Enrollment options
Optional Print Course Material:Research: Social History
*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.
This introduction to social history will provide examples and resources of subject matter from many areas of interest to the social historian. Rather than being a comprehensive discussion of social history, the material is intended to inspire your research into the lives of your people and the times and places they lived in. Your ancestors, their families, and the society they lived in may be different from the examples given but only by researching the specifics of their lives, their communities, the world around them and the forces and influences that shaped their environment can you begin to know who they were.
NOTE: Assignments in this course will require the student to do social history research on the Internet and/or at a local library. How in-depth the research will be, depends on the student’s own personal interest on the subject.
Course Length: 8 weeks
MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL HISTORY
Introduction
Course Overview
Resources
Understanding Current Events: Historic Newspapers
Understanding the Period: Historical Books
Understanding Society: Magazines and Journals
Historical Directories
Research Papers, Reports and Statistics
Contemporary letters and diaries
Libraries, archives, museums and collections
Maps, illustrations, photographs, paintings, film
Interviewing and oral history
Records and documents
How to Record and Share Social History
Genealogy Software
Blogging
Online story sharing
Self-publishing: Print on demand and eBook
YouTube and Vimeo
Suggested Reading and Resources
MODULE 2
PEOPLE, FAMILY AND SOCIETY
Demographics: Population, race and class
Sexuality and Morality
Marriage and Divorce
Children and Childhood
Customs and Traditions
Social Currents, Ethnicity and Prejudices
Leisure, hobbies and games
MODULE 3
DOMESTIC LIFE
Introduction to Domestic Life
Environment
Clothing and Fashion
Food and Cooking
House and Home
Housekeeping
Land and Property
Alcohol and Drugs
MODULE 4
BIRTH, LIFE, AND DEATH
Birth
Resources
Health and Lifestyle
Healing: treatments, medicines, surgery
Disease and epidemics
Mental health
Mortality: Death and Burials
MODULE 5
WORK, WAGES AND ECONOMY
Economy: Prices, Cost of Living and Salaries
Occupations, working conditions and the labour movement
Businesses and employers
Social Welfare
MODULE 6
COMMUNITY, RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT
Community
Fairs and Markets
Celebrations and holidays
Education, language and literacy
Religion, church, faith and persecution
Crime and punishment
War, Revolution and Unrest
MODULE 7
GAME CHANGERS
Emigration
Inventions
Transportation
Communication