North Carolina Textile Heritage: Stories of Mill Workers

Description

This seminar focuses on North Carolina's rich textile heritage as told through the stories, songs, and images of the people who worked in the mills. Using the backdrop of the Louis Hine's National Child Labor Committee Photography, Gaston County, 1908, "Standing on a Box," seminar participants will explore the experiences of mill workers in communities across North Carolina with particular attention to the life and work of families and children. In addition, participants will learn about notable individuals in the North Carolina textile story, such as union songstress and mill worker Ella May Wiggins, who was murdered for her organizing efforts during the Gastonia mill strike of 1929.

Contact name
Wright-Kernodle, Lynn
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
North Carolina Humanities Council
Phone number
336-334-4769
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; a $75 stipend is provided for completion of the seminar.
Course Credit
Certificates are provided for credit renewal (CEUs) through teachers' individual school districts.
Duration
Two days
End Date

Jacob Riis and Progressive Reform

Description

This workshop addresses the questions "In what ways is Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives a document of progressive reform?," "What does How the Other Half Lives tell us about urbanization and immigration?," and "How does Riis use photography in How the Other Half Lives?"

The Center's online resource workshops give high school teachers of U.S. history and American literature a deeper understanding of their subject matter. They introduce teachers to fresh texts and critical perspectives and help teachers integrate them into their lessons. Led by distinguished scholars and running 60 to 90 minutes, they are conducted through lecture and discussion using conferencing software. A resource workshop identifies central themes within a topic and explores ways to teach them through the close analysis of primary texts, including works of art, and the use of discussion questions. Texts are drawn from anthologies in the Center's Toolbox Library. To participate, all that is needed is a computer with an internet connection, a speaker, and a microphone.

Contact name
Schramm, Richard R.
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
National Humanities Center
Target Audience
High school
Start Date
Cost
$35
Course Credit
The National Humanities Center will supply documentation for certificate renewal credit.
Contact Title
Vice President for Education Programs
Duration
One and a half hours

The Lowell Girls

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary presents the textile industry in Lowell, MA, as representative of the transition of American girls from the farms to the factories.

This feature is no longer available.

Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution

Description

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.

Contact name
Anstey, Ellen
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Tsongas Industrial History Center
Phone number
978-970-5080
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; $750 stipend
Course Credit
The Tsongas Industrial History Center will provide participants a certificate for up to 40 professional development points (CEUs/PDPs) for the face-to-face portion of the workshop and up to 40 additional points if pre/post-workshop assignments are completed, including the submission of a copy of a curriculum portfolio of at least five class periods of instruction. At additional cost, teachers wishing graduate credit may earn up to three graduate credits for the workshop through the UMass Lowell Graduate School of Education.
Duration
Six days
End Date

Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution

Description

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.

Contact name
Anstey, Ellen
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Tsongas Industrial History Center
Phone number
978-970-5080
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; $750 stipend
Course Credit
The Tsongas Industrial History Center will provide participants a certificate for up to 40 professional development points (CEUs/PDPs) for the face-to-face portion of the workshop and up to 40 additional points if pre/post-workshop assignments are completed, including the submission of a copy of a curriculum portfolio of at least five class periods of instruction. At additional cost, teachers wishing graduate credit may earn up to three graduate credits for the workshop through the UMass Lowell Graduate School of Education.
Duration
Six days
End Date

Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution

Description

This workshop combines scholarly presentations with on-site investigations of the canals, mills, worker housing, and exhibits of Lowell National Historical Park and of other sites in Lowell's historic district. Sessions draw on scholarly monographs, primary sources (such as "mill girl" letters), and works of literature and historical fiction. The workshop intersperses hands-on activities with lecture-discussions and field investigations. In addition to Lowell's landmark resources, the workshop takes full advantage of Old Sturbridge Village exhibits and scholars to explore pre-industrial rural life and draw on the expertise of scholars and presenters at Walden Pond and Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, to explore how prominent authors addressed the question of industrialization's effect on American life, values, and the environment.

Contact name
Anstey, Ellen
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
Tsongas Industrial History Center
Phone number
978-970-5080
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free; $750 stipend
Course Credit
The Tsongas Industrial History Center will provide participants a certificate for up to 40 professional development points (CEUs/PDPs) for the face-to-face portion of the workshop and up to 40 additional points if pre/post-workshop assignments are completed, including the submission of a copy of a curriculum portfolio of at least five class periods of instruction. At additional cost, teachers wishing graduate credit may earn up to three graduate credits for the workshop through the UMass Lowell Graduate School of Education.
Duration
Five days
End Date

The Bracero Program

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how temporary workers from Mexico filled huge labor shortages created by World War II and became part of the continuing debate about immigration.

This feature is no longer available.

Prosperity and Thrift: Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy

Image
Annotation

This exhibit assembles a wide assortment of materials from the 1920s, items loosely related to the prosperity of the Coolidge years and the rise of a mass consumer economy. The collection includes more than 400 documents, images, and audio and video clips on subjects ranging from automobiles, consumer goods, department stores, families, Motion Picture News, and the National Negro Business League, to politics.

An introductory essay provides valuable background information on the Coolidge administration with additional insight on the social and cultural context of the era. An alphabetized guide to people, organizations, and topics includes definitions and brief descriptions. This sort of material has not been widely available, and this collection is extremely valuable as a resource on the development of mass consumption.