Glendale Community College This Muddy Place Mary Ballou Essay

1. prepare paragraph-long responses addressing each of the four categories below.

PRIMARY SOURCE– “This Muddy Place”: Mary Ballou, a Boardinghouse Keeper in the California Gold Rush (1852)

Document Information:

• What type of document is it?
• Who is the author
• Who is the intended audience?

Document Context:

• When was the document written?
• What relevant context is needed to understand the document? –i.e. was it written at the beginning of the Gold Rush, or after the big rush of immigrants in 1849? You need to place your document in the timeline of the Gold Rush.

Document Argument Analysis:

• What is the goal of the document?
• What is its purpose and/or argument?
• What experiences did the author have during the Gold Rush?
• Does the document present a positive or negative portrayal of the Gold Rush?

Historical Significance:

• What does the document reveal about the Gold Rush in California
• How does the document support or challenge our understanding of the Era?

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

Responses should be in paragraph form, use complete sentences, and be original, informative and thoughtfully organized.

Responses should address each of the sub-questions in each category, but don’t just list facts or information.

Please number your responses according to the category you are answering and each answer should be at least 150 words.

Your assignment should cite at least one secondary source

SECONDARY SOURCES:

1. • • Malcolm Rohrbough, “No Boy’s Play: Migration and Settlement in Early Gold Rush California”
     • Sucheng Chan, “A People of Exceptional Character: Ethnic Diversity, Nativism and Racism in the California Gold Rush”
     • Nancy J. Taniguchi, “Weaving a Different World: Women and the California Gold Rush”

     Avoid using outside sources like Wikipedia or history.com.