Graduate Courses - Spring 2005
This page last updated: Monday, 21-Feb-2005 19:46:04 PST
Course Schedules and Locations are subject to change! Please check this site often for updated information.
Ancient |
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| 275A.001 - Topics and Problems in Roman History | Gruen | |
| M 2-6 | 2227 Dwinelle | CCN: 39510 |
| The seminar aims to introduce students to the primary sources and scholarly literature on a variety of selected topics in the Roman Republic and Empire. We meet once a week for approximately three hours, each session devoted to a particular topic. Discussions will center upon analysis of the evidence and judgment upon controversial interpretations. Two oral reports and one paper of moderate length (15 to 20 pages), the subject to be chosen by the student, are required. Active participation in the weekly discussions is at least as important as the written work. Interested students should see Mr. Gruen before the beginning of the spring semester. | ||
Europe |
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| 275B.001 - Early Modern Europe | Brady | |
| Th 2-5 | 115 Barrows | CCN: 39511 |
| An introduction for graduate students to European history from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. Readings and discussions on interpreting the main themes of this era: principal ways of conceptualizing history; arguments in particular genres of history (economic, social, political, cultural, intellectual, etc.); and paths of current research. The course is open by instructor's consentto History graduates taking EME as a first or second field, to History graduates from other fields, and to graduates from other disciplines and institutions. Requirements: attendance at and participation in weekly sessions (3 hrs., once a week); three papers of 12-15 pages each. | ||
| 275B.002 - Europe in the Twentieth Century | Connelly | |
| Tu 2-4 | 104 Dwinelle | CCN: 39514 |
This course is not meant to cover the history of 20th century Europe.
Its goal rather is to stimulate conversation on a series of provocative questions
relating to the history of the continent in this period. Course readings touch upon
following issues:
Book list available shortly. Check back soon. |
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| 280B.001 - The Caucasus from the Russian Conquest to the Present | Astourian | |
| Tu 4-6 | 206 Wheeler | CCN: 39544 |
| This seminar will focus on the experience of the three
main nationalities of the Caucasus (the Armenians, the Azerbaijanis, and the
Georgians), without neglecting that of some of the smaller ethnic groups (Abkhazes
and Chechens). The readings will cover the period stretching from the Russian
conquest of that region (turn of the nineteenth century) to the present. The
post-Soviet period will be dealt with quite thoroughly. We will discuss the following themes: the Russian conquest and administration of the Caucasus; the diverse responses of the local population to the opportunities and constraints presented by tsarist rule; the diverse cultural and political currents emerging from the 1860s on and the resulting rise of national consciousness among the three main nationalities; the socioeconomic and ethnonational stratification of the Caucasus at the end of the nineteenth century and its impact on the subsequent process of "nation-making;" the First World War and the formation of three independent republics; the sovietization of those republics and the contradictions involved in the creation of socialist (national) republics; the transformation of the Caucasus under Soviet rule; the causes for the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the formation of post-Soviet republics and their characteristics; the origins and development of a number of ethnoterritorial conflicts (Mountainous Karabagh, Chechnya, and Abkhazia), the struggle of the regional and great powers for influence in the region; and the geopolitics of oil production and exportation. Requirements Oral presentations and a term paper (25-30 pages) will be required. Reading knowledge of French, German, or any of the main languages of that region would be helpful. Please contact Professor Astourian at astour@socrates.berkeley.edu about ordering the required readings. |
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| 280B.002 | Barrows | |
| Tu 12-2 | 108 Wheeler | CCN: 39547 |
| A more detailed description is forthcoming. Please check back. | ||
| 280B.003 - War and Society in the Twentieth Century | Adamthwaite | |
| W 10-12 | 65 Evans | CCN: 39550 |
| War has dominated and shaped the century. This seminar explores the complex relationships between war, state and society. The focus is not on military history but on the experience and consequences of war. Topics will include the two world wars, cold war and colonial conflicts. Major themes are the impact of war on state-building and the creation of identities, the role of memory, and the making of international politics. Requirements: oral presentations, term paper (25-30 pages). | ||
| 280B.004 - Historiography of the Holocaust | Efron & Feldman | |
| W 10-12 | 122 Latimer | CCN: 39553 |
| Few episodes in history have generated the sheer amount of historical
