FALL 2025

SCHC 352

How do the ways we read today compare to the ways people read 50, 100, or 200 years ago? As reading media and technology change, how will people read differently in the not-too-distant future? In this service-learning course, students will learn about histories and futures of reading through case studies of historical marginalia (hand-written marks in old books) and recent studies on the sciences of reading. Our emphasis will be on active, engaged reading, particularly as it is demonstrated by historical annotations or facilitated by digital tools, and our goal will be to share the awareness we gain about reading’s histories and its futures with members of the university community. The course will begin with surveys of the histories of reading, studies on the practice of marginalia, and psychological and scientific studies of digital reading. The second section of the course will be in-depth studies of examples of marginalia in USC’s Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. In the final section of the course, students will select and conduct research on other examples of historical marginalia held by the Rare Books Library (which might include Thomas Cooper’s illustrated annotations in an early work of chemistry, Sylvia Plath’s annotations in her copy of The Great Gatsby, or notes left by students and scholars from USC’s past). For the service-learning element of this course, students will curate a display of annotated books in the Rare Books Library, prepare informative and interpretive labels, create interactive elements, and hold an event for members of the university community.