The Upsala Area Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the farming community of Upsala, Minnesota. To this end, the society operates a museum located within the 1913 Axel Borgstrom House. Exhibits cover local and state history, as well as the area's Swedish heritage.
The society offers exhibits. The website offers historical photographs.
On March 17, the U.S. celebrates an Irish feast day with parades, food, drink, music, and the color green—but Irish immigrants, and their children, have given more to the U.S. than a spring holiday. Answer the questions below about notable Irish Americans.
1. Who was the first Irish American to run for president?
b. Alfred Emmanuel Smith, Jr.
In 1928, Alfred Emmanuel Smith, Jr., four times governor of New York, ran as the Democratic candidate for president of the U.S.. Though "Al" Smith's heritage also included German, Italian, and English ancestry, he identified as Irish American, and faced prejudice for both his ethnicity and his religion (he was Catholic) during his campaign. The press and the public suspected him of drunkenness (stereotypically associated with Irish Americans), manipulation by the Pope, and involvement with Tammany Hall (a New York City Democratic political machine known for supporting Irish Americans in politics).
Smith lost the election to Herbert Hoover, but he went on to become president of Empire State, Inc.—the company that built the Empire State Building.
2. Which of the following men with Irish ancestry was known as "father" of a branch of the U.S. military?
a. John Barry, naval officer in the American Revolution
Irish-born John Barry first crisscrossed the Atlantic as a respected commander of merchant ships—but when war broke out with England, he joined the Continental Army and was commissioned a naval captain in 1776. (He also served in several battles on land, while a ship he was to command, the Effington, was under construction.) Though he gained fame for valor and loyalty during the war, he returned to captaining merchant ships when it concluded.
However, in 1794, some time after the establishment of the U.S. Navy, President George Washington chose Barry as senior Captain of the Federal Navy. Barry saw active service until 1801, and trained many of the naval officers who would serve in the War of 1812. He was referred to as "Father of the U.S. Navy" in his own time.
3. Which famous survivor of the Titanic's sinking was Irish American?
d. Margaret Brown, activist and socialite
The daughter of Irish immigrants, Margaret Brown rose into high-society circles when her husband, James Joseph Brown, became a board member of the Ibex Mining Company. She used her new social status to advocate for the rights of women and children—activities which she continued throughout her life. Her status also allowed her to board the Titanic as a first-class passenger; she earned fame and the nickname "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" for her efforts to get passengers into lifeboats and to bring her own lifeboat around to look for survivors.
4. Which of these women of Irish ancestry helped found the Industrial Workers of the World, a major (and still existing) labor union?
a. Mary Harris Jones
Mary Harris Jones, also known as "Mother Jones," participated in the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905. Jones, who was born in Ireland and grew up in the U.S., took a leading role in the early-20th-century labor movement following the death of her husband and four children in a yellow fever epidemic and the later loss of her dressmaking shop in the Great Chicago Fire. Arrested multiple times, she gained notoriety across the country as a labor organizer, motivating women and children to participate in strikes in support of their husbands and fathers. She also organized children to strike for their own rights—in 1903, child mill and mine workers marched in Jones's "Children's Crusade," helping to bring child labor to public attention.
Jones remained active in labor organization until her death in 1930, when she was over 90 years old.
For more on the first successfully-elected Irish American presidential candidate, try the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The organization offers primary and secondary sources and resources for both teachers and students.
To read a full history of John Barry's life and his service to the rebelling colonists and the young United States, try this article at ushistory.org, website of the Independence Hall Association.
Want to learn more about Molly Brown? If you live and teach near Denver, CO, you could visit her home, today the Molly Brown House Museum. If you don't live in Colorado, you can still read the website's overview of her life.
For more on Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, try Susan Campbell Bartoletti's book Kids on Strike! Eight chapters, illustrated with historical photographs, cover children in labor movements from the 19th century to the 20th, with one chapter devoted entirely to Jones's Children's Crusade. The Library Journal lists the book as appropriate to grades 5-8 and recommends it as a "fine resource for research as well as a very readable book."
This classic early Dutch home on South Middlebush had been disguised for 276 years when the Meadows Foundation started its research and restoration. It will become the Meadows Foundation’s only house museum, with authentic exterior and interior finishes.
The house offers tours and occasional recreational and educational events.
From the Facing History and Ourselves website:
"Educators are invited to join this free online workshop designed to introduce the resources and interactive features of Facing History's newly revised website, Choosing to Participate.
Choosing to Participate: Facing History and Ourselves is an engaging interactive multimedia exhibition that has won national praise for encouraging people of all ages to consider the consequences of their everyday choices and for inspiring them to make a difference in their schools and communities. The exhibition focuses on four individuals and communities whose stories illustrate the courage, initiative, and compassion that are needed to protect democracy and human rights."
From the Facing History and Ourselves website:
"Educators are invited to join this free online workshop designed to introduce new materials exploring migration and identity. There are over 192 million migrants living outside of the land of their birth. Millions of second and third generation migrants are changing the makeup of the local population as well as the identities of the communities where they live. Publicly funded schools are on the frontline of these changes.
Through facilitated online activities and conversations, the workshop will consider how schools negotiate both the needs of diverse student populations and the national need to form community cohesion. To explore these ideas we will feature two new publications from Facing History and Ourselves: Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging and What Do We Do with a Difference: France and the Debate Over Headscarves in Schools. Our discussion will be enriched by a variety of resources ranging from scholarly reflection to classroom materials."
From which ancient lands did our homeless huddled masses come? These immigrants, who came to America between 1906 and 1913, were photographed as they passed through Ellis Island in New York. Match their photos with their places of origin.
1. 
J. Romania
2.
H. Lapland
3.
A. Albania
4.
B. Alsace-Lorraine
5.
I. Netherlands
6.
C. Armenia
7.
K. Russia
8.
E. Guadeloupe
9.
D. Denmark
10.
G. Italy
11.
F. India
12.
L. Syria
From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:
"This seminar will focus on markets, corruption and mass immigration in the Gilded Age. We will look at the rise of the modern corporation and the first great age of modern technology in the United States. Topics include Edison and the World's Fair, the Penny Press, Mass Culture, Advertising, and the Expansion of the State."
From the Facing History and Ourselves workshop:
"Educators planning to tour the [Choosing to Participate] exhibition are encouraged to attend this workshop to help deepen their students' experience through the exploration of content and related themes."
From the National Humanities Center website:
"'How did the ethnically and culturally diverse urban environment of early twentieth-century America find its way into art? How did artists see the new immigrants who flooded into American cities from 1890 on? What kinds of visual languages did they draw on in approaching a subject that had been generally off limits to painters of the previous generation—the urban poor? This workshop will look at how the Ash Can artists built on older visual and art historical traditions, while also considering what was new about their work. It will also consider the subject matter they shared with the popular culture of early twentieth-century films, graphic journalism, and cartooning. Using a variety of perspectives, this workshop will consider the role of the visual in exploring the defining challenges of a pluralistic urban democracy in the new century."