literature that the Holocaust has. Entire libraries such as those that exist at the United States
Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., or that of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem are entirely
dedicated to the history of the Shoah. The field, originally the purview of historians and political
scientists is now characterized by its interdisciplinarity. Initially, the historians who undertook
such work were political historians but now social, cultural, business, architectural, medical and
womenÕs historians, to name but a few specialties, have brought their expertise to bear on this
subject. In addition, sociologists as well as literary and film scholars have enriched Holocaust
research. The result of this is the production of one of the most researched topics in all of
human history and a library so vast and requiring such specialized skills that it is virtually
impossible to master the subject in its infinite variety. In order to narrow its scope, this course endeavors to introduce students to some of the major themes in contemporary historical research on the Holocaust. With Professor Feldman, an authority on the Third Reich, and Professor Efron, a specialist in Jewish history, we will explore the historiography of the Shoah from the vantage point of both perpetrators and victims. We trust that such a perspective will provide a more rounded picture of the events. We will begin before the Holocaust and study literature pertinent to the prehistory of the Holocaust such as that dealing with antisemitism in the Kaiserreich and the economic, social and cultural place of Jews in German society prior to the advent of the Nazis and then move on to examine how historians treat key topics in the history of events leading up to and surrounding the destruction of European Jewry during World War II. Among the topics to be explored are: Antisemitism, the Jews in European Society, Hitler, The Jews in Nazi Ideology, The Nazi Seizure of Power, The Daily Persecution of German Jewry, The Business of Persecution, World War II, The Einsatzgruppen, Life and Death in the Ghettos, The Camp System, The Business of Murder, The Politics of Rescue, A Postwar Accounting. |
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| 285B.001 - Reason and History in Modern European Thought | Jay | |
| Th 12-2 | 206 Wheeler | CCN: 39646 |
| This research seminar will continue the 280 reading seminar on the same subject this past fall. It will allow students to pursue topics of their own choosing in British, French and German intellectual history. | ||
| 285B.002 - Research Topics in Soviet History | Slezkine | |
| W 4-6 | 2525 Tolman | CCN: 39649 |
| After some background reading on 20th-century Russia, students will concentrate on individual research projects chosen in consultation with the instructor. All papers will be discussed in class. Reading knowledge of Russian is required. | ||
| 280B.005 / 285B.003 - Religion, Society, and Culture in Catholic Reformation Europe, 1550-1700 | Honig & Dandelet | |
| F 9:30-12:30 | 425 Doe Library | CCN: 39556 / 39652 |
| Also listed as History of Art 262 | ||
| Spurred by the alarming success of the protestant reformation, the
Catholic church launched its own internal reform in the later 16th century. The status and function
of images, forcibly challenged by radical protestantism, was one area where important redefinition
had to occur, for images would play a decisive role in the aggressive promotion of the new Catholic
spirituality that was to spread throughout Europe and across the globe. A style that art history has
dubbed "The Baroque" arose from these demands, geared to the new ideals of devotion, piety, mysticism,
and conversion. This course, jointly taught in History and Art History, will examine the cultural, religious, and political life of the Catholic Reformation. After establishing the intellectual and artistic parameters of the church's new goals, we will alternate weeks of thematic discussion with weeks where leading scholars in the field visit the class to teach and discuss their own work. Visitors will include Evonne Levey (Jesuits), Victor Stoichita (mysticism), Sebastian Schutze (Marian piety), and Simon Ditchfield (history-writing); our themed discussions will include Rome and catholic urbanism, saints and their images, catholic absolutism and the catholic palace. The course will also run in conjunction with a major exhibition of the oil sketches of Peter Paul Rubens (Berkeley Art Museum) and one week will be devoted to Rubens's work for the Catholic Reformation. |
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| 280B.006 / 285B.004 | Mavroudi | |
| W 10-12 | 107 Mulford | CCN: 39559 / 39655 |
