Public History Class calls it a wrap

Thursday was the last Public History class.  Since we have stressed iterative design all semester, it seemed appropriate for the students to give us feedback on the class and the new assignment.  We got some good insights for future tweaks.  All in all, the class was a learning experience for students and instructors alike... and it will be better next time.

Pictured are the brave students who stuck the class out along with their games.  I am genuinely impressed with the work and creativity they put into the class and the games.  They created a variety of games exploring different aspects of the war.  They recreated the Battle of Gettysburg, home life, railroads, the march through Georgia.

Eddie Keen

Overview of Eddie's game

Overview of Jeremiah's game

Overview of Ben's game

Overview of Mike's game

Alicia Henning

Ben Barnhart

Dan Leopold

Jeremiah Horrigan

Mike Wesolowski

Political Zingers

On December 8 Larry Raymond spoke with the Public History class about his game, Political Zingers.  Political Zingers fits into the theme of game design, because, according to the game's web page, "With Zingers!, talking politics with your friends is fun and you won’t ruin the evening.    You put words into the mouths of politicians and pundits, telling the truth as you see it through a cartoon vocabulary.  You  can speak your mind, get a laugh and not offend anyone."  The games ability to get people (translation students) to discuss potentially difficult topics has real educational applications.  Students in the class have a variety of political opinions and levels of engagement, but they all enjoyed the game.  The game moved quickly, provoking both discussion and laughs.  Larry also discussed how the game related to his long and varied career including his fascinating work with metaphor mapping in the corporate world and the United Nations.

Review of Dr. Robbins's Book

Dr. Karen Robbins's book, James McHenry, Forgotten Federalist, was recently reviewed in the Journal of the Early Republic.  McHenry was an important player in the American Revolution who had not received the attention he deserved, until Dr. Robbins wrote her biography.  The reviewer writes:  "This is an excellent political biography. More than that, it can serve as a model for anyone attempting a similar project. It is grounded in a thorough knowledge of the various McHenry manuscript collections and secondary works on Maryland and national politics of the period as well as the recent scholarship on race relations, the family, and class (in its eighteenth-century manifestation), especially the code of the gentleman."

Board Game Jam- 11/13/15

In accord with the Public History class, which is designing their own board games around the American Civil War, the History Department and History Club held a Board Game Jam on a Friday afternoon in Friesdam Memorial Library. Several students and professors stopped by to try their hand at a variety of board games, from classic favorites like Risk, to new games involving the American underground railroad, and several others. A fun time was had by all, as they learned about new games while enjoying pizza and each other.

Stacks of board games and slices of pizza, 

a great combination.

Freedom, a board game pertaining to the 

American Underground Railroad

Students enjoying their board games.

Review of Rochester trip to Strong Museum & Nick Tahou's- by Carter Bunce

The History Club’s trip to the Strong National Museum of Play and Nick Tahou’s in Rochester on November 14^th was a fun filled experience. The museum was full of not only interactive exhibits for young children, but also informative, and nostalgic exhibits about the history of all types of toys, card and board games, and video games from a wide range of topics and decades. As one who does not play video games it was neat seeing and gaining more information on the development of video games, from the first Nintendo sets, to the more modern Play Station and Wii devices, as well as learning more about the culture of the arcade. Many in the group commented on the wide variety of games and toys presented at the museum and how it made us all feel nostalgic for the games we played as children.

                Overall, the layout of the museum was very causal and well done. The various floors were dedicated to different topics, as some sections were dedicated to the history of the comic book, and another dedicated to Nintendo and its founding. Our trip coincided with Sci-Fi Day at the museum, so there were various Star Wars characters, such as Storm Troopers and Darth Vader, available for pictures, as well as tables set out selling Star Wars merchandise. The floor that was dedicated to the history of both board and electronic games had a full scale arcade where tokens could be purchased to play old school video games, like Pac-Man, and pinball. There were other games, like Jenga, paper football and Battleship, for visitors to interact with. Each exhibit also was accompanied by a small section dedicated to books and other literature dedicated to the topic being which could be read at the time or checked out to read at home. The museums layout made it very efficient for a group of our size, and interest to maximize the time spent exploring the museum in the short amount of time we had there.

                Our final destination before heading back to campus was a visit to the historic Nick Tahou’s, originator of the garbage plate and a Rochester specialty. The garbage plate is a messy concoction of meat, normally hamburgers or hotdogs, macaroni salad and home fries smothered in mustard, onions and meat sauce.  In keeping with the nature of the History Club it was enjoyable to go to a place that is such an historic and culinary staple in Rochester cuisine. For most in the group, it was their first ever garbage plate and their first time ever visiting the city of Rochester. Reflecting on the trip the entire group was satisfied with the experience of visiting the Strong Museum and Nick Tahou’s and was looking forward to further excursions with the History Club.

Group shot outside of Nick Tahou's 

Carter Bunce enjoying the exhibit on the history of Nintendo

History is happening all around us!

Nick Tahou's, birthplace of the 

garbage plate

Mmmm, looks good!

History Club hosts Trivia Night

On Thursday, November 12th, the St. Bonaventure History Club hosted it's second Trivia Night in Cafe La Verna. History professor Dr. Horowitz offered his services as the MC of the event. Over thirty undergrads answered questions pertaining to world history, geography, sports, pop culture, and Bonaventure history, with the top three teams coming away with gift cards to local restaurants. Congratulations to Andrew Bevevino, Cody Didas and Conor Wood on your first place finish!

Participants trying their hand at trivia.

Great turnout at Cafe La Verna!

Dr. Horowitz, the next Alex Trebek? 

Earnings by Majors

The Wall Street Journal has a chart of Salary Increase by Major that lets you see how majors do over time.  The good news is that humanities majors do well - a message often heard in our public and digital history classes where we emphasize that the best skill for the modern economy is the ability to adapt and learn.  That's the point in emphasizing game design, gamificiation, design and information architecture this semester in public history.  Of course, we're also doing the Civil War.  Next semester will see much of the same but adding in more digital tools such as GIS and web design.

The history major stats over time from the WSJ.  The first column is starting medium salary.  The second is mid career medium salary 10 years out followed by percent increase.

History

$39,200.00

$71,000.00

81.1