Unit Two
Writing in the Archives
Unit Overview:
What can we uncover and discover about UVA by reading texts from its past? In this unit, we’ll dive into the Archives, both physical and digital, reading work from past students and faculty. Some of it promises to be troubling, some boring, some touching, and some maybe even riveting. We’ll identify a wide range of examples and bring them to light in a final exhibit to make them more apparent to others, and of course we’ll reflect on how these new-to-us materials further help us understand (a) the identity of UVA and (b) UVA’s “culture of writing.”
By the unit’s end, you should be able to:
Identify and request materials from UVA’s Special Collections.
Work professionally with those materials to study them effectively.
Select materials and create professional exhibit pieces, complete with appropriate scanning and image curation, as well as companion exhibit labels.
Draw on primary sources as subject and evidence for an essay, practicing both close reading and synthesis/interpretation in light of the course theme.
Major Assignment (3-5 exhibit pieces/labels + 3-5 page essay)
^^Read this overview first^^
Essay Examples:
Essay Example 1—The Crusade for Coeducation: Resisting Change Through Writing
Essay Example 2—The Dual Roles of Writing at the University of Virginia
Exhibit Folder Examples:
[note that each folder includes: (1) contact sheet, (2) high res images, and (3) text-only labels]
How to Submit, Part 1: Exhibit pieces/labels
Submit your exhibit pieces/labels to this Drive folder.
Submit a PDF contact sheet (including a smaller version of the image+label)
Please title your file:
ContactSheet_YourLastName_HES22Feel free to include multiple pages, as works for the # of exhibit pieces you’ve chose to include.
Just a note on Production—I set my contact sheet up using InDesign, but most of you will have the easiest time with either Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google docs. Feel free to ask me questions about page set-up if you get thwarted.
Submit the high-res image files and a text version of your labels.
Create a new sub-folder. Please title the folder:
FirstName LastName_HEfilesS22Drop your files to that sub-folder.
You can see how I’ve set mine up as an example; I’ve already dropped those to a sub-folder for myself, in the link above.
How to Submit, Part II: Essay
Submit your final draft for grading to this Drive folder.
