Finding an Artifact:
There are numerous resources you can use to find your artifact. I would recommend starting with the collections we have here at Wheaton College. If these don't inspire you, try exploring objects catalogued in online databases.Wheaton College Collections:
Archives & Special Collections: Wheaton's Archives & Special Collections in Wallace Library possess a number of original periodicals, texts, manuscripts, paintings, and objects that you can use for this assignment. Make an appointment with our Special Collections Librarian Zeph Stickney to arrange a time to view its documents and artifacts. You can Special Collections Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., and Zeph Stickney can be reached via email at zstickne@wheatonma.edu.
Permanent Collection: The Wheaton College Permanent Collection consists of more than 6,000 objects, ranging from Egyptian antiquities to nineteenth-century writing desks. Here you can find paintings, sculptures, furniture, prints, and more. To view objects in the Permanent Collection, you must make an appointment a week in advance with Professor Leah Niederstadt, who can be reached via email at niederstadt_leah@wheatoncollege.edu
Online Databases:
Victoria & Albert Museum: The V&A Museum houses the world's largest collection of decorative arts and design. You can search its online collections for various objects related to the British Empire.
The British Museum: The British Museum has a vast collection of world art and artifacts. It has an impressive 3.5 million objects in its online database.
Artstor: This is a digital library of images and media. Access this database via the Wallace Library Database Search (on the Wallace Library homepage).
The Times (London) Digital Archive: You may want to use a newspaper article as your artifact. Check out the the digital archive of The Times, which dates back to 1785. You can access this database via the Wallace Library Database Search.
Illustrated London News Historical Archive: The Illustrated London News is a pictorial weekly newspaper that launched in 1842. You can explore its digital archives by accessing it via the Wallace Library Database Search.
Other:
Google Books contains an enormous number of books, periodicals, newspapers, and magazines from the nineteenth century. Talk to me about using Google Books to find an artifact. The problem with Google Books, of course, is that it presents texts with very little contextualization (unlike the databases listed above, which provides some information about the origins and creator of objects).
Research
Wikipedia and random online websites are not acceptable scholarly sources. I expect you to research your artifact, its historical moment, and the literary text with which it connects using peer-reviewed scholarship.
1. Start with basic information about your artifact, as provided by the Zeph or Gabby (if you use the Wheaton College collections) or as listed in its digital database.
2. Develop "keywords" to further your research using the HELIN library catalog. For instance, if your artifact is a newspaper article about the Great Famine in Ireland that took place between 1845 and 1852, your keywords might be "Irish," "Famines," and "Nineteenth Century."
3. Use "keywords" and subject searches to explore databases that contain and/or catalog literary and historical scholarship. These databases include JSTOR, the MLAIB, ProjectMUSE, and LION. These databases are accessible via the Wallace Library Database Search.
4. Look at the bibliographies of scholarly books and articles. These can refer you to other books and articles that might be relevant to your project.
5. Make an appointment with Cary Gouldin, our awesome Humanities librarian at Wheaton College, for research help and instruction. She can be reached via email at gouldin_cary@wheatoncollege.edu.
6. You may be curious to see how often a particular word or phrase related to your artifact appears in published texts over the course of a set number of years. Consider using Google Ngram Viewer to get a sense of the frequency of a particular word or phrase. Read Ben Zimmer's articles about Google Ngram Viewer for tips and caveats on using this tool.
Posting to the Blog
Post images of your artifact, your research, your presentation, and your works cited to this blog before you give your presentation. Remember to link to pertinent webpages, and be sure to check that links actually work. Should you wish to embed a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation in your blogpost, check out these resources:
MLA Format
In-text citations and works cited pages should follow MLA format. Examples and explanations for MLA formatting can be found at the Purdue Online Writing Lab website.
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