Honors 3900

Weeks 11-15

Week Activity Assignments
Eleven
Martha Maxwell

Natural History Museums

October 31

November 2

 You will be assigned one of the following collectors or institutions to report on in class.  For the people, indicate what they did with regard to the Smithsonian.  For the institutions, indicate how they supported western exploration. 

  • Elliott Coues

  • William Healey Dall 

  • John Feilner 

  • Robert Kennicott 

  • Charles Christopher Parry 

  • William Henry Pratt

  • Joseph Duncan Putnam 

  • John Xantus 

  • Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 

  • American Philosophical Society 

  • Bureau of Biological Survey 

  • California State Geological Survey 

  • Corps of Topographical Engineers 

  • New Harmony Settlement  

  • United States Geological Survey 

  • United States Military Academy at West Point

 

November 4

  • Moring: Chpt 11

  • Additional readings online

  • Discussion topics/min-reports

    • Make a virtual visit to the six museums listed on the schedule:  Peale's Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and California Academy of Sciences, and the Utah Museum of Natural History.  Why do you suppose we selected these six museums for you to become acquainted with?  What are the missions of these museums, collectively and individually?

    • Describe the role played by each of the following in regard to the natural history of the West:  Peale's Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the California Academy of Sciences.

    • Martha Maxwell made many innovations in preservation, preparation, and display of the animals that she collected.  What were these innovations?

    • Specifically with regard to westerners, what was significant about Maxwell's museum

    • Maxwell's museum could not make a go of it as a private concern.  What were the reasons for this?

    •  "A Word About Museums" covers the demise of P. T. Barnum's American Museum.  In that article, the author makes several points about public museums.  What are those points?

    • The Smithsonian was well known for supporting collectors in the West, including shipping them supplies of preservatives and ammunition. Several specific collectors are profiled in the paper by Deiss.  Besides museums, several other institutions supported western explorations in various ways.  The paper by Spencer describes many of these institutions, some of which are known today by different names. 
Twelve
Dinosaur Wars
November 7 November 9

November 11

"John Muir and the Call of the Wild" by Mark Harvey

Meet in H-H room
  • Moring: Chpt. 13
  • Dinosaur Wars, video
    • peruse the teachers' guide for discussion questions. There are 12 topics listed, work with at least 4.
Thirteen -Fourteen
The National Parks

John Muir
 
November 14 November 16

Seeing the West

 November 18
no class
  • Moring: Chpt. 12
  • 2nd analysis paper (history) due: November 23
  • first 2 episodes of The National Parks, America's Best Idea, video
    • PBS web site -- comment on the issues, people, ideas presented (only clips are available online; however, each episode is summarized in its entirety)
  • John Muir in the New World, vide0 (available online)
  • Readings
November 21 November 23 November 24
no class Thanksgiving Holiday
Fifteen
New Enthusiasts/ Conclusions
November 28

New Enthusiasts

 November 30

New Policies

 December 2

The Citizen Naturalist

Teddy Bear Cartoon - 1902

On November 14, 1902, Roosevelt was helping settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. During his spare time he attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. During the hunt, Roosevelt came upon a wounded young bear and ordered the mercy killing of the animal. The Washington Post ran a editorial cartoon created by the political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman that illustrated the event.

  • participation statement due: December 2
  • journal due: December 5