Final Blog – Philadelphia

This was another great trip. I must say that Boston was more to my liking because of the places we visisted last year, but this was still a very rewarding and educational experience. Of all the places I went to, I must say that Valley Forge was my favorite. I really am partial to the colonial and revolutionary time period, and this grant has really provided me with two once in a lifetime experiences. I think that the trip had a nice mixture of different topics. However, I wish we could have went to the Brandywine Battlefield, but I could go to those places everyday. The Amish experience was also a very memorable experience. I felt a little intrusive on the people since part of the reason they chose this religion was to separate themselves from this lifestyle, and they end up having to have people in there home treating them like tourist attractions. Winterthur was one of those sites that was unexpectedly good. As I said before some of those educational programs that places offer leave something to be desired, but the one they put on was excellent. I know that during the last school year my presentation of historical topics was greatly improved because of the Boston trip, I can’t wait to apply what I learned from this trip next year. Ulitimately, I think that this trip has given ways to make history more enjoyable, interesting, and accurate for my students.

As far as bad parts about the trip, the only thing I wish I could have changed was having a better bed. The days were great, but sometimes they were a little tough with only 2-3 hours of sleep. The food was good though. he subway was an interesting experience too, one I will never forget, at least until I can get the smell out from inside my nose . [ I guess that is a good way to put it.  ]

This was only my second trip to the east coast, with last year being my first. I must say that I think I will have to make a trip out here on my own so that I can spend a little more time at some of the sites. I do want to thank eveyone involved in grant for providing such a wonderful opportunity to all of the teachers involved. I have been involved in this grant for two years now, and the SECAHP grant for three, and the information and resources that I have recieved have been invaluable.

Gettysburg – June 13,2004

Well today was the ealiest departure of the trip. We loaded the bus at 6:45 and were off on a 2.5 to 3 hour drive. If a person could get a decent nights sleep around this place, it would make the trip a lot better. I was up this morning ay 3:30, and once you wake up on one of those mattresses, you’re done.

Our firts stop, after 30 minutes of trying to decipher directions, was at the farm of Gabor Boritt. His house was near the battle field and was used as a field hospital during the war. He talked to us a little about his life and the speech that Lincoln gave there at Gettsburg to commemorate the National Cemetary.

We then went to the Dobbin House for lunch. This was a great place to stop since it was built in 1776. There were several pictures of John Adams around and I had thought that maybe he had something to do with the place, but the closest that any president had come to the place was Washington, and he had been about 20 miles north of there.

The battlefield was very beautiful. I heard that there were  a lot of monuments there before hand, but I didn’t think that there would be that many. The guide said that there were about 1300 of them around the park. Unfortunately our tour was very fast paced and we did not stop to see many of the things that I would have liked to have seen, and many of the monuments were so tall that I could only see part of them through the bus window. However, I did get a much better picture of the geography of the battlefield. This was a difficult battle to teach because it covers such a large area, and the maps don’t do it justice. Now when I am teaching it I will  be able to create a much better picture of it for my students now that I can picture the place in my mind as we discuss it. The museum also was very nice, maybe by discussing some of this to my students they will talk there parents into taking them there on vacation. If you can spark some interest in them about history, you’ve won half the battle.

The last stop was the National Cemetary. This was not as I pictured it to be. I knew how it was set up from Gaboritt’s book, but I thought that there would be the traditional white headstones that you see on military graves, not the flat concrete ones that were there. Although the area designated for the unknown soldiers did have stone monuments, they were simply small 6 inch square stones with a number on them. A sad end to someone who died for their country. I must mention though that there were many unknown soldiers in the state sections as well.

Winterthur – June 12, 2008

This morning we traveled to Winterthur in Delaware. This museum is the old DuPont estate. This is a very beautiful place and would be a great place to take children for a field trip if you could. I have been to many different educational programs where they run you through a lesson that is offered by the establishment , and I can honestly say that this place had the best one. I learned ways to help teach my students about the economy of the colonial days by having them roleplay some situations regarding accounts of a local barter system. The activity that they did with trading the butter for candle sticks and having the studnents document this in their ledger will make this topic much more understandable for my students. I have access to several of the old tools that they used when talking about the clock shop that I think I will bring in and use with my students. I also like the idea of having students make signs for their shops that do not use words, since many people didn’t read in those days. I will do this activity also in my class, especially when we talk about taverns and them being the meeting places of the colonial people such as we learned last year in BosTon. We also did and archealogical activity that is very similar to a T.E.N.S. kit that our school has access to. Now that I have done this activity, I see that it could be very useful in the classroom, and I plan on checking it out next year. 

