Crossroads of Empire: Cultural Contact and Imperial Rivalry at Old Fort Niagara

Description

The workshop investigates the interaction between Europeans and Native Americans in the struggle to control North America, both during the colonial era and the early years of American independence. Participants will study early French contact with the Iroquois Great League of Peace, warfare between France and Great Britain and the Iroquois caught in the middle, Patriot struggles against Loyalists and Indians during the American Revolution, and key battles fought at the Fort during the War of 1812, which resulted in the eventual dispossession of the Iroquois after that conflict.

Contact name
Chambers, Thomas A.
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Niagara University
Phone number
716-286-8096
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; $750 stipend
Course Credit
For those seeking in-service or professional development credit, the College of Arts & Sciences at Niagara University will provide a letter specifying the dates, total instructional hours, and content of the workshop. Niagara University's Office of Continuing and Community Education will provide a certificate for those participants seeking continuing education units (CEUs). Based on the standard rate of one (1) CEU for ten (10) hours of instructional time, this workshop would award each participant with three (3) CEUs.
Contact Title
Project Director
Duration
Five days
End Date

Madison and the Constitution

Description

The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Phone number
646-366-9666
Target Audience
Middle and high school
Start Date
Cost
Free; $400 stipend granted
Course Credit
Pittsburg State University (PSU) is pleased to offer graduate credit to workshop participants at a tuition fee of $199 per credit hour. Participants can receive three graduate credit hours for the duration of the week.
Duration
One week
End Date

Creating a Nation: America in the 18th Century

Description

The Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminars are designed to strengthen participants' commitment to high quality history teaching. Public, parochial, independent school teachers, and National Park Service rangers are eligible. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.

Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Phone number
646-366-9666
Target Audience
Elementary and middle
Start Date
Cost
Free; $400 stipend granted
Duration
Four days
End Date

The Erie Canal

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces the Erie Canal as the technological wonder of its age. Shipping on the canal was three times faster than moving goods on land.

This feature is no longer available.

The River of Tides

Description

From a National Museum of the American Indian email:

"Four hundred years ago, in 1609, Henry Hudson made his first voyage on the river that came to bear his name. To mark this historic event, Pace University commissioned Joseph Bruchac, a writer and educator of Abenaki descent, to create a play based on crew member Robert Juet's journal of the famous expedition. The play tells of the coming together of the European and Indian culture, in all of its complexities, and of the Indians' efforts to preserve and protect the river and their way of life.

Educators are invited to see a special presentation of the original play by noted author Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) entitled The River of Tides. There will be a Q & A with Mr. Bruchac following the performance. Educators who pre-register will receive a companion curriculum."

For more on the National Museum of the American Indian, refer to NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites entry. Please note that this event takes place at the museum's New York City location.

Sponsoring Organization
National Museum of the American Indian
Phone number
212-514-3716
Target Audience
PreK-12
Start Date

Joint-Stock Companies

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces joint-stock companies, which financed the settlement of colonies in the New World. These private companies raised money by selling stock and eventually rewarding investors with the profits from American goods.

This feature is no longer available.

Cultural Encounters in 17th-century New Netherland

Description

From the New York State Museum website:

"The New York State Museum offers an interdisciplinary workshop for teachers of elementary and junior high school social studies. The cultural and historical legacy of 17th century Dutch settlements and interactions with Native Americans will be featured. Included will be the areas of ethnography, geology, historical archaeology, and classroom applications for teaching with historical documents and objects. We will compare symbols of community, economic and social decision-making in Algonquian-speaking and New Netherland societies, adaptations to change over time, and lasting cultural influences.

