paint a portrait of domestic life in Colonial America.  Chapter 5, especially, points to some of the difficulties of colonial studies.  Because there were so many settlements, all of them rather small, and all of them isolated from each other, it becomes very difficult to generalize.  Note, for example, the challenges raised to commonly held beliefs by John Deetz (especially interesting to us because the community he studied was Bristol, Rhode Island).   The issue which remains... how typical was Bristol?
An English "Wigwam" copied from Native American Models.  This is the kind of house in which Colonists lived while constructing permanent houses on the English Model.  That process took approximately one year from felling trees.
Internet Assignment: 
Learn more about 17th century clothing by visiting a useful and informative website created by Plimoth Plantation.  You'll find it at http://www.plimoth.org/library/costume.htm

For illustrations of early homes, visit
http://www.plimoth.org/Museum/Pilgrim_Village/1627.htm.  Use the map on the website to visit individual house reconstructions.  All these illustrations represent the northern colonies.  Refer to earlier syllabi for reconstructions of Jamestown.
Click to visit Plimoth Plantation
For Friday, March 9                                                 Health

Read: in Hawke
7.Health72-87

As the sub-headings in this chapter suggest, health is partly a matter of withstanding the assaults of pathogens like virus and bacteria, and partly a matter of lifestyle.  Of course, the two are interrelated.  We'll look at the state of medical knowledge, as well.