The Legacy of
Joseph Kuhn
Peggy Christensen
Summer Fellowship 2008
Final Project
Directions:
Pretend that you have just discovered a box of mementos stored in the attic of
one of Isaac KuhnÕs homes. Amid financial records from Joseph Kuhn & Co.,
family pictures, and assorted souvenirs from events and places attended in the
Champaign/Urbana community, you discovered:
á A letter written in 1872 from Joseph Kuhn to a friend in Indiana who is considering moving his business to Champaign
á A page from Rose KuhnÕs diary written in 1922
á A thank you letter from a WW I veteran to Isaac Kuhn
á A description of Avenue School classrooms and students written for the 1923 yearbook
á A newspaper article published in April of 1933 discussing the impact of the bank crisis on local citizens.
á A flier distributed to all school children in late 1918 discussing steps being taken to keep students healthy and suggesting things families can do to help
á A letter to Ruth Kuhn Youngerman following her fatherÕs death praising him as an outstanding citizen
Select one of these ÒdocumentsÓ to create. Look over the materials you have used for this unit to get ideas. You will be writing historical fiction that reflects a particular time, place and event or events. Some of the people will be real while others will not. You must include factual material, but you will be making up the content of your document. For example, the letter from Joseph Kuhn to his friend will be your words, but its contents will be based on facts youÕve learned. Since this is fictional, you will need to make up the friendÕs name. There are at least two sources in this unit that will provide background information for each artifact. You are limited to no more than one page for your artifact so you will want to carefully design it to reflect as much information as possible. The format is up to you. The page from of Rose KuhnÕs diary might be ornate and include several short entries while the soldierÕs letter might reflect his branch of the service. Your newspaper article will need headlines and perhaps a picture. Use your imagination, but focus on including factual background.
Your grade will be determined using this rubric:
Content:
Possible Points Points Earned
Is the history of the period/person reflected in the content? 20 _____
Are the historical references accurate? 20 _____
Are there sufficient references to show an awareness of
the materials provided for this unit? 15 _____
Format
Is the artifact neat and easy to read? 15 _____
Did you use standard English and correct spelling? 10 _____
Did you use correct capitalization and punctuation? 10 _____
Is the material presented in a way that lets the reader quickly
determine which artifact project
you selected? 10 _____
Total = 100
Complete List of
Materials and Resources:
Books and Files:
Websites:
These links were provided for
student research.
The following links are all from the AHTC website @: http://www.americanhistoryteachers.org/
Interview: Ruth Kuhn Youngerman, daughter of Isaac Kuhn and granddaughter of Joseph Kuhn, graciously spent time with me discussing her family, sharing photographs and documents, and permitting several documents to be scanned. We met several times prior to our formal interview on July 19, 2008 which she permitted me to digitally record. Sound bites from this interview are used in this unit. I made contact with Mrs. Youngerman with the help of the staff of the Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois.
