Students Working in Local Historic Preservation

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What Is It?

History comes alive when students volunteer at their local historical society museum and they learn the art and value of historical preservation. This service-learning project bridges the needs of a museum that was understaffed with the opportunity for students to practice being historians.

Rationale

Every community across America has a story to tell through its architecture, its people, its use of space, its resources, and its role in the larger American narrative. Our town has a rich history that dates back to the colonial period and like many small towns, we have a historical society with a museum that houses a rich collection of historical documents and artifacts that tell the story of our past. However, because of limited funds, a lack of proper materials for preserving items of historical value, and few volunteers, we were in danger of losing much of this collection. As a history teacher I’m always searching for ways to make the study of history relevant to my students. Providing them with an opportunity to volunteer at the museum seemed like a perfect way to marry the interests of our local community with my objectives as a history teacher. I hoped that through this experience my students would develop greater appreciation for preserving history and an understanding of the methods used in historical preservation. This partnership could also help bring the museum into the 21st century by creating a database of the museum’s collection that could be shared with the public and school groups. In addition it would give students a glimpse into the work of historians, preservationists, archivists, and archaeologists.

Description
As a history teacher I’m always searching for ways to make the study of history relevant to my students

I contacted the director of the historical society museum to discuss the possibility of using students in the museum to help with their work. The staff was cautiously optimistic, though concerned about adolescents working with valuable documents. When they agreed, I asked four of my capable, dedicated students who had expressed an interest in this work to help me launch the program. Each year I have added students to the group and currently 14 students work one to two hours weekly under the supervision of a volunteer museum staff member. It has been rewarding to observe my students doing work of great value, and it provides the museum with the work it needs to give the community a glimpse into their past.

Teacher Preparation/Procedure

1. Contact your local historical society or museum and ask what opportunities are available for your students. I made an initial phone call to introduce myself and to ask about possible projects. I then visited the museum to meet the director and to work out details of the project. 2. Determine the interest level of your students. Students are always looking for ways to improve their chances at college acceptance. This opportunity was intriguing because of its uniqueness and because it would provide them with community service hours that many need for scouting, National Honor Society, or just because they want to be more involved. I also introduce them to the value of historic preservation and help them to recognize the community need to preserve the artifacts and documents housed in our museum. 3. Get approval from school administrators. 4. Provide students with permission slips to be completed by their parents. 5. Conduct an orientation meeting for students and museum workers. This is held at the historical society museum and the museum staff introduces the students to the workplace and discusses the type of projects they will work on. A survey form is provided to the students to gauge their interest and availability. 6. Create a schedule for volunteers indicating dates and hours they are expected to work. I post this in my classroom so that I know who is working on a daily basis. I also maintain an email chain that is shared with the museum staff. 7. Students must have transportation to and from the museum. Students in my district are bused so they are able to use the school buses to get to the museum after school. Parents must provide transportation home. 8. Visit the museum periodically when students are working to encourage them and see their progress. I volunteer one day a week myself and work along with the students, although this is certainly not necessary for the program to be successful. 9. At the end of the season, the museum hosted a special presentation for students, parents, and school administrators to showcase the work of the volunteers. It included a PowerPoint presentation featuring each student and the work that he/she accomplished. This was a wonderful celebration to demonstrate the students’ accomplishments and efforts. 10. Contact your local newspapers to advertise what students have done for the community. This will go a long way in getting support for your efforts and in encouraging more students to participate.

Pitfalls
  • Be sure the students understand the seriousness of their work and the importance of honoring their commitments. You may want to wait for the school year to be underway before beginning. We actually begin in January and end in May. By then I know my students better and can determine who is best suited for the program.
  • We volunteer during two different sports seasons so the group I begin with may not be the group I end with. Be open to substituting students over time. I don’t turn anyone away even if they cannot commit to the entire program.
  • Students should discuss carpools and transportation issues.
  • Have a phone/email chain for messages and communication.
  • Inclement weather and vacation schedules should be discussed.
Be sure the students understand the seriousness of their work and the importance of honoring their commitments
Additional Resources for Teachers

