Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution

FAIN: BH-50187-07

University of Massachusetts, Lowell (Lowell, MA 01854-3629)
Peter S. O'Connell (Project Director: March 2006 to May 2009)

Three one-week workshops for 135 school teachers to study America's industrial revolution in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership of UMass Lowell’s Graduate School of Education and Lowell National Historical Park, proposes to engage teachers in examining the textile industry as a case study of early 19th century industrialization. We will use the unique resources of Lowell National Historical Park and other cultural/historical sites to address changes in work, economics and society between 1820 and 1860. On-line follow-up classes will examine the globalization of textiles today. Lowell, the first planned industrial community in the U.S., formed the template for many later industrial cities and provides an ideal setting for historical training for teachers. Teachers experience history where it happened and learn how to teach with historic sites in their communities. The Institute effectively combines lectures and discussion, field investigations, primary and secondary materials, and historical fiction for students.