Elective Courses

It is recommended that Semester-in-Residence students select their elective courses from the NIAHD-sponsored elective courses each semester. NIAHD sponsors several special courses in History, Anthropology, American Studies, and Music that are especially applicable as electives. These courses include not only early American History per se, but Architectural History, Historical Archaeology, Decorative Arts, and Music History. Some seats in all of these courses will be reserved for Semester-in-Residence students.

Students may also select from regularly-scheduled classes at the College of William and Mary. Two considerations are important: (1) Registration for the regular courses will be on a space-available basis after regular William and Mary students have made their choices; and (2) Semester-in-Residence students must be careful not to register for classes that conflict with the two required courses.

Semester-in-Residence students may also choose as their elective course an independent project involving research in primary documents as well as deep reading in secondary literature. Students who opt for this elective course will work closely with an instructor to define a topic, research it, and produce a substantial paper by the end of the semester.

The mix of sponsored courses varies from semester to semester and year to year, but the NIAHD currently sponsors these courses:

American Vernacular Architectural History

Archaeological Material Culture

Archaeology of Colonial Williamsburg and the Tidewater

Architectural History Summer Field School

Colonial Virginia

Colonial and Revolutionary Tidewater

Early American Music

Era of Jamestown

Fall NIAHD Core Course on Public History

Field School in Material Culture

Field School Internship in Public History

Foodways and the Archaeological Record

History of Museums

Jamestown Rediscovered

Race, Class and Gender in Colonial America

The World of Thomas Jefferson

Williamsburg, Colonial and Revolutionary

Zooarchaeology