Schedule: Preparatory Workshop (attendance required), June 4, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Class Dates: June 11 - July 14, 2012

This course provides students an immersion experience in the field recording of the built environment and cultural landscapes and an opportunity to learn how to write history literally “from the ground up.” Students will receive training in site documentation (including photography, measured drawings, digital documentation, audio-visual production), historic interpretation of buildings and landscapes (focusing on how to “read” buildings within its material, political, social, cultural and economic contexts), and primary source research (including oral history, archival research, architectural analysis). They will create site reports on historic buildings and cultural landscapes that will become part of the historical record of Wisconsin.

The five-week course calendar covers a broad array of academic skills. Week 1 will focus on drawing documentation with a workshop on technical drawing; no experience is necessary. Week 2 will involve on oral histories and ethnography workshops. Week 3 is centered on mapping, archives, and multimedia analysis. Week 4 and 5 will be devoted to producing final reports and digital documents. Nationally recognized faculty directing portions of this school include Jeffrey E. Klee, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Michael H. Frisch, Professor and Senior Research Scholar, University at Buffalo, Jasmine Alinder, Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Michael Gordon, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and Matthew Jarosz, Associate Adjunct Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.