Publication Date

1-1-2003

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Zoltners, Mara

Legacy Department

School of Art

Abstract

The main focus of my project was to research the lighthouse and to learn information about the history, design, and structures within the United States. Since my childhood was surrounded by them, lighthouses became a specific point of interest to me. It became clear to me after a while that many people collect lighthouse structures, statues, and designs every day. These collections sit in the American homes, but never offer any story to go with them as to how they were built or why they exist. The fact also stands that they are beautiful structures and that there is still a certain historical importance to the lighthouse as a building. The ongoing theme of light within the nation stresses a particular type of need for the lighthouses. The special need for light along America’s coasts was solved with the building of lighthouses. However, with the new world of technology, it has seemed to overpower the need for light and the lighthouse has become obsolete. It is because of this that people have become so oblivious to the historic buildings and functions around the United States. It is important to remember the primitive days of lighthouses and the beauty behind them. A lot of information was learned in this project. It took a large amount of research, reading, and comprehending to complete this. However, I am very satisfied with the end result. I feel that I have come away with a better understanding of what lighthouses really represent and how they served a purpose many years ago. If it were not for this project, I still would not know why lighthouses really held a large amount of significance. Everyone knows what a lighthouse does, but now after learning about them further, I feel everyone needs to gain knowledge on this subject, another of America’s greatest pastime experiences. I sense that I am a better person after gaining the knowledge myself. Now that I know about the different structures and navigational aids in the water, I feel I will always look at the lighthouses with far more respect and dignity. My CD-Rom project also helped me to get a better understanding about lighthouses. I was able to find pictures and bring them into the project as well. I found it to be more helpful, having to associate photographs with the words in the paper. As I constructed this, I took scanned imagery and text from my paper and combined them. I tried to create a whole different type of medium to display the project in. Overall, I feel as though I have gained a large amount of knowledge based upon the research and development basis. I also feel that working on a project of this magnitude has helped to prepare me for larger projects and researched ideas to come.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

21 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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