This summer the Gore Center hosted a workshop for both of the summer institutes MTSU held as part of the Teaching American History Grant.  At the end of the week for both institutes, teachers went to three different workshops sponsored by three different groups on MTSU’s campus: the Center for Historic Preservation, the MTSU history department, and the Albert Gore Research Center.  While in our archive, teachers were introduced to researching in archives in general; finding and using archival resources online; and some of the resources available at the Gore Center for the era of American history they were studying.

  Dr. Lisa Pruitt gave a presentation on using archives to find primary sources to use in the classroom.  Then she led the teacher’s through an interactive lab using the Gore Center’s computers.  Teacher’s found both primary sources of interest to their students and lesson plans linking archival resources to the teaching of American History.  Many of these materials are available through the Library of Congress and National Archives websites.

  From here, teachers were turned over to Heather Bailey, one of the Gore Center’s graduate research assistants.  Using analysis worksheets from the National Archives’ Digital Classroom, teachers looked through documents, business receipts, business ledgers, photographs, period newspapers, posters, and cartoons.  Not only were teachers learning about the resources at the Gore Center, but by using the worksheets they were able to develop ideas on how to incorporate these items into a classroom learning experience.

  One of the more popular exercises involved photo cards from the Haney-Maxwell-Licker collection.  These cards document both the physical migration and cultural adaptation of one Jewish family from the late 19^th to the early 20^th century.  Using these cards, teachers were able to see the pictures taken of different family members in Russia and Poland before they immigrated to the United States.  Next came a series of cards showing pictures of family members in New York City immediately after they had arrived.  Finally, there was a series of pictures of the family labeled, “Murfreesboro, Tennessee.”  Teachers discussed how their clothing changed from Old World to New World.

  We look forward to continuing a working relationship with both the teachers from this summer’s institutes and the upcoming summer institutes that the Teaching American History Grant will hold in the coming years.  Teachers were excited at the prospect of working with us to find resources in our archive and our willingness to digitize items for them to use in their classrooms.  This was a learning experience for all and we enjoyed participating in this excellent program.

  To find out more about the Teaching American History program at MTSU go to:

http://www.mtsu.edu/~tah/index.htm

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