Picturing America: The Legacy of the "Arsenal of Democracy"

FAIN: AP-50082-11

Lansing School District (Lansing, MI 48933-2008)
Doreen Meffert (Project Director: October 2010 to April 2016)

Two identical conferences during the 2011-2012 academic year for up to seventy K-12 Michigan teachers on the history of Michigan's pre- and post-World War II manufacturing might and its influence on the arts, culture, and society.

The Lansing School District will conduct two identical two-day teacher conferences at the Residential College for the Arts and Humanities and Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, during the 2011-2012 academic year. The conferences will support up to seventy-five mid-Michigan (K-12) teachers in the use of the resources of National Endowment for the Humanities Picturing America Program. The conferences are designed to tell the story and examine the legacy of mid-Michigan?s position as the nation?s Arsenal of Democracy and to highlight the PA theme of Creativity and Ingenuity. The ingenuity and patriotism demonstrated by Michigan manufacturers and factory workers in support of Europe and WWII is important today for many reasons. Foremost the history of Michigan?s manufacturing industry in war serves as a model of innovative thinking. These American characteristics are the strengths that we must model to prepare our students for the world of today.