Spend time reading the series of course catalogue excerpts prepared for us by the University Archivists, Tom Frusciano and Erika Gorder. Most of them are found in one big PDF. However, the pages from the 1923 New Jersey College for Women catalogue in that file are the history courses rather than English. History, schmistory! The correct pages, containing listings for English courses from the 1923–24 New Jersey College for Women catalogue, are in another PDF file.
As you read, make a couple of notes about particular entries that catch your eye, or about trends you detect. You could also note questions or confusions you have: on Monday we’ll have the chance to talk about these materials with Drs. Frusciano and Gorder, and to look at the originals that these scans come from. For the blog entry, simply include three or four notations. If you prefer to write an interpretive paragraph, you may.
We have two governing questions: (1) how does the curriculum project a changing conception of what literature’s constitution and function? (2) what forces shape the curriculum? In a way it’s easier to “see” (1) in the catalogues, but think about both of these issues as we go into our discussion next week. We meet in Alexander Library in the Special Collections seminar room at our regular time.