#  Civil War Curiosity Cabinet 

 



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####  In Megan Kate Nelson's course on the American Civil War, students complete a final class project and paper that involves primary document research and public history activities to present history through objects and documents. 

 As a class, the students work to create a "Curiosity Cabinet" of objects and texts produced during the Civil War. They decide together what form the cabinet will take. Each student is responsible for one "shelf" of 5 items that convey the significance of a specific theme (of their choice) in the cultural history of the Civil War. As part of this project, each student writes the following:

 1) A project proposal (3-4 pages) in which he or she suggests a theme and 5 items for the shelf. Each student presents the proposal to the class during a Cabinet Planning Session

 2) 5-7 descriptive "labels" (5-7 pages, 250 words per label) for each item with historical notes regarding the production of the item and an argument regarding its significance, and a list of Suggestions for Further Reading.

 3) A final 8-10 page paper analyzing both the items in the shelf and their place in the class Cabinet, in addition to arguments about the role of the Cabinet as a whole in shaping memory of the Civil War. The students must use at least five secondary sources to help provide context and support for their arguments.



 



 

 See also:- [ Humanities ](/area/humanities)
- [ Expanding Depth and Breadth ](/learning-goals/expanding-depth-and-breadth)
- [ Interpret Primary Sources to Propose a Model or Argument ](/learning-goals/interpret-primary-sources-propose-model-or-argument)
- [ Defend a Position in a Model or Argument ](/learning-goals/defend-position-model-or-argument)
- [ 10 to 30 minutes ](/length-activity/10-30-minutes)
- [ Individual ](/filter_by/individual)
- [ Whole-Class ](/filter_by/whole-class)
- [ Month ](/filter_by/month)
- [ Specific/Deep ](/filter_by/specificdeep)
- [ Rubric-driven ](/filter_by/rubric-driven)
- [ History and Literature ](/department/history-and-literature)
- [ Nelson, Megan Kate ](/instructor/nelson-megan-kate)
- [ Jigsaw ](/filter_by/jigsaw)
- [ Research ](/filter_by/research)
- [ HIST-LIT 90AI: The American Civil War ](/class-code/histlit90ai)
- [ The American Civil War ](/class-name/american-civil-war)
- [ Whole class ](/filter_by/whole-class-0)
- [ Class Decision ](/filter_by/class-decision)
- [ Paper ](/filter_by/essay)
- [ Presentation ](/filter_by/presentation)