Courses sponsored by the Hartford Studies Project
* Hartford on Film (HIST/AMST 124, Spring '08) In 1969 filmmakers came to Hartford from Canada and California to document the problems of wealth and poverty in our city. They shot 35 short films in collaboration with residents, just as riots broke out in Hartford during that summer. Trinity's Hartford Studies Project has worked with students, alumni, and residents of the city then and now. This course explores the problems of Hartford from the 1960's to the present, using both old and new documentary footage as tools for learning, research and dialogue. Its central themes are: racial politics, immigration, community mobilization, policing cultures, housing, corporate and civic power, "urban renewal", and Hartford's changing place in national and global political cultures. Students will interact with residents, community organizations, and interviewees. They will devise their own related projects in the city, working in the ocumentary tradition that inspired the original filmmakers. We will lso work with the Old State House/Connecticut Historical Society xhibition on Hartford's history that opened in 2006. (Prof. Susan D. Pennybacker and Prof. Luis Figueroa)
* Hartford Past and Present (CTYP 200, Fall '07) is open to students enrolled in the Cities Program. Over the course of almost 400 years, just about every important description in American urban life has left its mark for good and ill on Hartford. The city is, therefore, an excellent point of entry into the study of American cities. The course offers an examination of Hartford's development as a major financial and manufacturing center in the 19th and 20th centuries and its subsequent transformation into a troubled post-industrial city at the heart of a privileged metropolitan area. Particular attention will be paid to changes over time in the city's economy, its ethnic, racial, religious, and class composition, its political and civic life, and its cutlure. The course will also explore the causes of the social and economic problems now confronting Hartford and recent efforts at reform and redevelopment. (Professor Andrew Walsh. For more information on the Cities Program, click here)
* Hispanic Hartford (HISP 280, Fall '07) seeks to place Trinity students in active and informed dialogue with the Hartford region’s large and diverse set of Spanish-speaking communities. The course will help student recognize and analyze the distinct national histories (e.g. Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Honduran, Cuban, Colombian, Mexican) which have contributed to the Hispanic diaspora in the city and the entire northeastern region of the U.S. Students will undertake field projects designed to look at the effects of transnational migration on urban culture, institution-building, and identity formation. (Prof. Anne Gebelein. Also offered under Latin American and Caribbean Studies.)
* Urban Life, Urban Culture (HIST 265, Fall '07) explores life passages and political culture in New York, Berlin, London, Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Cape Town, as portrayed in memoir, fictional, narrative and visual sources. (Prof. Susan Pennybacker)
* The History of Hartford from 1865 to the Present (HIST 835/451-03) is offered regularly to undergraduate and graduate students in History, American Studies, Cities, and other programs. Each student chooses a research project, and is mentored by a Hartford Studies Project member or a contact in the city. Students visit sites throughout the city and region. (For more information about registering for Trinity graduate courses or degree programs, please call the Trinity Graduate Studies office at 860-297-2527 or visit the graduate studies webpage)
* Students in Latinos/Latinas in the U.S. (HIST 247) and Film and History (HIST 264) also explore aspects of Hartford's history through engagement with our 1969 film project and other sources.
* Local residents enrolled in the the Hartford Gateway to the Humanities program can study the history of Hartford and related subjects with Professors Susan Pennybacker and Luis Figueroa. For more information on this program, click here
* Adults in the broader community can enroll in The Academy of Lifelong Learning, and study the history of Hartford with Professor Andrew Walsh. For more information, www.trincoll.edu/pub/ALL.html
The Hartford Studies Project consults with other faculty in designing courses that focus on Hartford. Contact us for more information.