Open Parks Network

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Drawing of prisoners of war, Andersonville, Georgia.
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In conjunction with the National Park Service, Clemson University has digitized over 350,000 cultural heritage objects and 1.5 million pages of unpublished sources housed in over 20 national parks and historic sites. All images are high-resolution and downloadable.

Each park’s page contains a number of source collections, generally grouped by topic or time period. Open Parks Network allows users to find sources in a number of ways. Users may search by park, source collection, or keyword. For instance, the user can choose to see all collections and items from Andersonville National Historic Site by clicking on the park’s name.

Alternatively, users can navigate directly to a collection of Outer Banks Shipwrecks by browsing an overview of each park’s collections. Open Parks Network also features a map illustrating the number of sources from each geographical location that users can use to access sources. Each of these options are conveniently located in a single “Explore” tab.

The classroom utility of Open Parks Network’s sources varies widely. While the sources within some collections could be beneficial for classroom source analysis and research (e.g., the collection of Civil War Newspaper Illustrations on the Fort Sumter National Monument page), other collections would be of greater use to those with a specialized interest in a park’s operational history (e.g., the collection of Kings Mountain National Military Park Personnel). None of the sources come with any descriptive text, which can make it difficult to contextualize sources.

Instructors and students may find Open Parks Network useful for a variety of classroom activities, including using sources to encourage historical thinking about the past that the parks memorialize or about the parks themselves. This site might be of particular interest for teaching about the National Park Service, given its centennial anniversary in 2016.

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History Hitting Home: Children's History, Local History, and Digital Storytelling Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/05/2013 - 19:31
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Photo, Children playing on the street..., Edwin Rosskam, 1941, LoC
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How do you connect history to students' own lives? Do you introduce them to the lives of children in the past? Explore local history with them? Let them recount history themselves using digital storytelling tools? Try combining two of these techniques—or all three—to give your students a sense of ownership over history.

Often, textbooks skim over or omit the stories of young people in the past. How did they live? What did they wear and eat? How did they play? What kind of work did they do? How did they learn? Seek out primary and secondary sources that explore the rich details of children's lives in the past. Some websites focus on children's history. Try:

(Choose topic "Children" and search our Website Reviews for more. Search "Children" in our general search to find resources like Beyond the Textbook primary sources on girls' lives in the Progressive era.)

Textbooks also omit local history. Where did children play, learn, and work in the past in your area? How might you and your students connect with that past? Teachinghistory.org's Daisy Martin suggests trying local museums, historic sites, and libraries. High school teacher Roseanne Lichatin has had good luck connecting students with volunteer opportunities at local history museums.

But what about digital media and tools? How can you combine those with children's and local history? With the help of a still or video camera and digital storytelling tools, your students can recreate stories from your local past. For inspiration, check out our feature on the Of the Student, By the Student, For the Student project, a program of The Journey Through Hallowed Ground partnership. In this program, students visit local historic sites and write and film their own short documentaries or historical films "on location."

Remember that once students create materials such as these documentaries, you can use them, with students' permission, as teaching tools for future classes. Students often respond with enthusiasm to learning from and teaching their peers! The Journey Through Hallowed Ground's new lesson plans demonstrate ways to teach using student films. High school teacher James A. Percoco also taps into this energy by having his students guide the class around historic sites, and Elizabeth Glynn has her 11th-grade students create tours incorporating local monuments.

Fee Free Days for National Parks

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Photo, DSCF6212.JPG, Oct. 28, 2007, mbeldyk, Flickr
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No time or money in the budget for field trips? Encourage your students to visit historic sites on their own. High school teacher James A. Percoco has incorporated "Individual Field Trips" (IFT) into his teaching for more than two decades. Each IFT requires students to visit a historic site or exhibit related to what they are learning in the classroom and to record and share their experiences. When students study the American Revolution and George Washington, they visit Mount Vernon. When they study the wars of the 20th century, they visit the war memorials on the National Mall in Washington, DC. These visits help students understand history as a living force, physically present in their communities and constantly being interpreted and reinterpreted.

If you have national parks and historic sites near you, take advantage of their Fee Free Days!

Think you're too far away from major historic sites for IFTs to benefit your students? Students can benefit as much from exploring local history as they can from exploring national and state history! Turn to local museums, libraries, and historical associations with suggestions from Teachinghistory.org's Daisy Martin.

If you have national parks and historic sites near you, take advantage of their Fee Free Days. According to the National Park Service (NPS), 264 of its more than 390 parks don't charge admission fees, but don't be intimidated if the NPS sites you'd most like your students to visit do charge fees. Plan ITF assignments so that students have the option to visit sites on one of several days every year that all NPS locations waive visitor fees.

Want your students to visit a museum? Consider planning your IFT around Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day Live! On September 29, admission to any participating museum is free if students print out and bring along a downloadable ticket.

Whichever sites you choose for your students, make certain to visit the places yourself first. As you explore a site, consider what you want your students to see and how you want them to see it. What connections do you hope they'll make? What aspects of the place might they overlook without guidance? By visiting the site ahead of time, you can plan pre- and post-visit materials and activities that make your students' IFT experience more than just a day out.

Victorian Charlestown, Massachusetts Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
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New England Victorian Society president Ed Gordon explores the history of Charlestown in the Victorian era, looking at the many Victorian structures that remain today. The presentation includes slides.

The lecture audio can be downloaded separately.

Visiting History: A Guide for Professional Development

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Teachers on Fords' Theatre walking tour of DC
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Planning a teacher professional development experience this summer that will take your teachers on the road and outside of the classroom? Whether you are going across town to a local museum or across the country to visit a number of sites, be sure to check out Teachinghistory.org’s new professional development planning guide, Visiting History.

Designed to help professional development coordinators plan a successful trip to a museum, library, or historic site, the guide opens with a video that poses the question: What is good professional development?

From there, explore the guide's three sections:

  • Plan: Preparing a visit that balances content and strategies
  • Experience: Creating a learning experience that meets the group's needs
  • Reflect: How to make the experience impactful back at school

Within each section, start by watching a video that lays out the key things to keep in mind during each step of the process. Or dive right into the content where you will find expert tips on what works when planning a professional development trip, learn strategies for engaging your group throughout the process, and get ideas for how to connect the trip back to the classroom. You can even download the guide’s planning checklist to help keep you organized and on track!

The guide is a project of the DC Museum Collaborative, a group envisioned by the U.S. Department of Education to share ideas for improving teacher professional development based on lessons learned from Teaching American History grants. Meeting for the past two years, the group developed the guide’s content through discussions, interviews, and workshop sessions.

While the examples are drawn from the DC area, the strategies and tips shared apply no matter where you plan to visit. Good professional development is more than a lecture—it is a chance to experience history. Summer is coming, so start planning how your teachers can begin Visiting History today!

For more information

For more about quality professional development—both inside and outside the classroom—take a look at our Roundtable on what makes professional development meaningful for teachers.

Visit Teachinghistory.org's Teaching American History grants section for Lessons Learned and Project Spotlights.

Tremont Row: Artists' Daguerreotype Rooms Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

Curator and conservator Grant Romer talks about the formation and work of the Boston photography partners Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes and their studio on Tremont Row. Romer looks at the architecture of Tremont Row and how it impacted the work of the partners. His presentation includes slides.

Audio and video options are available.

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