| This seminar will offer both a general introduction to and an investigation of special topics within Byzantine studies. The weekly seminar discussions will be organized as follows: weeks 1-9 covered the period from the 7th until the 15th centuries in chronological sequence. Students will be expected to become familiar with the sequence of events in Byzantine history through reading G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State; at the same time, through reading additional secondary bibliography, they will be expected to think about particular problems that modern historians face in their attempt to study and interpret these events. Weeks 10-15 will be dedicated to particular aspects of Byzantine studies: the survival of Byzantine culture after the political end of the empire in 1453; Byzantium and the Slavs; Byzantine economy; Byzantine learned and vernacular literature; Byzantine epic poetry and the expression of collective identity, in the Middle Ages and now; the study of Byzantine art; Byzantine studies as a modern discipline. Students taking this seminar as 285 will be required to identify a research topic early in the semester, on which they will present a research report and produce a final paper. | ||
Britain |
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| 285C.001 - Research Seminar in Tudor-Stuart British History | Barnes | |
| W 2-4 | 3314 Dwinelle | CCN: 39670 |
| A research seminar in British history, 1400-1700, in which the student is to undertake original research in a topic of his or her interest with the approval of and oversight by the instructor. There are no thematic limitations, and if the instructor's predilection is for legal and political history, he'll gladly embrace all facets of the New Social History and whatever interests the serious student. Constant discussion, sharing of ideas, and mutual criticism. | ||
United States |
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| 275D.001 - Seminar in post-Civil War U.S. Historiography | Hollinger & McLennan | |
| W 12-2 | 211 Dwinelle | CCN: 39520 |
| A more detailed description is forthcoming. Please check back. | ||
| 280D.001 | Abrams | |
| Tu 2-4 | 3219 Dwinelle | CCN: 39577 |
| New Room - Updated 01-19-05 | ||
| A more detailed description is forthcoming. Please check back. | ||
| 280D.002 - Colonial Borderlands of North America | Brooks | |
| Detailed Schedule Below | The 8 Scheduled UC Berkeley Meetings will be held in 2227 Dwinelle | CCN: 39580 |
| Reading out from various indigenous centers across the continent, we examine Spanish,
French, Dutch, English, and Russian colonialism from c. 1500 to 1820. Comparative in scale and theory,
would also involve methodological insights drawn from archaeology and ethnography in the context of
colonial histories. Jan. 18 4-6pm (UCB) Jan. 19 4-6pm (UCB) Feb. 1 2 hrs on-line Feb. 8 2 hrs on-line Feb. 15 4-6pm (UCB) Feb. 16 4-6pm (UCB) Feb. 22 2 hrs on-line Mar. 8 4-6pm (UCB) Mar. 9 4-6pm (UCB) Mar. 15 2 hrs on-line Mar. 22 2 hrs on-line Mar. 31 1-5pm (OAH Meetings in San Francisco) Apr. 5 2 hrs on-line Apr. 12 2 hrs on-line Apr. 18 2 hrs on-line Apr. 26 4-6pm (UCB) Apr. 27 4-6pm (UCB) May 2 hrs on-line |
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| 280U.001 / 280D.003 | Klein | |
| Tu 12-2 | 2231 Dwinelle | CCN: 39625 / 39583 |
| This is a readings seminar designed to introduce students to current problems and methods in environmental history. We will be concentrating upon the recent global turn in environmental history, by mixing older, classic works with new literatures from Europe, Asia and the Americas. | ||
| 285D.001 - Creating Modern Childhood in the United States and Other Places | Fass | |
| F 2-4 | 3104 Dwinelle | CCN: 39673 |
| In this research seminar we will examine how childhood has been created, defined and redefined over the course of the last 300 years in the West. The readings will cover the role of the Enlightenment, childhood in the context of work, schooling, and family life, the development of the welfare state and childhood policy, and contemporary issues of globalization. The course will center on the United States, but will also examine other societies and nonAmericanists are encouraged to enroll and to research other childhood in other settings. | ||
| 285D.002 - Nineteenth-Century America | Henkin | |
| M 2-4 | 201 Wheeler | CCN: 39676 |
| This seminar is a research and writing workshop for projects set in the United States during the nineteenth century. All topics, methodologies, and preoccupations are welcome. | ||
| 285D.003 | Litwack | |
| Th 2-4 | 3104 Dwinelle | CCN: 39679 |
| A more detailed description is forthcoming. Please check back. | ||
Latin America |
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| 275E.001 - Historiography of Latin America | Taylor | |
| Tu 10-12 | 190 Barrows | CCN: 39526 |
| This graduate readings course is meant as a foundation for further
reading, study, and critical reflection about Latin America during the colonial period. The purposes
are to reckon with some of Latin America's past through recent books and articles, and to establish
how colonial history has been, and might be, written. We are interested in the state of play in this field of study-the "hot" and "cold" topics, issues and debates, then and now. Are there perennial topics and issues? Topics and issues that have been superseded (resolved or simply left behind?), sidestepped, and ignored? Have concepts-ways of asking questions-changed? What sorts of knowledge have been produced? How have academic disciplines other than History contributed to this field of study? We are also interested in imagining the possibilities for more synoptic reckonings of colonial history. Survey exposure to colonial Latin America assumed. |
