Emilee Howland-Davis’ English 1000 classes spent this semester reading the post-apocalyptic novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which is presented as a series of first-hand accounts of the social and political implications of the zombie outbreak. To provide a real-world perspective to this work of science fiction, they also studied materials related to disaster and survival in Government Documents and Special Collections. Materials the students considered included:
- A "duck and cover" comic aimed at helping children survive a nuclear attack during the Cold War
- 1950s-1960s Civil Defense pamphlets intended for use by families and local officials
- A 1950s guide to help farmers protect crops and livestock from biological warfare
- An artist's book in the shape of a body bag, containing guidelines for refugees' survival at sea
- A World War II poster emphasizing the importance of first aid during a shortage of civilian doctors
The students presented historical and rhetorical analyses of the materials in Ellis Library. Kudos to them for their hard work, and hats off to their innovative instructor for making such great use of library resources!