National Trust for Historic Preservation This site provides teachers with a rationale for teaching historic preservation and a series of articles and model lesson plans that can be incorporated into K-12 classrooms. The focus is on teaching students the value of preservation and to provide them with opportunities to be actively involved in the history of their community through preservation projects. Examples of articles range from how to conduct oral histories to how to “adopt” a historic site. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation A step-by-step approach to describe what a historic preservation service learning project looks like. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, in concert with the Preserve America Foundation, is committed to encouraging students to take on service learning projects that will enhance their understanding of American history and allow them to gain a greater appreciation for preservation efforts. The site also includes articles highlighting the commitment of our President and First Lady in recognizing the contributions of citizens who effectively engage in historic preservation projects. National Council for Preservation Education Guide to undergraduate programs in preservation. Teachers and guidance counselors might find this helpful in advising students who have a particular interest in historic preservation programs. Teaching with Historic Places Provides teachers with lesson plans that focus on students acting as historians as they learn about sites that are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The lesson plans are categorized by state, theme, time period, and skills. The intent is that students will learn history in a more active way and come to appreciate our nation’s cultural resources.

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to the members of the local historical society who have patiently guided my students in the art of preservation and provided us with a firsthand opportunity to learn history.

Feminist Art

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Question

What kind of visual art was there during the time of the feminist movement?

Answer

I will suppose that by "the time of the feminist movement," you mean essentially during the 1960s–1980s, even though feminism of one kind or another has made itself felt in the arts for at least a century–in the choreographic innovations of dancer Isadora Duncan, for example–and continues through today. Feminist art was the subject of WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, an exhibit that originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in 2007 and traveled around the country, including to the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 300 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, and performance art from 1965–1980 created by 118 well-known artists, including Judy Chicago, Yoko Ono, Carolee Schneemann, and Cindy Sherman. Feminist art was a "philosophy of art informed by gender," according to Susan Fisher Sterling, the curator of the exhibit at the NMWA. The artists "were throwing off many of the sanitized conceptions of women and expressing overt independence and sexuality in a way that had never been acceptable before." As a gesture toward that, the exhibit curators placed warnings in some portions of the exhibition, advising museum visitors of "potentially disturbing subject matter."

Feminist art was a "philosophy of art informed by gender..."

Curators described the exhibit as, "An edgy account filled with history, passion and scandal, Wack! … addressed such issues as male biases, body image, sexuality and media interpretation of feminism from the perspective of many traditional and controversial artists over several decades." One prominent axiom of feminist art was the notion that the body—especially the female body—was a kind of blank stage or canvas upon which "narratives" or images of various selves were arbitrarily "mapped" or described, often through violence. Like most Modern (and then Postmodern) art of the period, feminist art was immersed in political revolution, in gender, race, and class. The political and cultural agenda of feminist artists was to take control of their destinies and redefine their social roles by a combined assault on—or inversion of—the "patriarchal structures" of culture and politics.

Like most Modern (and then Postmodern) art of the period, feminist art was immersed in political revolution...

Also like most art of the period, feminist art tended to be explicitly self-referential, making the artists the subjects of the works they created, "declarations of self," as performance artist Cheri Gaulke put it. Photographer Cindy Sherman's self-portraits in different personae are examples of this, as are the performance art film events created by Carolee Schneemann, such as her Autobiographical Trilogy, which featured sexually explicit films of herself, or, as evidence that themes of feminist art have continued, Eve Ensler's 1996 play, The Vagina Monologues, or Yale art student Aliza Shvarts' 2008 "creative fiction" about self-inseminations and abortions. Typical of feminist art was a related emphasis on a supposed "woman’s way" of working—meaning, in particular, the forming of collectives or cells of women artists who sought to produce art jointly, and as part of a process of "consciousness raising" among the members of the collectives.

Yet another way to "rescue" women was to honor typically feminine arts and crafts...

Another goal of feminist art was to "rescue" women of a previous day—notably, women artists who had not garnered the critical acclaim they had deserved because they were women, or because the subjects of their art were derived from the domestic realm, such as child-rearing or food preparation, or because the works evinced a particularly "feminine" sensibility. Yet another way to "rescue" women was to honor typically feminine arts and crafts, including, particularly, sewing, weaving, costuming, embroidery, and quilting, and place these in the forefront of the artistic endeavor, rather than in the "lesser" margins, as they had been traditionally. Judy Chicago's 1974 installation piece, The Dinner Party, was influential in stimulating many of these issues within feminist art.

For more information

Cornelia H. Butler and Lisa Gabrielle Mark, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007.

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Fact, Fiction, and Artistic License

Teaser

Did Revere's ride really look like that? Use historical documents to analyze flights of artistic fancy.

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Description

Students assess a famous artistic depiction of Paul Revere's ride, based on historical documents.

