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Murals in Southern Arizona

Photograph of "Greetings from Tucson" mural

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. The "Tucson Greeting Card" mural in Tucson, Arizona. Arizona United States Tucson, 2018. Photograph.

About this Lesson Plan

Discipline(s)

Public and Applied Humanities

Time Needed

1 class period of 2 hours and 50 minutes

Original Course

PAH 420: Innovation and the Human Condition: Learning to Improve Life in the Community and Beyond

Lesson Plan Created By

Dr. Jacqueline Barrios, Public & Applied Humanities, and Lisa Duncan, University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections

Created in

Spring 2024 as part of a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources grant

Overview

This active learning-based session was developed for undergraduate students in PAH 420. It introduces students to Special Collections and primary sources related to murals in southern Arizona. Through document analysis, students practice critical thinking and work individually and then collaboratively to analyze components of mural art and its significance. This exercise is facilitated by the archivist, who guides students with contextual questions about the content, intended audience, purpose, and author of the materials.

Learning Objectives

  • Students will assess and analyze primary and secondary sources to identify and interpret mural art.
  • Students will be exposed to textual and visual primary source materials.
  • Students will collaborate with their peers in analysis of primary sources.
  • Students will develop skills to critically examine, interpret and evaluate historical evidence.

Before class preparation/set up

Materials included selections from the Library of Congress digital collections and the UA Libraries' Special Collections, listed below in Activities section. The archivist pulled physical materials from Special Collections before the class session. 

Tools & Materials Needed

Groups 1 & 6: The "Tucson Greeting Card" mural in Tucson, Arizona (Library of Congress)

Additional sources:

Groups 2 & 7: "A mural covers the opening of a narrow alley in Tombstone, Arizona" (Library of Congress)

Additional sources:

Groups 3 & 8: "Welcoming mural in downtown Yuma, Arizona" (Library of Congress)

Additional sources:

Groups 4 & 9: "Dinosaur skeleton mural" in Tucson, Arizona (Library of Congress)

Additional sources:

Groups 5 & 10: Mural, Route 66, Truxton, Arizona (Library of Congress)

Additional sources:

Activities

Part 1: Introduction to Special Collections (15 minutes)

Introduce students to Special Collections and archives. Provide an overview of what Special Collections holds and how to search for materials online through finding aids, the library catalog, and digital collections. Provide an overview of primary and secondary sources and how to analyze and contextualize a source.

Part 2: Exercise overview (5 minutes)

Explain to the students that in groups of 4, they will be using a worksheet of questions to analyze and interpret a local mural found on the Library of Congress digital collections. The groups will use various additional sources to put the mural in context and analyze the symbols and content of the mural. As a group, students will reflect on what they learned and inferred about the mural and the sources.

Part 3: Individual and small group activity (55 minutes)

Instruct students to look at their murals and analyze the various primary sources provided independently and to be prepared to present their findings to each other in their groups. Students will be answering questions from a worksheet that includes: 
•    Briefly describe your mural.
•    What questions do you have about your mural?
•    Can you tell who made this mural?
•    What symbols are focus points for the mural?
•    What possible intent does the mural have? (Purely artistic, political, etc.)
•    Does this mural seem tied to a geographic location? How do you arrive at this conclusion?
•    What do the supporting documents tell you about this mural?
•    What more do you want to know about your mural? How could you find that information?
•    How would you go about finding information (primary sources) for a mural you encounter outside of this course?

Part 4: Full class discussion (60 minutes) 

Lead a discussion with the full class by asking each group to articulate what they learned about their mural from their documents. Since 2 groups will have the same mural, they can discuss their findings and how they differ or overlap.


Each group will add to a collaborative class Zine, creating a caption for their mural that incorporates the information learned in the sources used to analyze the murals. The caption will include metadata about the mural, and an interpretive narrative about the mural that can include composition, imagery, representation to the community and contextual information.