Historiography / HIS530
A survey of the literature of history; intensive studies of the style and philosophy of leading historians; the nature and extent of material for writing history.Syllabus: Fall 2008 Fall 2009 Fall 2010 Fall 2011
Introduction to Public History / HIS535
An exploration of the ways in which traditional academic history and public history complement and enrich one another. An introduction to the theory and practice of interpreting history for the public in areas such as historical societies, editing projects, business, libraries, historic preservation projects, museums, and archives.Syllabus: Fall 2006 / calendar Spring 2008 / calendar Fall 2009 graduate / undergraduate
Spring 2011 Fall 2012 / book list Spring 2014
Individual Work: oral history transcription
Group Projects:
- In Fall 2012 the students formed two groups to create exhibits for Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc. about its founder, Lera Millard Thomas, and her husband, Albert Thomas. These exhibits will be installed in March 2013.
- City of Nacogdoches Historic Survey (Spring 2011) In two groups, the students conducted historic resource surveys of the Zion Hill Historic Overlay District which is part of the larger 2011-2012 city resurvey.
- Crocket Statue Brochures (Fall 2009) - Students created brochures for the local group Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, Inc. concerning raising a statue of George Crocket. Among many other notable things, Crocket served as a member of the history department at SFA in the 1930s and penned one of the first and most well-known histories of East Texas (Two Centuries in East Texas). Brochure 1 Brochure 2 Brochure 3 Brochure 4
- Houston County (Fall 2006) - Students developed exhibit plans and grant applications for the Houston County Visitors Center and Museum. Project Guidelines
- Pecan Orchard Neighborhood (Fall 2006) - Students prepared a survey, requested by city officials and residents, of historic structures in the Pecan Orchard area of Nacogdoches in hopes of preparing a historic zoning district. Plat Map Block Overview by Group Pecan Orchard District Report B
Class Activities:
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Tour of Zion Hill Baptist Church (Spring 2008) - Students toured the church and learned about restoration efforts.
HIS535 Spring 2011
Zion Hill Baptist Church, Nacogdoches (Spring 2008)
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Topics in Public History / HIS536
Topical studies in various aspects of Public History; historic preservation, cultural resource management, local and family history, and oral history.
Syllabus: Summer 1 2012 (oral history)
- During the summer of 2012, Rev. Bettie Kennedy of Luflin graciously and excitingly agreed to work with graduate students enrolled in an SFA Public History graduate seminar on oral history taught by Dr. Paul J. P. Sandul by providing interviewees. The results are a rich history and cultural snapshot of African Americans in Lufkin.
- To hear the interviews, read transcripts, and learn more, go to the project.
Syllabus: Summer 1 2010 (oral history)
- During the summer of 2010 the African American Heritage Project of Nacogdoches (AAHP) graciously and excitingly agreed to work with graduate students enrolled in an SFA Public History graduate seminar on oral history taught by Dr. Paul J. P. Sandul by providing interviewees. The results are a rich history and cultural snapshot of African Americans in Nacogdoches specifically, and all of Nacogdoches generally.
- To hear the interviews, read transcripts, and learn more, go to the project.
Syllabus: Fall 2007 (local history)
Collections Management / HIS570
Introduction to the broad fields of museum and archival work from the history of both areas to issues of theory and practice, to the development, care and use of collections. Staffing and management concerns, educational and exhibition development, and the social, economic, and political trends that shape collections. Resources in the archival collections in the Steen Library and the Stone Fort Museum on campus.
Syllabus: Spring 2012
Individual Projects:
- Stone Fort Museum
- East Texas Research Center
Group Project:
- The students collaborated on a museum exhibit about former congressperson Charlie N. Wilson, who hailed from East Texas. Utilizing oral histories recently done for the Charlie Wilson Oral History Project at SFA, the students highlighted Wilson's life and career and, impressively, created QR codes that direct viewers to websites to see videos of Wilson, as well as to provide audio clips of relevant interviews through a phone bank. The exhibit was featured in the East Texas Research Center during the summer of 2012, but you can view the exhibit as PowerPoint here or a PDF file here, which also includes workable QR codes and the phone number to call to access oral history clips.