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| 285E.001 - Research Seminar in Latin American History | Lewin | |
| W 4-6 | 175 Dwinelle | CCN: 39682 |
| Students will undertake research projects in consultation with the instructor. Subjects may be drawn from either Spanish or Portuguese America, but, optimally, they will explore areas of dissertation interest. Our primary tasks will encompass the preparation of a comprehensive bibliography, including the identification of published or filmed sources in this country and the isolation of primary sources in Latin American archives for future use; the development of appropriate historiographical insight; the adoption of a methodology appropriate to the topic; and the organization and writing of a substantial research paper. Depending on the subject selected, a reading knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese probably is necessary. In some cases, it may be possible to conduct research exclusively in English. | ||
Asia |
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| 275F.001 - Topics in Tokugawa History | Scheiner | |
| Tu 2-4 | 3104 Dwinelle | CCN: 39529 |
| New Room - Updated 01-19-05 | ||
| This semester I hope to offer a selective review of the major literature
on the Tokugawa period in English over the past 50 years. What I wish to do is first examine classic
works in the field of Japanese history, for example, Maruyama MasaoÕs classic work in intellectual
history and Thomas C. SmithÕs protean work in the social and economic history of agrarian society.
We will then read works that have reacted to such seminal works. As we will see, particularly in the
case of Maruyama, this has led to a flurry of works, which have deepened our knowledge of Tokugawa
thought. While there are no books in the field of Tokugawa history that can be so clearly pronounced
as ÒclassicsÓ as those of Maruyama and Smith there are other path finding works on the bakufu and the
han, religious history, peasant rebellion, and merchant economic activities and, finally, the Meiji
restoration itself. By the end of the semester we will have read books and articles by most of the
major Western historians of the Tokugawa era. Unfortunately one major problem for our course will be
the paucity of in-print paper books for the period. We will have to work out a system of making
materials available for all students in the course. Each student will prepare two oral book reviews and two written book reviews. There will be a final historiographical final paper of about fifteen pages. |
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| 280G.001 - Family Life, Fifth Century BC to Fifth Century AD | Nylan | |
| W 3-6 | 201 Wheeler | CCN: 39610 |
| New Room - Updated 01-25-05 | ||
| The class will undertake close readings of a range of texts written in English and in classical Chinese. The selection of texts focusing on family life (including new works by Kinney, Hinsch, Loewe, and de Pee in English and the Shiji, Liji, Hanshu, and the Jiangjia shan manuscripts in Chinese) is designed to offer insights into a number of seemingly unrelated topics currently debated in the field, such as the role of writing and of gender construction in text and picture; the place of mourning; methods of argumentation in authoritative rhetoric; and the relation between law and ritual, on the one hand, and excavated and received materials, on the other. | ||
| 280F.002 - Topics in the History of Colonial Indochina | Zinoman | |
| M 12-2 | 206 Wheeler | CCN: 39601 |
| This reading and discussion seminar examines major issues in the history of French Indochina with a special emphasis on the social, cultural and political history of colonial Vietnam and Cambodia from the mid nineteenth-century to WWII. Readings will be organized topically and chronologically and will address broadly the causes, character and consequences of the colonial encounter in the region. Among the topics to be examined are the failure of the Nguyen Dynasty and the Cambodian Monarchy to resist imperial expansion, the distinguishing features of the French colonial project, the formation of the colonial state and the development of colonial capitalism, local patterns of collaboration and resistance, the social and cultural consequences of colonialism including transformations in gender relations, religion and intellectual life, the growth of political radicalism, nationalism and communism, the emergence of colonial "modernity," and the impact of WWII and the Japanese occupation. Readings will draw attention to the relative merits and contributions of scholarship produced from within different academic traditions such as Southeast Asian history, French imperial history, and post-colonial studies. | ||
| 280F.003 - Biography and Social History | Tamari | |
| W 4-6 | 192 Barrows | CCN: 39604 |
This seminar will attempt to investigate problems in the modern and
early modern urban social history of the Middle East through the prism of biography and
autobiographical literature. Participants will read and discuss a number of interpretive texts as
well as original diaries, memoirs and autobiographies from a number of Middle Eastern countries.