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This lesson asks students to use primary source evidence to assess Grant Wood’s famous 1931 painting, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Students must also determine the event's historical significance. This lesson offers a wealth of resources for analyzing artwork as historical evidence and provides a nice example for using artwork along with written documents to learn about the past.

The lesson opens up by asking students to note their initial impressions of Wood's painting. Additional resources are included to help students analyze the painting.

Following the opening activity, students read a series of primary accounts of the event from the British perspective and the colonial perspective. Teachers should consider the lesson plan’s suggestion to jigsaw this activity since the documents range in length and difficulty.

The lesson concludes with multiple assessment options including analyzing the poem "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, using evidence to distinguish between fact and fiction, and writing a short story. Teachers could also easily create a document-based question assignment to assess students' historical understanding.

Topic
Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride and Analyzing Paintings
Time Estimate
1-3 days
flexibility_scale
4
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes
A wealth of background information is included about Revere's ride as well as relevant poetry and artwork.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes
Students are asked to read primary and secondary sources and write from the perspective of the historical actors.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes
Students analyze artistic interpretations of the past and construct historical interpretations of the past.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes
Students are asked to consider the author’s perspective as they read and analyze primary sources.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes
Includes guiding questions that scaffold thinking. However primary documents may need further editing and preparation depending on students' reading levels.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

Yes
Multiple assessment options

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes

National Endowment for the Arts

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According to their site, the National Endowment for the Arts strives toward "supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education."

The most exciting content on the site for educators is definitely the audio & video section. Listen to Ray Bradbury discuss Farenheit 451; interviews and tributes to opera greats Carlisle Floyd, Richard Gaddes, James Levine, and Leontyne Price; videos of jazz masters Joe Wilder, Candido Camero, Quincy Jones, Gunther Schuller, and Tom McIntosh; and Richard Bausch on how to write.

Voice of America

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The Voice of America, the United States' first official international radio service, began airing in 1942, during WWII. Since then, the service has provided a global audience with "a consistently reliable and authoritative source of the news," according to the VOA website. Besides news features, VOA also covers cultural, informative, and educational broadcasts; and the service is provided in 45 languages.

If you are interested in U.S. media history, the first place you may want to look is at the VOA organizational history, which is broken down by period, or at the historical highlights timelines.

Maybe you'd like to listen in on some of the archived broadcasts? In actuality, this may be difficult, if your broadcast of interest isn't brand new or at least 12 years old. However, the VOA does provide information on where certain broadcasts can be accessed (the National Archives being key).

The VOA list of programs offers links to many of the organization's programs and radio frequencies, which could be an excellent way to simultaneously teach English as a Second Language and current events, if you yourself are bilingual.

Similarly, you can check out streaming and on demand radio and film webcasts. On the other hand, if you are teaching English as a Second Language, select Learn English, which provides English-language broadcasts specifically designed for English learners.

One of the most unique, and potentially useful, features of the site is a pronunciation guide. Not only does the site write out location, organization, and historical and recent politician's names phonetically, it also provides audio files. So, for example, if you're teaching anything involving China, you can be much more confident discussing Jiangxi, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, or Zhou Enlai in front of your class.

National Portrait Gallery

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The National Portrait Gallery gathers together artistic depictions of or by ". . . individuals who have left—and are leaving—their mark on our country and our culture," according to the gallery website. If you are looking for art relating to early America or politicians, then the exhibits could prove quite useful. While the temptation is to immediately select the web-only exhibitions, the other sections (current and past) all also have well-developed web components. Examples of exhibits worth a look include "Thomas Paine: The Radical Founding Father," "Presidents in Waiting," and "American Origins, 1600-1900." The museum offers a number of educational resources to accompany their exhibits. These include lesson plans, study guides, and teacher's guides. You can also access short articles on historical figures such as Rosa Parks and Walt Whitman.

Portraits may just be key to making the past feel real to your students, making the humanity of history readily accessible in their imaginations.

If you have something more specific in mind, you can, of course, search the collection. Face-to-Face podcasts offer an in-depth look at artists, major historical figures, and events as interpreted through a particular artwork. Of course, visiting a museum with your class is the best way to introduce them to the stories of famous works of art, so give it some thought if you're in the DC area. The section entitled School Programs offers teacher and student online introductory videos and a list of available on-site student programs (with suggested grade levels), while Teacher Programs covers upcoming professional development opportunities. Think of how frustrating it is to hear stories about friends' co-workers, etc. whom you don't have a face for. If you do nothing else with the collections, consider giving your students the opportunity to visualize the subjects of their studies—the greater the amount of personality apparent in the portraiture, the better. Portraits may just be key to making the past feel real to your students, making the humanity of history readily accessible in their imaginations.

Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

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According to the Cooper-Hewitt website, "The Museum presents compelling perspectives on the impact of design on daily life through active educational and curatorial programming." Collections range across 24 centuries.

What is design, and what does it have to do with history? Simply put, design can be considered an intentional solution to a human problem. Want somewhere comfortable to sit? Maybe a chair should have a padded seat. So, again, where does history come into the picture? Back to the chair. Did you know that the average seat is much deeper than they used to be a century ago? What does that tell us? Were people smaller? Do we live in larger homes with more square footage to fill? Is it social, cultural, or biological?

Ok, so design can help us think about the past. What now? Your best bet, created just for teachers, would be the educator resources. This page has a plethora of tools, including 38 pages of lesson plans. These can be searched by subject and/or grade level. Here, you'll also find discussions to which you can contribute, or even begin your own.

So, what else is there? Try browsing the collection highlights. You can always ask students to pick an object, and then research its artistic and functional heritage. When was it made? By whom? When does it look like it was made? Why did the designer choose this "look"? How is it used? How does the design reflect the time it was created? If you're looking for inspiration, you might also look through the museum's YouTube channel for lectures.

Maybe you're in the NYC area. Then, consider a visit. Take a look at their student tours, calendar of events, and professional development opportunities. You may also want to let your students know about the museum's youth programs.

National Museum of African Art

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According to the National Museum of African Art's mission statement, the museum ". . . fosters the discovery and appreciation of the visual arts of Africa, the cradle of humanity."

While African art, as differentiated from African American art, is not necessarily directly applicable to teaching American history, it should not be written off as irrelevant. After all, the Middle Passage, slavery, and the Great Migration are major historical U.S. institutions and events which all involved Africans and/or African Americans. This art can be used to discuss the cultures in which today's African American populations originated, and how these cultures played into their lives in the United States—in the past and today.

A good starting point for educators is, naturally, the teacher resources. The page includes five curriculum resources, covering Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and the artist Gavin Jantjes; a contact to help you develop curricula involving African art; VHS loans (by mail); and select artist interviews, among other resources.

Another great destination is the museum's collection of virtual exhibits. These are divided into traditional, contemporary, and combination sections. A quick glance reveals highlights such as "Playful Performers," an exhibit on child play; "The Art of the Personal Object"; "Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity"; and "Transatlantic Dialogue: Contemporary Art in and out of Africa."

Have something specific in mind? You can, of course, always search the collections. Search options include type of artifact, use, imagery depicted, culture of origin, and more.

Finally, if you're in the DC area, consider scheduling a field trip or outreach program.

Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

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The Smithsonian American Art Museum consists of the United State's original collection of American art— from paintings and sculpture to photography and folk art. As their website states, "The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries." Key artists represented include Georgia O'Keefe, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, Nam June Paik, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Of course, educational standards are crucial. Therefore, the museum offers more than 25 resources based on national education standards. Topics covered include Civil War photography, Reconstruction, landscapes, George Catlin and the Great Plains Native Americans, Manifest Destiny, the evolution of democracy, community, Latino culture, African American experiences, 20th-century history, Puerto Rico, the West, and the Great Depression. This section also includes two .pdf files intended to help elementary school and middle school students learn to interpret art.

Surprisingly, the resources don't stop there. Other great choices for educational use include online classroom activities; podcasts created by students; Ask Joan of Art, which lets you submit your American art questions for answers by an expert; and a link to the children's section of Save Outdoor Sculpture!, which provides a number of sculpture-related activities.

Of the online activities listed above, be sure to check out Picturing the 1930s, which discusses the time period and lets you make your own movie, and Superhighway Scholars, where your students can submit collages representative of their state.

If you have specific period or artist interests, try looking through the online exhibits. These include everything from installation videos to online scavenger hunts. You might also search the collections for specific artists or subjects. Try using the images to illustrate handouts or presentations, or ask students to compare fine art depictions to historical accounts and/or photographs.

Maybe you're interested in showing students how material culture is preserved? In that case, the best resources offered are the museum's conservation videos and the page of the Lunder Conservation Center. The latter offers information on conservation activities, videos, and before and after examples.

Still other resources include the museum's official podcasts, artist videos, and listings of the museum's upcoming professional development offerings.

Of course, if you're in the DC area, you can also consider planning a field trip, but with all of the materials this museum provides, don't let your geographical location stop you from including American art and artists in your curricula!

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