Teaching American History Projects

 

 

Are you involved with a Teaching American History Project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education?  The Tsongas Industrial History Center has extensive experience with TAH projects, both as a school district partner and as a program provider for other organizations' TAH projects. 

Contact us about half-day, full-day, and even week-long programs for TAH teachers.  Hands-on activities, role play, primary sources, and walking or boat tours of Lowell National Historical Park bring to life the experiences of the Lowell's "mill girls," the technology of textile mills, and the shift from farm villages to industrial cities.  We can also arrange for renowned local scholars to provide engaging presentations on a variety of relevant topics.

Main Themes: industrialization, urbanization, labor history, immigration, invention, water power, and environmental impacts of industrialization.

Topics:

• literary responses to industrialization
• the advent of labor unions
• the meaning of slavery to the industrial North
• immigrant life and work in a mill city 

Sample Workshop Activities:
As part of their Tsongas Center/Lowell National Historical Park experience, teachers may

• "work" on assembly lines
• try hand weaving
• build water-powered mill systems
• invent textile equipment
• study immigration through artifacts and oral histories. 

Sample Tour Components:
As part of their Tsongas Center/Lowell National Historical Park experience, teachers may

• see cloth being woven on power looms in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum
• explore the restored Boott boardinghouse
• tour the canals that linked Lowell's mills to the Merrimack and Concord Rivers
• visit the Suffolk Mill with its authentic, operating water-powered turbine and new exhibits on waterpower and the environment.

Our location is perfect for side trips to sites like Slater Mill, Old Sturbridge Village, Salem Maritime National Historical Park, and Concord, MA, museums.  We work with TAH coordinators to create custom programs that stimulate, educate, and inspire teacher participants.

Past TAH Collaborations:

• Bristol Community College, MA
• Pasadena Unified School District, CA
• University of South Florida
• Colorado State University
• Rhode Island Historical Society
• Bridgewater State College, MA

Information: E-mail Sheila_Kirschbaum@uml.edu or phone 978-970-5083.