The themes covered include:
Dwight Reynolds: Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition, University of California Press, 2001 Ahmad Faris al Shidiaq: Confessions (This is the first modern autobiography, and perhaps the greatest published in Paris 1855 Shidiaq is known as one of the pioneers in the innovation of the Arabic language, the most important translator of the Bible, a great satirist, and a leading critic and journalist in Tunis and Istanbul in mid-19th century). Muhammad Chokri, Not By Bread Alone [Vagabondage and sexuality in Tangiers] The Autobiography of Jurgi Zeidan, with an introduction by Thomas Philip, Three Continents Press, Washington, 1990, [Darwinism and secular education in the formation of the modern urban intelligentsia. Zeidana medical student-- was expelled from his Beirut University for espousing socialist and Darwinian views, in 1861, five years after the publication of the Origins of the Species. He chose Cairo as his exile where he founded al Hilal Monthly and wrote one of the most popular fictional series on the history of Islam. Khalil Sakakini and Alter Levine: Conflict at Turn of the Century Palestine as seen the eyes of two Jerusalem writers and critics whose lives were intertwined in an Ottoman prison in Damascus. [Reading: Illusion 1917-1927, part one of Tom Segev's One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate, Metropolitan Books, New York, 2000 Margot Badran, Harem Years: The Life of Huda Sha'rawi. Eugene Rogan (ed.) Outside In: On the Margins of the Modern Middle East [this work deals with the lives of ordinary folks and innovators at the margins or urban society: Shelters, Bordellos, Madhouses, and houses of entertainment in Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq. |
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| 285F.001 | Wakeman | |
| Tu 10-12 | 2227 Dwinelle | CCN: 39685 |
| A more detailed description is forthcoming. Please check back. | ||
Science |
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| 275S.001 - Introduction to the History of Science | Lesch | |
| F 2-4 | 123 Dwinelle | CCN: 39535 |
| An introduction to issues and problems in the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century science based on reading, discussion, and written analysis of selected secondary literature. General themes include the organization of science in different national settings, the nature of the scientific community, patterns of scientific change, science and gender, and the relations of science to technology, industry, medicine, government, and warfare. Requirements include several short papers. | ||
| 280S.001 - The History of Chemistry: From Alchemy to Chemistry | Hahn | |
| Tu 2-4 | 2231 Dwinelle | CCN: 39619 |
| New Time & Room - Updated 02-01-05 | ||
| This course will investigate how chemistry became a modern science with
the advent of the late 18th-century revolution engineered by Lavoisier. Beginning with the origins and
nature of alchemy, the class will explore attempts to explain chemical reactions by reference to the
mechanical philosophy and affinity theory; the emergence of the laboratory as a site for experimental
science; the discovery of new substances; the crisis in nomenclature; the emergence of gas chemistry
and changes of state; and the late 18th-century synthesis leading to the redefinition of elements. If
time permits, the class will also consider the construction of atomic theories in the early 19th
century. Readings will be both in primary sources and in interpretations by modern history of science. |
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| 280S.002 - Medicine in the Movies | Tercier | |
| Th 2-5 | 107 Mulford | CCN: 39622 |
| This course is an examination of the moving picture's influence on
health and illness, during the twentieth century. The moving picture will be examined as an historical
object. Public health films, advertising, documentary, and entertainment programming from the 1920s
to the 1990s will provide case studies for exploring the ways in which the media shaped attitudes
toward the body, disease and healthcare. The relations of key health concepts to media practice will
be situated within their cultural and social contexts. We will explore the extent to which the
re-presentation of medicine on cinema screens may have affected the practice of medicine on main
street. By developing a sharper eye for decoding images of health and disease, therapeutics and
structures of care, we hope to encourage a broader awareness of historical process in
twentieth-century medicine so as to enhance studentsÕ abilities to interpret and evaluate
contemporary health issues. This course will be coordinated with UCSF's HHS Course (number TBA) and will meet for 10 3-hour seminars beginning January 20, 2005. Advanced undergraduates may enroll with the instructor's permission; contact: tercierj@dahsm.ucsf.edu |
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| 280S.003 - Birth Control and Controlling Birth | Watkins | |
| W 2-4 | 14 Haviland | CCN: 39624 |
| This course will explore efforts to control reproduction in the
United States from the nineteenth century to the present. Topics include: the changing status of
contraception and abortion in the context of law, medicine, and public policy; the relationship