The lecture that we heard in the morning was very fast paced. It was useful however in the fact that I learned some ideas on how to interpret pictures and use them to greater effect in class. This was a very good choice for a destination on this trip.

 

Robert Engs and David Waldstreicher lecture

This morning was much more pleasant day. the temperature was about 13 degrees cooler than yesterday. We began this morning by listening to lectures by Engs and Waldstreicher. Waldstreicher talked about how the founding fathers who have been receiving a lot of attention these days are the ones who were against slavery, and the ones who weren’t such as Jefferson come under more and more scrutiny. From what waldstreicher said, I am not so sure that Franklin was as against slavery as he wanted everyone to think. I feel that Franklin was someone who did a lot of self-promotion, and that can be difficult to do if you support slavery. However, according to some records for shoes and hats that were ordered by by Franklin for his “negro boy” or his “man Joseph” and he had these slaves about 15 years prior to the other two that are more well known. Franklin also makes no mention of owning slaves in his diary as it might be embarrassing. Another problem that Franklin had was that 20%-25% of the adds that were in the paper that Franklin published were for the sale of slaves or posting for runaway slaves. This pumped a large amount of money in the business that made Franklin a wealthy man. These types of advertisements are also much more frequent and contribute more to Franklin’s pocketbook than other parts of the paper. Franklin may have only bought slaves when he became wealthy because that is what wealthy people do. This point is arguable though. It wqas also stated today that Franklin used race as a reason to stop slavery, and that we should have a “white” America. I would like to learn more on this subject before I pass any judgement, however. Franklin also blames slavery on the British, saying it is their oppression that forced the colonists into using the institution  of slavery. Eventhough Franklin became the president of the abolishionist society  in 1787, I think his true feelings on the subject should bve questioned. I would imagine that he knew it was wrong, but like the cheeseburger and fries I had yesterday I knew that I shouldn’t have it and it was bad for me, but I ate it anyway. This lecture gave me a broader picture of Franklin, and will help me to take a deeper look into the characters of other important figuresin American history. By doing this I hope to increase the the understanding of the idea that history is open to interpretion to my students.

Next we heard a lecture by Robert Engs. Engs discussed the “Great American Slave Rebellion.” He talked about how Lincoln is given credit for freeing the slaves but he really didn’t, the slaves helped free themselves. He also discussed 4 main questions regarding slavery. 1. Would slaves rebel? 2. Did they want freedom. 3. Would they fight for freedom 4. Would they know what to do with it if they had it? His responses to these questions were very intriguing. However, the most helpful part to me was his response to a question that I had asked. I have read lately that Lincoln is remembered as the “Great Emancipator” but he really didn’t care much about freeing the slaves. His main reason for writing the Emancipation Proclamation was to keep Europe, mainly England, out of the war. He stated that there were three reasons why made the Emancipation Proclamation. First, Lincoln had to be careful about the aims of the war in the beginning. He had to show that the purpose was to keep the Union together, not to end slavery. This kept the border states in the Union, without Kentucky the Union border would have been in the Ohio River Valley. The North could not have won the war without the border states. Second they needed more labor to help with the war effort as laborors and as soldiers. 12%-15% of the soldiers in the Union army were African American. The third reason was as I said previously to keep European countries out of the war. This will help me give the students a clearer and more accurate picture of the Emancipation Proclamation next year.

After lunch we went down to see the museum at Franklin Court. In this museum I saw a picture of Franklin that was not the typical image of him in his Quaker attire. The picture you see above will be a good one to show students so that they can see him in his wig and aristocratic attire. I also saw a sedan chair that was similar to the one Franklin was carried around in. It is difficult to imagine him riding around in it.

We then traveled to Elfeth’s Alley. This was a very neat place. It really gives you an idea of what these places would have looked like in the 18th century. The streets weer very narrow with narrow, tall, houses. It really was like you went back in time.  Notice the British flag hanging from one of the upper windows.

Next I visisted the living history ceneter which is working on artifacts from an archeological dig that took place where the Constitution Center now stands. They discovered the dishes you see here, and many more, about 20 feet below the surface. They were in a privy pit that was located there in the 18th century. In addition to what you see here, they had several large pieces of the redware like the ones that were seen at Valley Forge. I think the students will enjoy seeing how we have been able to piece together most of these artifacts from trash that was thrown into someones privy about 250 years ago.

 

American Philosophical Society and Atwater Kent Museum.

This morning we visited the American Philosophical Society. The first thing that we saw was a the original rough draft written by Thomas Jefferson. This could be very useful in the classroom when teaching students how to revise their writing. Even the best writer have to revise their work. You could also look at what was taken out and try to determine why this portion was selected to be removed. I can also talk to my students how some documents back then were printed on vellum, or calf skin. The copy of the Declaration that was shown there was printed on this.

