Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site [MT]

Description

Once the headquarters of a 10-million-acre cattle empire, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site is a working cattle ranch that commemorates the role of cattlemen in American history. Among the original buildings on the site are the historic ranch house, the bunkhouse, the blacksmith shop, horse barns, and cattle sheds. The main ranch house was built by Johnny Grant (1831–1907) in 1862. It was a trading post downstairs and a residence upstairs. In 1866 he sold the ranch to Conrad Kohrs (1835–1920) who became known as the "Cattle King" in Montana. Site collections number 23,000-plus artifacts, consisting of everyday objects once used by the people who lived and worked at this ranch from the 1860s to the 1960s. Highlights include historic wagons and buggies.

The site offers exhibits, walking trails, self-guided tours, guided wagon and house tours, a variety of themed talks, period rooms, ranger-led in-classroom presentations, a traveling trunk, archives accessible by appointment, and an annual teacher workshop. The website offers lesson plans geared towards Montana educational standards, photo galleries, and a video on the use of a beaverslide hay stacker.

Timucuan Historical and Ecological Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial [FL]

Description

The Timucuan Historical and Ecological Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial is a 46,000-acre National Park Site consisting of several historical sites. The 1564 Fort Caroline Memorial recalls a brief period of French occupation during the 16th-century; and includes the Timucuan Preserve Visitor Center, which recounts area environmental history and human interaction with the environment. Visitors to the memorial can compare French fort and traditional Timucuan life. Other sites include the Theodore Roosevelt Area shell middens and nature trails; the 1814 through 1837 Kingsley Plantation; the 1935 American Beach, founded to provide African Americans access to the beach despite segregation; the Cedar Point nature area; and the 1928 Ribauldt Club, once a wintertime resort.

The memorial offers exhibits, activities to complete while viewing the exhibits, Junior Ranger activities, interpretive programs, and ranger-led student programs. Other sites offers opportunities for hiking, nature watching, water activities, and camping; other Junior Ranger activities; interpretive programs; exhibits; and ranger-led student programs at the Kingsley Plantations. The website offers site specific activity pages, mp3 tours, videos on kayaking and making tabby, slide shows, and curriculum materials for the Kingsley Plantation and Fort Caroline.

The Ceder Point boat ramp and Kingsley Plantation residence are currently closed for renovation. Other park and plantation structures remain accessible to the public.

Keweenaw National Historical Park [MI] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:37
Description

Keweenaw National Historical Park presents the history of mining Keweenaw copper reserves between 7,000 years ago and the 1900s. Long used by the Native American populations such as the Ojibwa to create tools and beads, the copper mines were targeted by immigrants in the mineral rushes of the 1800s.

The park offers an information desk, outdoor activities, 90-minute guided Junior Ranger programs, 90-minute guided Calumet walking tours, 90-minute guided walking tours of the Quincy Copper Mining Company surface ruins, self-guided tours, monthly history presentations, and archival access. Appointments are required for archival access, and the historic building housing the archives is not wheelchair accessible. The website offers a mining timeline and a 45-minute PowerPoint park overview, available to educators upon request.

The park includes 19 sub-sites managed by partner organizations. Most activities are offered by these organizations, rather than by the National Park Service. The sub-sites are the Adventure Mining Company, A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum, Calumet Theatre, Chassell Heritage Center, Copper Range Historical Museum, Coppertown Mining Museum, Delaware Copper Mine, Finnish American Heritage Center and Historical Archive, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park, Hanka Homestead Museum, Houghton County Historical Museum, Keweenaw County Historical Society, Keweenaw Heritage Center at St. Anne's, Laurium Manor Mansion Tours, Old Victoria, Ontonagon County Historical Society, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Quincy Mine and Hoist, and Upper Peninsula Fire Fighters Memorial Museum.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park [WV] Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:36
Description

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park presents living history interpretations of past area events and daily life. Harpers Ferry events include the 1859 John Brown's Raid, constant Civil War action, the Niagara Movement's second conference, military industrialization, and the convergence of two railroads and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal circa 1835.

The park offers exhibits, trails, guided tours, self-guided tours, self-guided educational hikes and scavenger hunts, guided educational programs which meet state educational standards, educator workshops, Junior Ranger activities, and picnic areas. The website offers historic photographs, curricula, and a lesson plan.

Homestead National Monument of America [NE]

Description

The Homestead National Monument of America addresses the impact of the Homestead Act of 1862 on agriculture, Native Americans, national land policy, the prairies, industrialization, and immigration. Sights include the 1872 one-room Freeman School, Heritage Center, Education Center, 1867 Palmer Epard Cabin, and restored tallgrass prairie. The cabin presents post-Civil War homestead life. The Freeman School has been restored to an 1870s appearance. Under the Homestead Act, anyone 21 or over and/or the head of a household could claim 160 acres of previously federally owned land as their own private property.

The monument offers an introductory film, interactive exhibits, Freeman School guided tours, trails, curriculum-based programs for students, Scout programs, interactive demonstrations, distance learning opportunities, and Junior Ranger activities. The school is open for tours on request. Classes can host a day of lessons within the Freeman School. The website offers historical photographs, videos of farming demonstrations, audio files of Abraham Lincoln's words, a curriculum guide, a math activity booklet, a coloring book, dot-to-dot activities, and a suggested reading list for students.

Innovative Alliances in the Retail Grocery Trade

Description

According to the Library of Congress Webcasts site:

"Beginning in the 1890s through the 1930s, independent grocers (white and black) formed a variety of innovative alliances—cartels, buying syndicates, and cooperatives—to navigate major changes within the trade. Through organizations like the Boston Wholesale Grocers' Association, Independent Grocers' Alliance, Red & White Stores, and Colored Merchants' Association, small businessmen formulated alternative ways of dealing and distributing goods, challenged chain stores, and created new entrepreneurial opportunities for black proprietors. Cooperative enterprise had limitations, however; while some groups advanced, others struggled to maintain a united front. This talk explores both successes and failures while questioning the role of collaboration in small business."

Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

Professor Nina Silber traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the women left behind by Union soldiers during the Civil War. Silber argues that women found themselves at a disadvantage, with their husbands away, in a male-dominated society; but also found new, active roles for themselves in politics and support.

Local War Stories: Margaret Spalluzzi Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

World War II welder and wife of a veteran Margaret Spalluzzi talks about working as a welder during the war, life as a civilian during the war, and communicating with her husband overseas.

The audio portion of this oral history is available independently as a MP3 file.

African American Slave Trade in New England

Description

Three scholars present papers on the history of slavery and the African slave trade in New England. The papers are "The Removal of 'Cannibal Negroes' from New England to Providence Island," "A Colonial Tale of Slavery, Freedom, Contract, and Harvest," and "Unruly Slaves, Uneasy Masters, and Unmerited Favor: Wielding Discipline, Wrestling with Conscience, and the Construction of Race in Puritan New England."

Video and audio options are available.

Native American Slave Trade in New England

Description

Three scholars present papers on the history of Native American and African slavery and the slave trade in New England. The papers are "Another Face of Slavery: Indentured Servitude of Native Americans in Southern New England," "Freedom and Conflicts over Class, Gender, and Identity: The Evolving Relationship between Indians and Blacks in Southern New England, 1750–1870," and "Enslavement and Indians in Southern New England: Unraveling a Hidden History."