{"id":25180,"date":"2018-06-15T15:20:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T19:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=25180"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:55:45","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:55:45","slug":"frankenstein-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=25180","title":{"rendered":"Learning from Frankenstein\u2019s monster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/library.unc.edu\/2018\/04\/shelley-frankenstein-exhibiti\/\">Reconstructing Frankenstein\u2019s Monster: Mary Shelley\u2019s World in Print<\/a>\u00a0will be on view in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room at the Wilson Special Collections Library through August 26, 2018. The exhibition is free and open to the public whenever Wilson Library is open. Additional photographs on the Libraries\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/unclibraries\/albums\/72157669257365229\">Flickr<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Student Curators Reflect on \u201cReconstructing Frankenstein\u2019s Monster\u201d\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UNWeUjJ0h78?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>When University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sophomore Caroline Alessandro showed up for the first day of English 295, \u201cReconstructing Frankenstein\u2019s Monster,\u201d she was expecting a typical English class. \u201cI figured we\u2019d be reading \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d analyzing it and maybe looking at some other versions,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, she and her eight classmates in English 295H devoted the spring semester to a daunting assignment: curating a full-scale exhibition in the Wilson Special Collections Library.<\/p>\n<p>The result, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/library.unc.edu\/2018\/04\/shelley-frankenstein-exhibiti\/\">Reconstructing Frankenstein\u2019s Monster: Mary Shelley\u2019s World in Print<\/a>,\u201d is the latest in the University Libraries\u2019 biennial collaborative exhibition series with instructors and their undergraduate classes.<\/p>\n<p>Jeanne Moskal, professor in the English and comparative literature department, says that when she learned Wilson Library was again seeking a partner, \u201cI elbowed my way to the front, because it\u2019s the 200<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the publication of \u2018Frankenstein.\u2019 That anniversary is the most famous thing right now in my area of early 19<sup>th<\/sup>-century British literary studies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rare book research librarian Emily Kader says that the program of undergraduate exhibitions allows students not only to conduct original research, but also to showcase their work. \u201cFrankenstein\u201d was a natural fit because of Wilson Library\u2019s outstanding collections of 19<sup>th<\/sup>-century British literature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was a chance for the students to go deep while also highlighting a research strength that we have,\u201d says Kader.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25182\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25182\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-25182\" src=\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/07\/Capture-Frankenstein-exhibit.jpg\" alt=\"Student's in Jeanne Moskal's English class devoted the spring semester to a daunting assignment: curating a full-scale exhibition in the Wilson Special Collections Library on Frankenstein. An African-American female student and a white male student are shown here poring over materials in Wilson Library.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25182\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Student&#8217;s in Jeanne Moskal&#8217;s English class devoted the spring semester to a daunting assignment: curating a full-scale exhibition in the Wilson Special Collections Library on Frankenstein.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4><strong>Connecting with the text<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>As students in Moskal\u2019s class immersed themselves in the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creature, they had the experience of working hands-on with the books that informed Shelley and shaped her world view.<\/p>\n<p>First-year student Jacob Katz says that he and his partner, Malaika Swaminathan-Sipp, would come into Wilson Library in their free time to work on the project. \u201cSometimes we\u2019d get kind of distracted. The books are really amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got to connect with the text on a level that we would not have if we were just reading and discussing it as a class,\u201d says Swaminathan-Sipp, also a first-year.<\/p>\n<p>For Moskal, that was one of the points she hoped students would take away. \u201cI want to pass on the value of the real material object of the book and an understanding that the people we study were real historical people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the semester, the students also grew as researchers. Moskal\u2019s syllabus emphasized in-class experience, as the students worked week after week with their selected items and with the Library\u2019s specialists.<\/p>\n<p>Kader and librarian Tommy Nixon guided the students through their research. Interim curator of rare books Elizabeth Ott even procured an 1831 second edition of \u201cFrankenstein\u201d to complement the Rare Book Collection\u2019s first edition.<\/p>\n<p>Conservator Jan Paris evaluated the stability of the books for display, while exhibits preparator Rachel Reynolds helped the students think like curators as they selected items to illustrate their themes. She also taught them how to write effective and informative exhibit labels.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>\u201cFreedom and creativity\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Katz appreciates a class that was like no other he has taken. \u201cFirst semester freshman year was all study, study, study. This class slows everything down. And once you slow down, you actually have the time to think, to be creative and to be really thorough with all your work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senior Rachel Dango says that it\u2019s \u201cempowering to have the freedom and creativity\u201d to design part of an exhibition. \u201cI thought [librarians] were going to pick what they wanted and we were going to help them write, but it turned out that we were literally picking what we want, designing the cases and implementing them\u2014with a lot of help and feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On several occasions, students and professor learned together, as when Moskal called on a colleague to evaluate a handwritten poem tucked inside a book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou get to see your professors in a different setting,\u201d says student Blythe Gulley, part of the team that found the poem. \u201cThis is a lot of what their research is based on. You\u2019re helping them with really interesting and sometimes groundbreaking stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moskal hopes the students come away with the \u201csense that they can become experts in something and that they have something to contribute to the scholarly community. They have it within them to be the authority, to develop something that\u2019s worth saying, and to say it to people and be understood. That\u2019s just priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The students all say they would take the class over again and would recommend it to other students.<\/p>\n<p>Katz says that he and Swaminathan-Sipp would sometimes muse on the experience that they were having. \u201cIf we went to a different college, we might never have this opportunity. You come to college to make new experiences, to find new opinions. I would never have gotten this experience in any other class.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Video and photo by Aleah Howell. Story by Judy Panitch, University Libraries.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sophomore Caroline Alessandro showed up for the first day of English 295, \u201cReconstructing Frankenstein\u2019s Monster,\u201d she was expecting a typical English class. \u201cI figured we\u2019d be reading \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d analyzing it and maybe looking at some other versions,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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