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Most people have never heard of Colmar, a tiny French Alsace town near the German border. Charlemagne knew it as a Saxon settlement, and it existed as one of the many little spaces connecting the Holy Roman Empire. Not all of its residents were Christians.
Colmar’s “street of the Jews” once housed a synagogue, a school, a mikveh, and a thriving community, Jews living side by side peacefully with their Christian neighbors in a tumultuous Medieval landscape.
That is, until the Black Death. Jews received the blame for the plague in 1348-49, and, despite protestations from the Holy Roman Emperor and Pope, their neighbors turned against them.
They were burned alive by Colmar’s residents.
What thoughts went through their 14th century Medieval minds when they buried their treasure- a treasure no one found until 1863? And can we learn from this episode in human history? I’ve stopped asking “what can we learn” because I feel that few can see the patterns anymore.
Maps of Colmar come later, including a stunning bird’s eye view of its homes, businesses and street life from the 1540s. In the 1540s, there was no sign of Jewish life in Colmar. The synagogue is gone. The school is gone. No one remembered the Jews.
This photo is of a wedding ring from the Cloister’s current exhibit on the Colmar Treasure. Its letters represent Mazel Tov, and it depicts the Temple, which had been destroyed by Romans centuries earlier. It belonged to a human being, who most probably planned to hand it down through the generations.
Studying history through its objects offers a deep perspective. What objects remain to tell the story?
Posted in Medieval
Hello homeschoolers! I am working on the content for the fall classes, and homeschool class spaces are going very fast! If you’re interested in anything being offered, please reach out. I can provide you with more details and a preliminary syllabus. As always, more information may be found on Homeschoolny and NYCHEA email lists. Be sure to join them to keep up to date on homeschool happenings!
Medieval History! – using the Met and written primary sources as our guides
Medieval Literature! – starring Boethius, Augustine, Chaucer, Boccaccio, and the lost writers of the Tain, Mabinogion, Icelandic Sagas, Song of Roland and more!
The Universe! – Cosmology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, and the crossroads of science and culture!
Issues in the Ancient World! – Colonialism, Racism, Orientalism, Religion and all of the other ways in which we make assumptions about Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Andean peoples, Mesoamericans, and more!
Paranormal and History! – Studying world and US history through the lens of the “unexplained” – haunted castles, alien assumptions, vampires, ghosts and other examples of the otherworldly as our lens!
Governments! – using the AP Comparative Government exam as our guide to comparing the governments of China, Iran, Great Britain, Nigeria, and Mexico…as well as others, based on student interest! More US focus available, too!
AP styled courses in US History and Europe!, but with many additional twists and museum explorations!
I am also delighted to finish the fine-tuning on my Hunter College syllabi. Religious Experience, Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Religions of Mexico, Central and South America, and Astrology and World Religions are offered.
I’m looking forward to a great 2019-2020 year!
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How Do We Look: Art and Image through the Ages will be offered next. This class is loosely based on Mary Beard’s book, How Do We Look, and applied to the Met’s collections on Egyptian, Greek, Mesoamerican, West African, Christian, Islamic, and Renaissance Art. How do the Met’s “masterpieces” convey meaning? How is the human figure shown? Why is this controversial in different historical periods? What does this tell us about culture and about ourselves?
Proposed Dates:
Tuesday, July 2 11-1 pm Younger students (7ish and up)
2-4 pm Tweens and Teens
Thursday, July 11 1-3 Teens
Friday, July 19 5-7 pm High School
Shifting the Gaze: African Identities in Art begins with Titus Kaphar’s painting, “Shifting the Gaze” at the Brooklyn Museum and then examines other works of art, from antiquity to modern, that bring into question Eurocentric bias. It’s a bit of art history, a bit of colonialist history, and a walkthrough of one of the most spectacular museums in New York.
Proposed Dates:
Thursday, July 11
5-7 pm High School
Wednesday, July 24
1-3 pm Tweens and Teens
The Empire of TIBET offers another perspective, as does the Rubin Museum. I will be holding a one day class on FRIDAY, JULY 12 from 6-8 pm for our teens who want to explore the Rubin, the concept of empire, Tibetan Buddhism, Tibet’s neighbors, and current political issues facing Tibet, China, and the region at large.
Interested? Let me know at wendyraver@hotmail.com for more information!
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New Classes! New Exhibits! New Students! Most of the continuing classes are full, but I’m delighted to offer a few new spring and summer one days, including History and Science, Empires, and new museum based classes!
Image from the new ISAW exhibit, “Hymn to Apollo: The Ancient World and the Ballet Russes”
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New Class! Science and History – High Schoolers!
Do you love science, but hate history? Do you love history, but hate science? Can we study science through the study of history, and study history through the study of science, walking away with a good sense of these disciplines?
I’m designing a course that helps to bridge the gap between these worlds, sort of like a SHTEAM instead of just STEM or STEAM. Topics include forensics (from ancient Egyptian and Peruvian mummies to bog bodies, and more), DNA (what can DNA tell us about genetics, migration, adaptability, and evolution), climate change (how can we determine climate change over time and is there ancient evidence for climate change), technology (early attempts at artificial intelligence, inventions, etc), epidemiology (what can we learn about diseases in the ancient and medieval world through modern methodology), botany (plant evolution, GMOs, mind alternating substances and their uses), astronomy (ancient understanding of the sky), physics (before and after Aristotle’s four elements), and medicine (surgeries, cures and more). We’ll meet at the Met, AMNH, and other locations throughout the city.
I will offer a few sections of an INTRO class, spanning different topics to gain a feel for what interested teens like and the days/times available, and then work on a syllabus reflecting their interests. The target age group is 16 up, as the course is primarily college prep, but if there is interest in a middle school or early high school group, please reach out.
Here are some proposed days/times for the trial:
The trial class will be $25, and will include museum admission (we will probably meet first at the AMNH)
If you’re interested for your teen, please message me:
-your student’s name and age
-the day(s) you are available for the trial
-special areas of interest
Happy New Year to All!
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