AMST 333

House and Home in America

Roger Williams University

M-TH 3:30 - 4:50

GHH 108

Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D.

Office: GHH 215 Phone:  ext. 3230

Hours:  M, T, Th, F 9:00-10:30

  or by Appointment

mswanson@rwu.edu

The Week's Work

Ever wonder what the thinking was thinking about?  Now you know--or you will if you click on the picture.

Due: Thursday, April 12, by 11:59 p.m.  On Bridges (alternately, e-mail)

Length: c. 5 pages, perhaps a bit more if the essay is copiously illustrated.  (I hope it will be.)

Instructions:We’ve been tracing the evolution of American Houses and Homes from the days of the Walking City to the Automobile Age.  I’d like to have you write an essay which relates changes in the spatial patterns of our living to changes and innovations in transportation, using materials from Jackson, Stilgoe, appropriate assigned readings on the internet through the class website.  You’ll want to differentiate between

•The Walking City

•The Railroad Suburb

•The Trolley Suburb

•and the Automobile Suburb, prior to and post the development of the interstate highway system.

The best essays will illustrate the changes by using photographs or screen captures, both historic and contemporary.  Some Sources:

• New York Library Digital Collection.
  

•Cities and Buildings

•Detroit Publishing Company Postcards

• American Memory
  

•Daguerreotypes and Photographs

•Panoramic Photographs

•Small Town America

•Turn of the Century America

• Panoramio
  

• Flickr
  

• City Data (You might play around with the random picture feature)