ASSIGNMENT 3. YOUR SITE THROUGH TIME

This is the third part of a four-part, semester-long project. The first assignment was to find a site, the second, to find evidence of its environmental history and ongoing natural processes. Now the task is to trace changes on your site over time by comparing its character at several points in time, using different types of sources. You may find different kinds of changes: land use, density of settlement, additions to buildings, ownership, transportation. The types of sources you will find helpful may include nineteenth- and twentieth-century atlases; old maps, plans, and prints; and photographs.

Start your investigation by locating your site on maps in several atlases of different dates. Include at least four different time periods in addition to the present, including at least one from the nineteenth century. By comparing your site at different times, you are likely to find that changes between some dates are more significant than others. Record the changes you think are important or interesting. You may want to modify your site slightly by shifting it a block or so to include interesting material that you have found or to make the site a bit larger or smaller. The site you end up with should contain four to eight blocks.

What changes do you find? How would you characterize them? Are the changes gradual or do they seem to happen suddenly? Do changes within a time period seem related? How about from one time to another? Can you find patterns in the changes? What might explain the changes you found? Were they merely an outcome of actions by individuals or do they reflect broader forces (social, cultural, political, economic, or natural processes and conditions at local, regional, national, or global scales; policies; events; technological changes)? Review Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier for material to test, substantiate, or revise your hunches.

Describe what you have found, the causes you have identified, and your reasoning. The text should be equivalent to about eight typed pages, accompanied by illustrations (don't forget to list the source of each illustration!). Focus on what seems most significant and interesting; look for patterns. Don't try to cover everything. This is an assignment that could occupy you for an entire semester. The objective of the assignment is to give you a sense of how cities change over time, to prompt you to question why, and to search for answers.

Successful papers are well organized, cite specific examples to make each point, put examples in context, make reference to required texts, and are illustrated. In organizing your paper, focus on the patterns of change you found and the important issues they raise; consider using subheadings to highlight your key points. Choose your examples carefully. They should be specific and significant, illustrative of the patterns of change you found. Illustrations (copies of maps, prints, photographs) should be apt and clearly linked to your reasoning; quality is important, not quantity. Include a map identifying the boundaries of your site. Do not forget to list the source of each illustration.

Start on this assignment right away. It requires finding your site on old maps before you can even begin to puzzle out the changes and their possible causes. Map collections often have their own hours and may not always be open when the rest of the library is. Leave yourself plenty of time.

It is important to include copies of the illustrations used to analyze the changes on your site. If you use the atlases on microfilm, copies are easily made. If you use bound atlases, which may not be reproduced on a copy machine, you may need to make drawn copies or photograph them.

Assignment #3 Due: Friday, April 13, 5PM. Post the assignment on your home page and send the address to spirn@mit.edu. You must also email the address and your text to Andrea Volpe, the writing tutor, and to teaching assistant Lilian Knorr. Late submissions will receive a reduction in grade. There will be no extensions without prior, written, consent of the instructor.

 

SOURCES

1. Getting a map of your site to make notes on. This is useful for taking notes on and for illustrating points in your paper. Current Boston Redevelopment Authority maps are available at Boston City Hall. For other cities, like Cambridge and Somerville, check with the local planning commission.

2. Finding your site in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century atlases. MIT’s Rotch Library has numerous atlases that you may consult and even copy. You probably will not find all the maps you need in the MIT collection, and there are other sources in the Boston region, such as the Boston Public Library, the Cambridge Public Library, and the Harvard Map Collection in Pusey Library (for a list of resources, see http://libraries.mit.edu/rotch/maps/bostonmaps.html).

Atlases: G.M. Hopkins (nineteenth century); Bromley (nineteenth and early twentieth century); Sanborn (mainly twentieth century).

 

Rotch Library

Rotch has some maps on microfilm and others in bound atlases. For an overview of this collection, visit the website (http://libraries.mit.edu/rotch/maps/index.html).

Other Libraries

Explore the resources of the Rotch Library before visiting other libraries. Librarians will appreciate that you are knowledgeable and have already exhausted the resources at MIT. Note hours: map collections frequently are not open during all library hours. Plan your time accordingly.