between women's rights and reproductive rights; the eugenics movement and involuntary sterilization
laws; the relationship between birth control and population control; the development and impact of
new contraceptive technologies; changing childbirth experiences; infertility and the introduction
of new reproductive technologies. Since this subject sits at the nexus of several different sub-fields of history, we will approach our study variously from the perspectives of the history of medicine, the history of science, the history of technology, the history of social movements, women's history, and gender studies. |
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| 285S.001 - Research Seminar: Modern Science | Carson | |
| W 12-2 | 2227 Dwinelle | CCN: 39700 |
| Research seminar on the history of science, 19th century to the present. All approaches and topics are fair game; one broad theme will be the ways science has been understood as a distinctively modern enterprise. Students in science studies fields are welcome but should be prepared to write a historical paper. Along with producing an original piece of research, students will be expected to critique each others' papers and to give a final presentation. | ||
| 290.001 - Historical Colloquium: History of Science | Carson | |
| M 4-6 | 2301 Tolman | CCN: 39702 |
| 1 unit, graded S/U. Meets together with the UCB-UCSF Colloquium in
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. For details see http://ohst.berkeley.edu/ohst_events.html. |
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Methodology |
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| 283.001 - The Stakes in History | Koziol & Einhorn | |
| W 2-4 | 201 Giannini | CCN: 39637 |
| There are ethical, philosophical, and political reasons to study history ethical, philosophical, and political stakes in all historical interpretations. This is easily forgotten now, with the discipline so fragmented and professionalized, but it once was common knowledge. History has always been part of very large debates about the nature of society, the nature of government, the capacity of individuals, and the role of religion. This seminar pairs historians of medieval Europe and modern America - who have little in common except a commitment to these big reasons for doing history - in order to try to surmount professional boundaries in a more general discussion of what we hope to accomplish as historians and the works that have shaped our scholarly thinking. Readings will include Thucydides, Tocqueville, Marx, Foucault, White, and work in the French Annales and English Marxist traditions. | ||
Comparative |
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| 280U.001 / 280D.003 | Klein | |
| Tu 12-2 | 2231 Dwinelle | CCN: 39625 / 39583 |
| This is a readings seminar designed to introduce students to current problems and methods in environmental history. We will be concentrating upon the recent global turn in environmental history, by mixing older, classic works with new literatures from Europe, Asia and the Americas. | ||
Research & Teaching Credit |
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| 296.001 - Dissertation and Research Writing | CCN: 39706 | |
| 298.001 - Employment Credits | CCN: 39709 | |
| 601.001 - M.A. Preparation | CCN: 39805 | |
| 602.001 - Ph.D. Orals Preparation | CCN: 39808 | |
Courses of Related Interest |
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| 200X - The Bancroft Library Press Room Course: "The Hand Printed Book in its Historical Context" | Koch | |
| F 1-5 | 256E Bancroft Library | CCN: |
| A one-semester, two-unit course open to both graduate and undergraduate students. There
are no prerequisites but enrollment is by consent of the instructor and is limited to six students
because of the small press room space. Interested students may email the instructor at
pkoch@library.berkeley.edu and should attend the first class meeting. Under the guidance of the instructor, students examine and discuss original printed books from the Bancroft collections ranging in date from the 15th century to the present. Approximately one half of the class time is devoted to a study of the design and production of books from the hand press period. The course also presents a historical perspective on the various technologies involved in the production of printed books: type founding, paper making, binding, illustrations, and the evolution of the printing press itself. Students will also learn to set type by hand, design and lay out a substantial pamphlet, and print and bind at least 35 copies by the last class meeting. The texts for these pamphlets are selected from the manuscript collections of The Bancroft Library with input from class members. In some cases, editorial work is required. By combining actual printing with a historical overview, students gain a practical as well as theoretical appreciation of the art and technology that has dominated communication in the western world for over five centuries. The class also points out the limitations and problems inherent in hand printing. The instructors, Lester Ferriss and Peter Koch, teach in alternate semesters. Both are professional printers with a strong interest in the history of books and printing. |
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