We then went up to the second floor and looked at some primary documents such as the first air mail letter sent by balloon. This letter was sent by Ben Franklin to his son across the English Channel,or British Channel as he refered to it. It was sent in January of 1754. It seemed that Franklin simply sent this letter to his son just so he could send by this means of transportation. This seems like something that I would do.

We also saw some of the original journals of Lewis and Clark. It was interesting to see how every possible place on the page was filled with either picture or text. You could discuss how paper was precious to the group.

The next stop was across the street where our guide gave a talk on Franklin and the Philosophical society, Then we toured the small exhibition on exploration.

In the afternoon we went to the Atwater Kent museum which focuses on slavery and the Abolishionist movement. In the packet she gave us some exampoles of runaway slave postings. They do a good job at describing what the slaves looked like since there were no pictures of them usually.These items could be very useful in the classroom. They could be read in groups and disect the announcements to learn all that we can.  What does there name mean? Did they take things with them? Does it appear that hey have been planning this for some time? There are also advertisements for the sale of slaves. I think that if students actually see the advertisement for the sale of a human being would be very powerful.

Lancaster County Pennsylvania – June 9, 2008

God and FreedomToday we visited the Amish country of Pennsylvania. While there we stopped at the Mennoite Information Center. We learned about the different divisions of these offshoots of the Cristian faith. They originated as the Anabaptists who didn’t like the thought of baptising children, but baptising adults who made the choice and commitment to have it done. I had thought that Mennonites were a division of the Amish, but it is the other way around. The Amish, Founded by Jacob Amen, and John Rice thought that the Mennonites were not strict enough when disciplining their members for wrong doing. There are also different divisions of Amish, one of which are the Amish-Mennonites, which are less strict and own cars and have electricity.

Obviously these people lead a much different life than we do. One thing that I noticed right off was that these people seemed to look much younger, and by the dates on the tombstones, live longer than most of us. I think these people have their problems just like the rest of us, but I believe that are happy and content with the life they have chosen and are much less stressed than we are. It is interesting that some have made changes in their acceptance for certain neccessities that may be needed in their life. They cannot have electricity in the house but they can use electricity from a generator to do certain jobs. I saw a young man using a string trimmer, but it was OK since the motor was less than one horsepower. They are also required to use batteries to light their turn signal on their buggies, or power the electric fences around their pastures.

They are only educated up through the eigth grade, but they feel that this prepares them for the type of life that they will lead, and it seems to work well for them. However, when they are in school they must go the same number of hours required by all children livivng in the state. They also had to keep a diary of what they did on the farm up until the time they turn 16, and turn those into the state.

At the end of the day we had dinner at the Allgyer farm. This was a very memorable experience. This provided me with an opportunity to visit with a few of them and affirm what I have been told about the mannerisms and friendliness that these people exhibit.

The information I received today could be discussed when talking about the religions such as Puritains and Separatists during the Colonial period of our country. All of them were very strict. I also think that it could be taught when discussing Jeffersonianism. The Amish people are the Yeoman farmers that he envisioned the country to be. He thought that if you were are a self-sufficient farmer you would be more free, and the culture of these people has taken on this form to separate them from the rest of society or free them from it.

Philadelphia Museum of Art – June 8, 2008

Today I saw the largest collection of armor that I have ever seen. The one pictured here is the oldest homogeneous piece in the U.S. This is not really my time period, but I don’t know of any little boy, and I am one of them, that doesn’t find them fascinating. They also had a rather large collection of swords there to look at. Interestingly enough, I prefered to see the ones that were all rusty and had been found in the bottom of a river. There were several like that, and they just seem to have more of a story to tell that just draws me to them. How did it it get there? Was it thrown in? Was it dropped? Did the man carrying it drown? Who was he? Anyway, The museum was more interesting than I thought it would be.

The American collection that we saw was also very good. Some of the paintings had such detail to them that they seemed as if they might jump right off of the canvas. The furniture that they had was very beautiful and intricately designed. I know these were the best of the best pieces, but much of the craftsmanship of that period was still just amazing. It is a shame that things aren’t made like that today. It seems that we are in a throw-away society today whether you are talking about furniture or something else. Another interesting piece was a siver teapot made by Paul Revere. This will help me show students more about the man Revere, not just what they know about him from the 1861 poem.

There were a few of my favorite pieces of artwork at the museum also, powder horns. I know that the paintings and sculptures that are at the museum are amazing, but I think some of these intricately carved utilitarian objects top them all! I will talk about these in my class when I do the French and Indian War, and discuss how they changed over to the paper wrapped rounds during the Revolution because they allowed the soldier to shoot more rounds per minute.