Teachers will have access to collections of original source materials now held by the New York State Museum, the New York State Library, and the New York State Archives, all programs of the Office of Cultural Education, under the New York State Education Department. The New York State Learning Standards addressed in the workshop are: Social Studies #1.1, #1.3 & #1.4 (NY State History); #3.2 (Geography); #4.1 (Economics); English Language Arts #1, #3, & #4; Math #3.4; Science #4.7; and Technology #5.5. "

Contact name
Valerie Fish
Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
New York State Museum
Phone number
518-474-5817
Target Audience
"Teachers of elementary and junior high school social studies"
Start Date
Cost
$45 for Greater Capital Region Teacher Center constituents; $90 for non-GCRTC constituents
Course Credit
"21 contact hours."
Duration
Three days
End Date

Using Archaeology to Teach Native American History

Description

From the New York State Museum website:

"The New York State Museum announces a professional development workshop designed by museum scientists and researchers for social studies teachers in grades 3-7. It is a unique professional development experience that creates a learning community of classroom teachers who work side-by-side with museum scientists and researchers in an archaeological investigation of Native American and early Euro-American primary source material. It invites teachers to actively participate in the process of archaeology and learn about regional history through classroom lectures, fieldwork and analysis of material objects in Museum collection areas.

Through teamwork exercises, participants will learn how to collect and organize specimens, record data, generate questions, formulate hypotheses, develop and defend explanations, and present findings in Native American and early Euro-American history. They will also update and expand their understanding of local and regional history and foster close working relationships with museum scientists and researchers. Participants will be expected to perform some physical labor and to work outdoors in variable weather conditions. Current research information and resources will address the advantages of object-based learning, using a museum as an educational resource, and applications to the State Learning Standards for social studies #1.4, #3.1, #4.1; math #3.4, #3.5; science, #4.7; and English language arts #1, #3, and #4."

Contact name
Christina Rieth
Contact email
Sponsoring Organization
New York State Museum
Phone number
518-402-5975
Target Audience
"Social studies teachers in grades 3-7"
Start Date
Cost
$56 for Greater Capital Region Teacher Center constituents; $112 for non-GCRTC constituents
Course Credit
"35 contact hours."
Contact Title
State Archaeologist and Director of the Cultural Resource Survey Program
Duration
Five days
End Date

Neighborhood Preservation Center [NY]

Description

The Neighborhood Preservation Center is a project of the St. Mark's Historic Landmark Fund, and is dedicated towards helping and aiding organizations and citizens across New York with preservation and restoration projects dealing with both the natural and built environments. The center is housed in the 1901 Beaux Arts building, which was designed by Ernest Flag. The center is primarily a resource center which provides the public with meeting rooms, office space, and an online resource database and library, though the center also puts on educational events and exhibits from time to time.

The site offers database and library access, as well as information on upcoming events.

All regularly accessible resources are digital. Above listing was pre-existing.

Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship

Image
Annotation

In 1912, Japan presented Washington, DC, with 3,000 cherry trees as a gift. This Library of Congress exhibit uses primary sources to explore the history of the trees, the National Cherry Blossom Festival that grew up around them, and Japan/U.S. relations.

Primary sources are divided up by four themes. "Art and Documentation" includes three sources: a letter from Tokyo mayor Yei Theodora Ozaki to First Lady Helen Taft on the gift of the trees, a memo on artwork acquired by botanist Walter Tennyson Swingle in Japan, and a photograph of Swingle and Seisaku Funatsu, one of the group of Japanese experts who cultivated the trees gifted to the U.S.

In "A Special Gift to Washington from the City of Tokyo," visitors can view Swingle's collection of 11 Japanese watercolors depicting different types of cherry trees.

"Cherry Blossoms in Japanese Cultural History" collects 15 pieces of Japanese artwork depicting traditional hanami (flower viewing), as well as two pieces of Western artwork showing Japanese influence. Also included in this section are 12 stereographs of Japan during cherry blossom time, created between 1904 and 1908 for Western audiences.

"Enduring Symbols of Friendship" includes nine sources exploring the place of the cherry trees in Japan/U.S. relations. A 1938 Japanese magazine cover, notes for a 1934 speech by Japanese ambassador Hiroshi Satou, and a photo of children from the Japanese Embassy at the Tidal Basin show pre-World War II peace. Two political cartoons show how quickly the trees became a symbol of DC, and a photograph shows U.S. cherry blossom viewers during World War II. The section also features three photographs from a 2011 photography contest associated with the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Visitors can also click on "Exhibition Items" to view all 55 primary sources, sortable alphabetically or by theme.

Some sources lack annotations, and existing annotations are sparse. However, this is a unique collection of sources that could be used as jumping-off points for exploring cultural exchange, international relations over time, and DC history.