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Project Activities - 2008-2009
During the third and final year of the grant, Lead Teachers continued to field test lesson plans developed at the summer institute and present information about their efforts to American history teachers in their schools and others through professional developments presentations. Below are photographs and descriptions of the after-school and Saturday workshops, conferences and institutes sponsored by the project.
Workshop: Using Archives to Enrich Instruction
October 23, 2008
Archivists from across the region shared treasures from their institutions’ collections, from Civil War letters and World War II nurses’ uniforms to county immigration records and photos of the 19th century logging industry in the Adirondacks. Presenters were Susan D’Entremont, Regional Archivist of the Capital District Library Council, and archivists Erica Burke (Crandall Public Library’s Center for Folklife, History and Cultural Programs), Craig Carlson (Albany County Hall of Records), Linda Gorham (Brookside Museum/Saratoga County Historical Society), and Trudy Hutchinson (Foundation of New York State Nurses).
Workshop: Transportation in New York City: From John Roebling to Robert Moses
November 20, 2008
Dr. Thomas Beal, Assistant Professor of American History and Urban Studies at SUNY College at Oneonta, described the advances in urban transportation that reshaped New York City in the 19th and 20th centuries. His presentation was illustrated by maps, photographs and silent movies produced by Thomas Edison.
Workshop: From Rosie the Riveter to Harriet the Happy Homemaker:
Women on Screen During and After World War II
December 11, 2008
Rob Edelman, film history lecturer at SUNY University at Albany, presented on the changing roles and expectations for women of the 1940s and 1950s are depicted in the era's Hollywood movies. His lecture was accompanied by a range of film clips from the era that illustrates the manner in which women were expected to act during and after the war.
School Level Competition: National History Day
Sand Creek Middle School, Albany, NY
January 30, 2009
Several schools in our Teaching American History project participate in National History Day competitions at the school and state level. Lead Teacher Shaunna Reinisch (left) provided leadership for her team’s National History Day Fair at Sand Creek Middle School, and other Project Lead Teachers from Amsterdam, Catskill and Mohonasen School Districts (right) acted as judges for the student presentations.
Workshop: HUDSON RIVER PANORAMA: 400 Years of History, Art and Culture
Saturday, February 28, 2009
As part of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadracentennial Celebration, the Albany Institute of History & Art presented its major exhibition commemorating the history and culture of the Hudson River. The exhibition, including historical artifacts, works of art, written records and material objects, reveal how the Hudson River has aided trade and commerce, provided leisure opportunities and tourist attractions, transported people and opened a nation to settlement and growth. What they tell is a story about a river and a history of a nation. Guided by Erica Sanger (right), the Institute’s Director of Education, participants toured the exhibition, reviewed docent and teacher materials, and participated in student activities.
Workshop: Thomas Edison and the Making of Modern America
March 19, 2009
Dr. David Hochfelder, Assistant Professor of History at University at Albany, presented a workshop on the most prolific inventor in history. At the forefront of several sweeping changes that reshaped American life, Thomas Edison is remembered for his invention of electric light and power, both recorded sound and motion pictures, and transforming the entire process of technological innovation by creating the first corporate research and development laboratory.
Workshop: Veteran’s Voices: Using Oral History to Teach About World War II
May 2, 2009
This workshop, held at the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs, focused on the New York State Veteran Oral History Program. Teachers viewed excerpts from oral history interviews conducted by the museum and examined the museum’s collection of artifacts from World War II to learn more about the war from the veteran’s perspective. Each participant received a DVD containing all veteran oral histories included in this workshop, as well as materials and instructions that students and teachers may use to record their own oral histories.
Summer Institute 2009
July 6 – July 31, 2009
Union College, Schenectady, NY
The topic of the 2009 Summer Institute was the “The Unfinished Work: Growth, Challenges and Opportunities During the 19th -21st Centuries.” It took place from July 6th to 31st, 2009, on the campus of Union College in Schenectady, NY. Participants attended content lectures on the following topics:
- Early American Industry
- The Emergence and Growth of Big Business and Corporate America, 1860s-WWII
- Case Study: Welfare Capitalism
- Workers, Work, and the Response to Industrialization, 1860s-WWII
- Case Study: Child Labor in America
- The Civil War Through a Soldier’s Eyes
- Resources and Strategies for Teaching Labor Studies
- Progressives, Muckrakers and Reform
- Spanish-American War and Imperialism
- Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt
- President Woodrow Wilson
- World War I
- The 1920s
- Stock Market Crash and the Depression
- FDR and the New Deal
- FDR and World War II
- Beginnings of the Cold War
- The End of the Cold War
- American History in Recent Decades
The following made presentations at the Summer Institute:
- Dr. Patrick Allen, Dean of the School of Education, Union Graduate College
- Paul F. Cole, Executive Director of the American Labor Studies Center, Troy, NY
- Dr. Kathleen Dalton, Cecil F.P. Bancroft Instructor of History and Social Science and co-director of the Brace Center for Gender Studies, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA.
- Dr. Bruce Eelman, Associate Professor of History, Siena College, Loudonville, NY
- Chris Hunter, Director of Archives and Collections, Schenectady Museum, Schenectady, NY
- Dr. Karen Ward Mahar, Associate Professor of History and Co-Director of the American Studies Program, Siena
- College, Loudonville, NY
- Dr. Andrew Morris, Assistant Professor of History, Union College, Schenectady, NY
- Jeffrey S. Urbin, Education, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, Hyde Park, NY
- John Vallely, Adjunct Professor of Military History, Siena College, Loudonville, NY
- Kathryn Weller, Museum Curator, Schenectady County Historical Society, Schenectady, NY
- Dr. Lawrence S. Wittner, Professor of History, SUNY University at Albany, Albany, NY
- Dr. Gerald Zahavi, Professor of History, SUNY University at Albany, Albany, NY
In addition, field visitations were taken to the Schenectady County Historical Society in Schenectady, NY, the Schenectady Museum in Schenectady, NY, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY.
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