Syllabus: Spring 2010
Individual Projects:
- Each student spent at least twenty hours working at the Stone Fort Museum researching an accession (see submissions by Kaitlin Wieseman, Mary Alice Cook, and Jason Hose)
- Each student spent at least twenty hours working in the East Texas Research Center processing archival material (see submission by Laura Blackburn)
- Each student gave a conservation issues lecture to the class (see Natalie Bach's PowerPoint)
- Millard's Crossing Historic Village - Students cataloged archival materials using PastPerfect 5.0 software as part of the museum's THC Collections Management Grant (see summaries of work by Lisa Bentley and Samantha Van Pelt)
- Disaster Management Plans - In five groups, the students utilized the dPlan (d-Lite version) to create disaster management plans then given to the respective organizations (East Texas Research Center, Newton County Historical Commission Museum, Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Heritage Center of Cherokee County, and the Stone Fort Museum)
Syllabus: Spring 2007 calendar
Group Project:
- Millard's Crossing Historic Village - Students cataloged artifacts in the Millard-Lee House using PastPerfect 3.0 software.
Past Perfect example
Collections Management Spring 2012 - Charlie Wilson Exhibit
_rdax_500x375.jpg "Public History graduate students Mark Musquiz and Pamela Temple working on exhibit panels")
Seminar in Public History / HIS581
Research and readings in various aspects of public history. Various topics include corporate histories, family histories, historical surveys, museums or anniversary exhibitions.Syllabus: Spring 2006 (material culture) Fall 2008 (historic preservation) Fall 2010 (historical memory)
Individual Work (material culture):
- East Texas Research Center - Students wrote descriptions for one hundred as yet not described images in an archival collection at the ETRC. Students focused on the material culture evident in the photographs.
Thompson Family Lumber Enterprises Nacogdoches Scenes and Events
Group Projects (historic preservation):
Class Activities (historic preservation):- Louisiana - Students toured two plantations in the Cane River Creole Area. (pictures)
- San Augustine - Students toured downtown San Augustine and the archival laboratory at Mission Dolores. (pictures)
- Historic Preservation Timeline
- Form and Detail Lecture (PowerPoint)
Cane River Creole Area Plantations, Louisiana (Fall 2008)
San Augustine, Texas (Fall 2008)
_rdax_500x375.JPG "San Augustine")
Internship in Public History / HIS582
Six to twelve hours per week in some aspect of public history, including museum, editorial, archival, or historical preservation work.Syllabus: Summer 2007 Summer 2009 Summer 2011
Group Projects:
- City of Nacogdoches (summer 2011) -This course provided hands-on training in public history. During Summer II 2011 this class took part in a larger, multi-year project to identify, record, and map the historic resources of Nacogdoches utilizing historical, architectural, and geographical knowledge, skills, and abilities. We updated and expanded the 1986 survey of the Washington Square, Zion Hill, Sterne-Hoya, Downtown, Virginia Avenue, and independent Historic Districts by using survey forms, NPS survey guidelines, photography, and GPS units. This project is supported by the City of Nacogdoches and the Center for Regional Heritage Research, as well as the History Department, and has received a 2010-2011 Service Learning Grant. The project's website - http://www.sfasu.edu/heritagecenter/622.asp - is a great way to keep up to date with the research and learn more about the town's resources.
- Houston County (summer 2009) - The goal was to identify historic sites, buildings, structures, and objects associated with events or people significant at the local and/or state levels and resources that embody distinctive characteristics in order to assist in future planning, to renew local pride, to answer historical questions, and to develop heritage tourism. SFA students traveled 90% of the county's known cemeteries and 60% of the county's known THC markers. At each cemetery, students used GPS to map the perimeter, internal structures, and notable objects; recorded data about the cemetery's physical location, condition, markers, and individuals buried in the site using the Texas Historical Commission's Historic Texas Cemetery Designation Form; recorded detailed information about each marker in every cemetery with twenty or fewer marked burials using the Texas Historical Commission's Individual Marker Form; and photographed the cemtery as a whole, its entrance, internal structures and objects, and notable burial markers. Students completed a departmental survey form, GPSed the location, and photographed the resource for each THC marker, historic structure, or other resource. This project was supported by an ORSP mini-grant.
