| Process Paper |
How we chose our topic:
We began our project over the summer by discussing ideas for National History Day. One of our group members visited the Tenement Museum in New York, so when the issue of choosing a topic for National History Day came up, she suggested the New York Tenements. She gave us a bit of background on the tenements on the Lower East Side of New York City, and after some discussion we decided on the New York Tenement Crisis as our topic.
How we conducted our research:
First, we explored the Tenement Museum website and gathered basic information. From that information we worked out which areas would require deeper research. We went to the public library several times as well as the library at the University of Texas at El Paso. We accessed online databases containing New York newspapers ranging from the 1800’s to 1900’s. We scheduled interviews with the spokesperson of the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso and a representative from the Tenement Museum in New York. We also used books that had been purchased from the Tenement Museum. Once we had enough information, we dedicated entire days to taking notes on our various resources.
How we selected our presentation category and created our project:
We selected the website category because we felt that the layout would represent this topic better than any of the others; other reasons include it is easy to navigate and appealing to the eye. We noticed that the website category would be easier for all of our members to work on and that we could all work on the website at the same time, which was very convenient. We created our project by planning out each page on a very long and thick piece of Styrofoam and then we transferred the information onto the website. For many months we spent every Friday afternoon working on our website.
How our project relates to the NHD theme:
This project suits this year’s NHD theme very well because the immigrants living in the tenements had guaranteed rights to clean water, a healthy living space, fresh air, and light among other things, and those rights were violated. Slumlords failed to fulfill responsibilities both legal and moral until other people in the city spoke up for the tenants. This project also relates to the National History Day theme because of how society has changed apartments and public housing today. The tenements were a very important part of housing today as well as the development of new laws.
(428 Words)
We began our project over the summer by discussing ideas for National History Day. One of our group members visited the Tenement Museum in New York, so when the issue of choosing a topic for National History Day came up, she suggested the New York Tenements. She gave us a bit of background on the tenements on the Lower East Side of New York City, and after some discussion we decided on the New York Tenement Crisis as our topic.
How we conducted our research:
First, we explored the Tenement Museum website and gathered basic information. From that information we worked out which areas would require deeper research. We went to the public library several times as well as the library at the University of Texas at El Paso. We accessed online databases containing New York newspapers ranging from the 1800’s to 1900’s. We scheduled interviews with the spokesperson of the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso and a representative from the Tenement Museum in New York. We also used books that had been purchased from the Tenement Museum. Once we had enough information, we dedicated entire days to taking notes on our various resources.
How we selected our presentation category and created our project:
We selected the website category because we felt that the layout would represent this topic better than any of the others; other reasons include it is easy to navigate and appealing to the eye. We noticed that the website category would be easier for all of our members to work on and that we could all work on the website at the same time, which was very convenient. We created our project by planning out each page on a very long and thick piece of Styrofoam and then we transferred the information onto the website. For many months we spent every Friday afternoon working on our website.
How our project relates to the NHD theme:
This project suits this year’s NHD theme very well because the immigrants living in the tenements had guaranteed rights to clean water, a healthy living space, fresh air, and light among other things, and those rights were violated. Slumlords failed to fulfill responsibilities both legal and moral until other people in the city spoke up for the tenants. This project also relates to the National History Day theme because of how society has changed apartments and public housing today. The tenements were a very important part of housing today as well as the development of new laws.
(428 Words)
