Community Portraits: County Atlases as Resources for Teaching U.S. History. Cartographic Traditions in American History.

N

66

National Endowment for the Humanities (NFAH), Washington, DC.

Atlases; Cartography; Counties; Curriculum Development; Faculty Development; Geography; Higher Education; History Instruction; Maps; Secondary Education; Social Studies; Teacher Education; United States History

This collection of cartographic projects grew out of a professional development summer institute for teachers conducted in 1995 in the History Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Curriculum materials developed during the institute were used in various classrooms during the following school year. The collection contains selected examples of an assignment in which small groups of teachers were given a single map from a county atlas and asked to develop a picture of that community at its given date. These sheets, called "focus maps," became primary sources for understanding U.S. history. Following an introduction, project titles in the collection are: "East Troy Township, Wisconsin, 1873: 'The Home of True Picturesque Beauty and Enterprise'" (Sheila Gallagher; Sally Shleker; Nancy Zordan); "Cleveland's First Ward, 1874: An American Community Comes of Age" (Lydia Ronning; Grant Phillip); "Norwich, New York: A Community in Transition, 1875" (Ronald Thomas; William Lyons); "Salsbury Township, 1876: An Analysis of the Map in the 'Lehigh County Atlas'" (Stacy Flannery; John F. Shelton; Tom Wolff); "Falls Township, Pennsylvania: A Prosperous Farm Community in 1876" (Katja Stonebraker; Marc Rosier; Nancy Bruzzini); "Dresbach, Minnesota: Dreams along the Mississippi in 1894" (Erwin Bill; Beth Sparacino; Ann Ternenyi); and "Sheboygan Harbor, Wisconsin: The Promise of Industry in 1902" (Edward Kania; John Mullins; Rachel Winick). The syllabus for "Cartographic Traditions in American History" is included, as well as are seven focus maps for the regions studied. (BT)

1999

ED428017