Confluences: Understanding the St. Louis Area

3 units

This three-week course will focus on visiting and documenting St. Louis area sites to assist students develop their degree projects. This region has a long and complex history of settlement by Native Americans, Europeans, and African-Americans, and many layers of urban and environmental history. The course will emphasize site-specific research methods and documentatioin of the built and natural environment, understood as part of historical, social, technological, and cultural phenomena. Possible areas to be examined include downtown; North St. Louis; Carondelet; the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers; Laumeier Sculpture Park and adjacent areas; and other parts of the region. There will be several lectures on regional history and architecture and a visit to the Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center. Students will present possible sites for their degree projects for site visits and class discussion and will then develop a detailed final research paper and presentation.