Winter Writing

During winter break I am going to dedicate a lot of time to do a deep-dive on research about the history of the Erie Canal and the impacts it had on the Seneca Falls region. I will specifically be researching how it impacted religion, the movement of ideas, the movement of people, economics, and the environment. During this research, I'm also going to start throwing around ideas for a tour/educational program/lecture that I have been invited to present in Spring at the park. I'm planning to spend 10-20 hours a week during the break on my thesis, but the quieter weeks may see a few more hours.

I am also planning to make a few trips to Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Historic Park to get the lay of the land and meet some of the people I could be working with. On January 5th there is an event going on at Seneca Falls called  "The Preamble and the Enlightenment" which is part 2 of a 6 part series examining the Declaration of Sentiments which I plan to attend (and may bring some family too).

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the principal author of the Declaration of Sentiments. Photo from Wikipedia. 

Evolving Thesis

After speaking with Denise from Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Historic Park my topic has changed from the confluence of science and history to looking at how the Erie Canal impacted the movement of people and how that led to the movement of ideas and reform in Seneca Falls. I'm going to be researching the topic thoroughly and providing them with my thesis at the end so they may use it to develop an educational program and tour. We will discuss next week the possibility of pairing me with a ranger so I can work with them during my thesis to begin making the program and tour. So while I have moved from science to history, my goal of creating educational programming has remained.

Erie Canal at Seneca Falls. Image from http://www.nycanals.com/Seneca_Falls

We did also discuss the idea of looking at how the Erie Canal impacted the biodiversity of Seneca Falls, and I may incorporate that, but we generally moved away from it to keep the scope of the project within what I can manage. Depending on how things progress, I may choose to look into that as well. I'm considering writing about both the ecology as well as reform history and then just developing a program/tour on one of the topics.

Kate's Research Question

How can Historic Sites pull upon fields outside of history, like biology, to develop a better education experience for their visitors? 

The goal of my research is to develop an educational experience that incorporates biology into the Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Historical Park in order to broaden the interests of the general public, provide more options for the type of experience guests can have when visiting, and show how biology and history are connected fields and how they both impact our culture. The exact form of the education experience has not been decided on, as it is dependent on what the Historic Park is looking for. As such, my research question will be adjusted to the specific problems and questions posed by the type of education outreach I settle on. The topic will relate to invasive species and the impact that has on commerce and culture. If this is done through the lense of a general view, or more specifically through bird or plants will be decided on what The Historic Park would like to develop.

Why it important to combine biology and history?

We tend to think of these topics as being separate, but our environment influences our history and our history alters our environment. How did the environment look during Stanton’s time? How did this impact her life?

Why is it important we talk about invasive species?

Invasive species alter the biodiversity of a region and this can impact the parts of the economy reliant on local ecology as well as altering landmarks and sites of cultural importance.

Research Underway

The process of research has really started up! With the focus of education within the National Park Service, I took to The Journal of The National Council on Public History to start. In 2016 they had a special edition for November that dealt with the Park's centennial. In this volume, a wide range of topics was discussed, including education, management, archeology, and outreach. As my research is focused on public education and interaction I read "National Parks for New Audiences: Diversifying Interpretation for Enhanced Contemporary Relevance" by Daniel E. Coslett and Manish Chalana, as well as "Resuscitating the Promise: Reflections on Implementing Innovative and Collaborative History from the Nation's First National Historic Site" by Margo Shea, Maryann Zujewski, and Jonathan Parker. I had originally been planning on doing a self-guided or ranger-led tour experience, and I still might, but "Resuscitating the Promise" has me considering creating a research question and project that relates to broader community work. In this article, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site staff teamed up with local educators to create a program for teachers to experience the park so that can integrate what they learned into the classroom and hopefully bring the class to the park. I will need to spend more time researching the near and far goals of the National Park System, and Seneca Falls especially, to determine how to proceed.

The Public Historian Volume 38 Number 4 Cover
Volume I got my articles from this week

Throughout my research, I have noticed the prevalence of case studies in almost all of the articles. I have also noticed the structure of the article is often framed around the case studies. With the end goal of writing my own thesis, I have been paying much closer attention to the structure and tone people use. It has been interesting how the tone of articles change depending on how involved the author was in the topics being discussed. In "National Parks for New Audiences" the authors were more disconnected and examining what others were doing while the authors of  "Resuscitating the Promise" were directly involved in the project they were discussing.

References:

Coslett, D. E., and M. Chalana. "National Parks for New Audiences: Diversifying Interpretation for Enhanced Contemporary Relevance." The Public Historian38, no. 4 (2016): 101-28. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.101.

Coslett, D. E., and M. Chalana. "National Parks for New Audiences: Diversifying Interpretation for Enhanced Contemporary Relevance." The Public Historian38, no. 4 (2016): 101-28. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.101.

Coslett, D. E., and M. Chalana. "National Parks for New Audiences: Diversifying Interpretation for Enhanced Contemporary Relevance." The Public Historian 38, no. 4 (2016): 101-28. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.101.

Shea, M., M. Zujewski, and J. Parker. "Resuscitating the Promise: Reflections on Implementing Innovative and Collaborative History from the Nations First National Historic Site." The Public Historian 38, no. 4 (2016): 129-48. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.129.

Shea, M., M. Zujewski, and J. Parker. "Resuscitating the Promise: Reflections on Implementing Innovative and Collaborative History from the Nations First National Historic Site." The Public Historian38, no. 4 (2016): 129-48. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.129.

Shea, M., M. Zujewski, and J. Parker. "Resuscitating the Promise: Reflections on Implementing Innovative and Collaborative History from the Nations First National Historic Site." The Public Historian38, no. 4 (2016): 129-48. doi:10.1525/tph.2016.38.4.129.

Kate's Thesis Ideas: Nature at Seneca Falls

For my thesis I would like to partner with the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls. As I am primarily interested in educational outreach and programming, I would like to work with them to improve existing, or to create new, educational experiences for their visitors. Depending on the park's needs this could go in many different directions.

I am especially interested in developing a ranger guided tour or self guided tour about the nature near the historic home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I have been considering making didactic text displays or a brochure discussing the local birds. This semester I am taking an ornithology class and I am involved in Dr. Pagano's research lab studying migratory songbird nutrition in the local area. I could draw upon these experiences and additional research to develop a birding guide for the Seneca Falls region. Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is nearby to the historic park and may be another useful resource to draw upon. Another idea is to have a similar guided tour (either self or ranger-led) but for the local fauna. In addition to researching the local plants for identification, I would connect the plants to their historic importance. I could look at the native versus invasive species and how invasive species were introduced and the impact that had on the ecology and economics of the area. Another point of interest is looking at how plants were used medicinally and culturally during Elizabeth Cady Stanton's lifetime, including any direct connections to her and other contemporary women's rights activists.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton House
Source: National Park Service