video
Presentation to Houston County Historical Commission (PowerPoint) - Nacogdoches County (summer 2007) - The goal was to develop a sense of the built environment in the immediate outskirts of the City of Nacogdoches. This was conducted as part of the research for the City of Nacogdoches Visionaries in Preservation Program. The students recorded 503 resources using a form developed from the Texas Historical Commission's survey form after previous use in Fall 2006 by students in Introduction to Public history. The project resulted in cataloging the following structures: 34 agricultural, 4 cemeteries, 6 cisterns/tanks/wells, 7 commercial, 58 domestic, 8 religious, 3 transportation. The following students participated: Angela Henderson, Laura Williams, Curtis Odom, Paul Maleski, Chay Runnels.
video
Sample Survey Form
Examples: Christian Cemetery, log barn, modern house, barn, house w/adjacent barn, bridge, Lilly Grove Baptist Church
Practicum in Public History / HIS583
An opportunity to enhance professional growth through integration of theory with planned, supervised, and practical work experience.
Summer 2012
- Misty Hurley spent a summer session focused on cultural resources management working with Dr. George Avery, director of the Anthropology and Archaeology Laboratory at SFASU. Her numerous activities included accessioning new collections, inputting items into PastPerfect, researching historic sites, and field testing.
- Krystal Hawk spent two summer sessions working as an intern with the Bell County Museum in Belton, Texas. She assisted in the transfer of collections to new storage facilities, childrens workshops, and exhibit design and development.
- Archie Haddox spent a summer session researching historic structures on the square in Center, Texas. Shelby County is a historic county that has just one structure, its courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Archie selected five structures, a barber shop, a theater, two general stores, and a hardware store and documented their architectural and contextual histories utilizing Sanborne maps, deed records, historic photographs, oral interviews, and local newspapers.
Spring 2011
- Matt Tallant with Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc., Nacogdoches
Summer 2010
- Laura Blackburn with Charlie Wilson Collection, East Texas Research Center, Nacogdoches
Fall 2009
- Mary Alice Cook with Texas Forestry Museum, Lufkin
- Pamela Ringle with the Heritage Center of Cherokee County, Rusk
Summer 2009
- Mary Alice Cook with Alaska State Historic Preservation Office, Anchorage, Alaska
- Jessica Wood with Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc., Nacogdoches
- Chris Elzen with Hodges, Greve, and Pierce Collection, Nacogdoches
More Info. Video - Thomas Wing with Drennen-Scott House, Van Buren, Arkansas
- Angela Henderson with Stone Fort Museum, Stephen F. Austin State University
- Paul Maleski with Stephen F. Austin State University Archeology Laboratory on behalf of Mission Dolores in San Augustine, Texas
- Cassandra Bennett (undergraduate HIS474) with Sam Rayburn House Museum, Bonham, Texas
Research Example Tour Example - Angela Henderson with Nacogdoches Architecture Survey, Nacogdoches
- Curtis Odom with Bobby H. Johnson Oral History Project, Stephen F. Austin State University
More Info. - Laura Williams with Durst-Taylor House, City of Nacogdoches
- Tiffany Eurich with Keefer House Hotel, Hillsdale, Michigan
- Paul Maleski with Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc., Nacogdoches Sitton Dogtrot Structural Report
- Jennifer Brancato with Durst-Taylor House, City of Nacogdoches
- John Garbutt with Texas Forestry Museum, Lufkin, Texas
- Angie Love with Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc., Nacogdoches
- Janice Watkins with Millard's Crossing Historic Village, Inc., Nacogdoches
HIS583 Summer 2012 - Hawk
HIS583 Summer 2012 - Hurley
Thesis Writing / HIS590
May 2012
- Lisa Bentley, From Rotgut to White Lightening: A Cultural Analysis of How the American Moonshiner became a Popular Cultural Icon
August 2011
- Stephen DeLear, March! The Fight for Civil Rights in a Land of Fear: Nacogdoches, Texas 1929-1975
- Kaitlin Wieseman, Power-Hewestson Colony: Interpreting the Irish's Importance in Refugio and Aransas Counties and the Texas Revolution (Website) (Omeka Site)
May 2011
- Mary Alice Cook, Company Doctors in the East Texas Sawmill Towns and Lumber Camps
August 2008
- Jennifer Brancato, A Glimpse of Life in Nineteenth-Century East Texas: Material Culture and the Durst-Taylor House
August 2007
- Jason Fuqua, The Essence of Tea: The Effects of Lu Yu's "Ch'a Ching" on the Extent of Changes in Tea Drinking and the Material Culture of Yue Ware in Tang China after 780 AD