US History - Standards of Learning - USII.1
Clips from an Edison motion picture. The clips are from Coney Island New York and can be used teaching many different events in American History. The website is the Library of congress American Memory Collection.
2. Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/
An extensive site on the events surrounding the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It
has a list of victims and a criminal trial transcript. There are many photos
and audio sources. Additional information on sweatshops is also available at
this site.
-Carl Robidoux
3. 19th Century Architecture
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/fa267_19.html
This website presents several examples of American commercial architecture from the late 18th century through the 19th century. In showing the changes in function and style oin these buildings over time, it gives the historian some window into the lives of the people who worked in these buildings and others like them. The Mass Curriculum Frameworks cover 19th century architecture.
The website we are using is by a Boston College professor who uses early photographs and sketche to show early commercial buildings in America.
The earliest building included is Faneuil Hall in Boston, built in 1740. It design was influenced by colonial and classical forms and the building itself served as a meetingplace for political meetings as well as a marketplace on Boston Harbor. Quincy Market, built in 1825 and familiar to all of us, was heavily influenced by Greco-Roman forms and served as the location for Boston’s largest outdoor (and indoor) market for the masses. By the time you get to the most recent building in 1899, the Carson Pirie Scott Building in Chicago, the style, purpose and function of the building is much different than the other two. The Scott building includes more Victorian and modern forms and few (if any) classical ones, and the building itself appears to be an office building that was built upward to make cheap, abundant office space for a company.
I would have students look at the photographs online and have them make a few columns on a piece of paper: name of building, location, year completed, influential forms and functional purpose. After showing them classical and Victorian architectural examples, I would have students fill in each row and column on their paper and follow up with a class discussion that includes students presenting their findings to the class using the overhead projector.
- Benjamin Pease
