An interview with Cynthia W. Resor, author of
- Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes
- Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social Studies
- Exploring Vacation and Etiquette Themes in Social Studies
Why did you write these books?
I’m a historian, former middle and high school teacher, and retired university professor for future teachers. I love history but when I reflect back to my own history and social studies classes in middle school, high school, and college I often wonder why even liked history at all. Many students throughout my career have made it clear that history is NOT their favorite subject. History classes usually focus on political history – the story of a few powerful guys, wars, and government events distant from the lives of most people. Political history leaves out average people, everyday life, and many groups of people such as women or minorities. My books focus on social history themes related to the interests of all those average people that get left out.
The books in my history of daily life series focus on the two things that made me love history as a student: social history and challenging questions that made me think. I first learned about social history outside the classroom, from historical novels. Historical novels are stories of people engaging in relationships and doing things average people still do today – the same topics researched by social historians. For example, I met a girl like me for the first time in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books, not in a history class.
Facts are about who, when, and where, but challenging questions make us analyze the whys of history and our own lives. My books include essential questions and critical analysis questions connecting the past with modern issues such as the influence of the media.
Why did you choose these themes – utopias, cemeteries, quacks, family, food, housing, vacation, etiquette?
These historical themes are all things average people interact with and think about daily. For example, we all have some type of family, eat food, and have a home. However, families, food, and homes for most of civilization were drastically different than our experiences in the 21st century. By looking at the history of these themes over time, we can compare and contrast our experiences with those of the past to make history more meaningful. We begin to see our own culture with new eyes.
I chose the vacation theme because I love to travel and see new places. As I researched travel through time, I learned people have been circulating some of the same myths about distant places for thousands of years. I’ve been collecting and reading old etiquette books from thrift stores for years. Etiquette books are instructions for relationships; sometimes we follow the rules; sometimes we don’t. I thought readers would be interested to know the history of relationship rules and how to critically analyze the “rules” prescribed for their own lives.
Quacks, utopias, and cemeteries are also long-term topics of interest to me. Someone asked me how these three themes fit together. My joking answer is first you visit a quack seeking perfect, utopian health, but you may end up in a cemetery!
Seriously, my interest in utopian communities began when I worked as a costumed interpreter at the Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Cemeteries tours are popular but the focus is often on famous people or ghosts. My book explores the traditions and symbols of burial places. Sometimes the symbols and traditions change over time, but often we recycle the same symbols over and over and over for thousands of years. The history of scrapbooks is also featured because scrapbooks are a type of memorial to people and events from one’s past, much like a cemetery.
Who would be interested in your books?
Originally, teachers were the intended audience for my first book. But I’ve learned that all types of educators and general readers who enjoy social history are interested. The majority of each book is an overview of the history of the chosen themes, along with excerpts from related historical documents and historical images. Essential questions, critical thinking questions that connect the past and present, are included to challenge readers of any age to think deeply about their own lives, culture, and the past.
Genealogy research is especially popular right now. The typical primary sources for genealogy are birth and death records or census records that only give the basic facts – dates, occupations, and addresses. My books could provide insight into the routines of daily life and cultural trends that impacted our ancestors’ lives.
I came to my love of history through historical novel reading. Any historical novel fan might enjoy contrasting the myths and realities of daily life featured in their favorite novels or learning about the work of social historians. The work of these historians becomes the background for a good historical novel.
Educators of all types – from museum educators to upper elementary, middle school, high school teachers, homeschooling parents, and university professors – will discover interesting and useful information and ideas. For example, food is an especially hot topic right now. Modern foodies would enjoy knowing that concerns about the purity of our food sources are not new. Medieval laws regulated the purity of bread and beer. Many Americans in the late 19th century asked the same questions about “fake” foods and government regulations we ask today.
The education market is saturated with how-to books of teaching strategies. In my experience, teachers already know lots of effective teaching strategies. But what busy teachers don’t have is extra time for historical research. My books do that work for them. Additional suggestions for teaching social history themes are featured on my website – teachingwiththemes.com and my blog, Primary Source Bazaar.
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n your bio you note that your dream job is a time-traveling tour guide. What historical era would you visit first?
n your My first stop would be the Middle Ages. I would like to live the life of a medieval peasant to learn just how hard it really would be to live in a preindustrial era before modern technology. What would it really be like to grow, preserve, and cook all of my food from scratch? Would my love of new clothes change if I had to shear the sheep, spin the thread, weave the fabric, and sew the clothing? Next, I would visit ancient Rome to see the spectacular marble buildings in the Forum and crowded apartments of average people.
All of my time travel tours, like the study abroad classes I teach, would feature visits to homes of average people, trying every type of food, and talking to the “locals.” Sure, an interview with the great emperors Charlemagne or Caesar Augustus would be interesting. But to be honest, I’d rather know about the lives of their wives, daughters, employees, and slaves.
Who is the most interesting historical person you have encountered in your research of everyday life in the past?
I would really like to meet Catharine Beecher. In the 19th century, Catherine was a well-known expert on housekeeping and published dozens of articles and books on the subject, the Martha Stewart of her era. But today she is eclipsed by her sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. If we judged Catharine by modern standards, she would appear as an old-fashioned advocate for the stay-at-home housewife. But in her own era, Catharine argued for improved education for females and women’s rights in a domain separate from the men’s world. I would like to invite her to the 21st century to see modern kitchens, modern housekeeping methods, and the roles of modern women, and ask her if the roles of men and women have really changed in 150 years?
If someone said to you that history is not relevant in modern classrooms and the larger world how would you answer?
The study of history is relevant today because it requires exactly the same skills needed to critically analyze modern media. The historical texts and images of daily life – advertising, newspaper and magazine articles about vacations, etiquette and household advice books, historical novels, recipes and cookbooks – provide clues about the culture and the beliefs of the authors.
Today, we turn to the Internet for much of this information, but we must carefully analyze those texts and images so that we are not misled. In other words, fake news isn’t new. Asking readers to detect how historical texts and images influenced the lives of historical people develops media literacy, a very relevant and necessary skill for the modern world. For example, people continue to be deceived by quacks, those selling fake cures. Why are we falling for the same fake cures and deceptive advertising used for thousands of years? Learning the history of quacks might help us avoid these traps in our own lives.
What’s your next project?
I’ll keep exploring interesting social history stories on my website, teachingwiththemes.com and blog, Primary Source Bazaar. I’d like to write more books focused on social history themes or try writing historical fiction, but those projects are still in the planning phase. Or maybe someone will discover that time travel machine and I can pursue a career in time-travel tourism!
Looking for an experienced and engaging history or social studies professional development provider for your middle school, high school, or university? Contact Cynthia Resor, author, historian, and educator with 32 years of experience teaching in middle school, high school, and university classrooms.
Every history teacher should wear historical costumes to class at least once a semester.
About the header image: Class photo of African American 6th graders at a segregated school in Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1917. Photo by Lewis Hine.
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