I find it interesting that almost everyone I saw out on the front steps of the museum was looking for the Rocky staue or running up the steps recreating the scene from the movie, when the most beautiful fountain that I have ever seen in my life was located across the street and was nearly deserted. The power that the cinema has over our culture is amazing.

 

Washington’s Crossing and Monmouth June 7, 2008

Today was a scorcher! The heat index was 104F. We first visited Washington’s Crossing and took a short tour of the buildings there. I would have liked to have visited this place in the winter to see what it looked like. I learned that there were actually three groups that were crossing the river that night to attck the Hessians the next day. One group, below the falls, was unable to cross at all. Another group was able to cross, but since they could not get their artillery across they rowed back across to the Pennsylavania shore the same night. Only Washington’s group was able to cross successfully with their horses and artillery because of the ferry that was located there. Since Washington’s was the only group involved  in the attack, about 600 Hessian soldiers were able to escape. I bought a copy of Fisher’s book and I can’t wait to read it. I was glad that I was able to get a picture of the type of boats used in the crossing to show my students. I think that I can give them a much better picture of the days events after our visit.

 

We then traveled to Monmouth for a guided bus tour. This was a battle between the British army, commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, and the Continenatal army commanded by Lee and Washington. It was very hot that day, very similar we were told, to the weather today. Those poor fellows also had to wear the the heavy wool, or possibly linen, uniforms and we were wearing shorts. It was worth dealing with the heat to get an idea of what these men had to deal with. It was so hot that day that some of the men were chewing on musket balls to help quench their thirst.

Interestingly enough, I noticed another placard, as well as hearing it stated in the video, that this was the turning point of the Revolution. I believe I also heard this at Princeton, or Valley Forge. I can’t remember which. I thought that Saratoga was considered the turning point of the Revolution. Apparently any victory by the Continentals is a turning point in the war, depending on whether or not you live there.

 

Franklin Institute and City Hall

The downtown area if Philly is a much more attractive area of the city. The parks and fountains that dot the landscape are very appealing to the eye of a boy from Southern Colorado who’s water experiences include a Wet Banana and an irrigation ditch. Anyway, they couldn’t have chosen a nicer place to put Franklin’s memorial building. Even the subway stations in that area are better. Some guy at the 40th Street Station tried to pick up my wife and roomate and the fact that they were about three times the size of me made me a little nervous.

One thing that is disappointing about places such as the Franklin Institute is that they have so many priceless pieces of history, but very few ever get to see them. I know these pieces need to be preserved, but couldn’t we do this and display them at the same time. There must be a way. The items that we saw today had tremendous historical value and nobody knows that they are there. I know that funds also limit this, but it is a shame that it has to be that way.

 On the way back we went to the City Hall. This is a beautiful building and it is the largest municipal builing in the country, even larger than the U.S. Capitol. It was interesting to see that there were two statues of Civil War generals on the north side of the building. You don’t expect to see things like that in a city that is famous for  the Revolutionary time period. There are so many field trip opportunities in this city. As annoying as it can be to have all of these students running around at these sites we go to, at least they are getting out to go see them.

 

I am looking forward to tomorrows visit to Washington’s Crossing and Monmouth.

 

 

 

National Constitution Center – Thursday, June 5, 2008

Today we visited the National Constitution Center which opened on July 4, 2003. The highlight of the day was the morning when we listened to Carol Berkin. This lady is a joy to listen to, and I dare say one of the funniest little ladies I have ever met. She also discussed the people who participated in the convention and she explained that there were only 5 or 6 men who could really be considered brilliant. Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Gouvenor Morris, James Wilson, and maybe James Madison. I like her comment about not thinking of these men as supermen because if you do you are saying what they did was not that incredible, because they were supermen.

These men were all wealthy, which in those days meant that you were educated well. There were also only five colleges in those days that could be attended here in New England: William and Mary, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale.

Berkin also stated that it is important to remenber that the United States was not a Democracy until after the civil rights movement. It was a Republic! The founding fathers were terrified of Democracy because it was mob rule, they still wanted the hierarchical structure that was in place. I remember reading about this in John Adams by David McCullough.

I thought that she gave one of the best examples on how we should not judge these men on owning slaves because we do not undesrstand the ideology of the times. She said that it would be like people saying in a hundred years that clothes were evil and should not be worn. To us that would not make sense, and that is how we need to look at the idea of owning slaves in those days.

I also liked her statement about not saying that the Articles of Confederation were not weak, they were restrictive and they did exactly what they were after during the Revolution, but now the war was over so there were other problems. Over all it was a good day, but it would have been better if I could have heard anything that was said on the exhibit tour.