Unit 2 Final Product: Industrial Era Museum Curation
45 points
The director of The Museum of World History is proud to announce their new exhibition, entitled “The Industrial Era,” will be opening soon. They have chosen you to curate one room of this new exhibit. They expect you to choose two pieces for your room: one must be a piece of visual art (a painting or sculpture) and the other piece can be of your choosing. You may choose another piece of visual art, or an artifact, written work, etc. Think about the types of things you have seen in museums that help visitors understand a topic and/or a time period.
Create a museum exhibit that includes two (2) pieces that reflect the zeitgeist of the industrial era (approx. early 1800s to 1870s). The zeitgeist you choose must be a feeling someone living in the Industrial era might have had.
Write an information card that will be displayed with each of your chosen pieces to help visitors understand what they are looking at and how each piece reflects the zeitgeist of the Industrial Era.
Provide written justification to the museum director that the two pieces you have chosen reflect the zeitgeist of the era. This includes a thesis statement.
Submit a Chicago Style Bibliography of all your sources and Transparency Statement, indicating any AI usage.
*You may work with a partner on this assignment if you choose, but then you will need THREE (3) pieces for your exhibit.
Full assignment directions linked here.
Check out this 9/11 Example Museum Curation.
Mr. Ivey's Class
Unit 2 Assessment: Letter to the Editor
By the second half of the 1800s, local newspapers in Britain were routinely publishing ‘letters to the editor’, a popular genre of journalism that usually involved an anonymous member of the community writing a letter addressing some sort of controversial issue or hotly discussed matter that was relevant and important to a number of the newspaper’s readers. These letters were often written pseudonymously (using an assumed name or title, instead of one’s actual name) and the use of these pseudonyms allowed for some disadvantaged or underrepresented groups (working-class, women, etc.) to voice their concerns in a public forum where they were assured of reaching a diverse audience from a variety of occupations, political perspectives, and classes. Newspaper editors routinely chose to publish letters that were provocative, critical, and could spark ongoing debate.
For our Unit 2: 19th Century Industrialization assessment, you are going to assume the perspective of an anonymous member of the working class in Britain during the 1860s and write a ‘letter to the editor’ on one of the pressing social issues of the era related to the ongoing and transformational effects of industrialization, urbanization, and industrial capitalism. You will choose an appropriate pseudonym and craft a well-reasoned persuasive argument intended to be a ‘call to action’ regarding the issue.
Your ‘call to action’ letter ought to: 1. Identify the problem 2. Propose a solution 3. Identify the ‘fixers’ (those who have the power or ability to enact your solution) 4. Call for specific actions that will help make progress toward resolving the issue. 5. End with a ‘sign off’ or catchphrase and creatively chosen pseudonym!
You will be randomly assigned one of the following issues to research and write your letter on (you may focus on a particular aspect of that issue, if desired):
Summary:
Research and select 3 (if working alone) or 5 (if working with a partner) primary sources from before 1890.
3 points each (10 total, 15 if working with a partner)
Write 2 – 3 (if working alone) or 3 – 4 (if working with a partner) paragraph ‘call to action’ letter
10 points per piece of art (20 total, 30 if you are working with a partner)
Write 1 reflection paragraph on your research process and use of primary sources
10 points
Include Chicago style Bibliography of all your sources
5 points
