The Oyster and the City: Environmental History in Turn of the Century America

Course Summary

Food is a powerful way to enter environmental history. Food is always about stories: stories of family recipes and traditions; stories of hardship and survival; stories about blending traditions and creating new ones. And because food is produced in nature, it connects our most cultural stories to our dependence on the larger, nonhuman world. That is the essence of environmental history: locating humanity in the natural world. This course will use Library of Congress images as evidence, not merely as illustrations. Specifically, we will identify sources from the photo and written record created by the National Child Labor Committee Collection. Through Lewis Hine’s photographs of child laborers at work in canneries and oyster packinghouses, and in his written notes compiled in 30 reports held by the Library of Congress, we will emphasize links between city and country, between child labor and the nation’s cheapest and most abundant protein: oysters.

Course Instructor: Kimberly Gilman 

Course Dates: March 9 - April 21, 2020  

Professional Development Hours: 35

Course Registration Fee: $99.00 

Humanities In Class Online Course Refund,  Transfer & Cancellation Policy

• Refund Policy: Humanities In Class Online Course registrants occasionally are presented with circumstances that prevent them from participating in registered courses. In order to qualify for a refund of fees, registrants must submit their written request according to the following guidelines:

  • If the cancellation request is received more than fourteen (14) days before the course start date, the registrar will refund the course registration, less a $25 cancellation fee.

  • If the cancellation request is received between seven (7) and fourteen (14) days of the course start date, the registrar will refund fifty percent (50%) of course registration, less a $25 cancellation fee.

  • If the cancellation request is received less than seven (7) days before the course start date, no refund will be given.

• Transfer Policy: Humanities In Class Online Courses are offered during Spring, Summer and Fall sessions. In the event that unforeseen circumstances prevent a registrant from enrolling in a current course offering, they will have the option of transferring the amounts paid to a future, calendared course. 

• Cancellation Policy: In the event that an online course is canceled by the National Humanities Center, registrants will be given the option of transferring their registration to another course or receiving a full refund of their registration fee.