Social Movements and Reform in Industrializing America: The Lowell Experience

FAIN: BH-261682-18

University of Massachusetts, Lowell (Lowell, MA 01854-3629)
Sheila Kirschbaum (Project Director: February 2018 to April 2021)

Two one-week workshops for 72 school teachers on nineteenth-century Lowell, MA, as a site of the Industrial Revolution.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership of UMass Lowell's College of Education and Lowell National Historical Park, proposes to engage educators in a study of Lowell's textile industry as a case study of early 19th-century industrialization and reform. We use the resources of the Park and other cultural/historical sites to address changes in work, society, culture, and the environment between 1820 and 1860, as well as subsequent reform activity related to labor, women's rights, and slavery. Lowell, the first planned industrial city in the U.S., formed the template for later industrial cities and provides an ideal setting for historical inquiry. Educators investigate history where it happened and learn how to teach with primary sources, artifacts, and historic sites in their own communities. The workshops combine lectures, discussion, hands-on and field investigations, dramatic presentations, and close examination of primary, secondary, and literary sources.

Associated Products

Lesson plan (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Lesson plan
Author: Megan McGrath
Abstract: One of the most important lessons I took away from the NEH Lowell workshop is the importance of students “doing history” and learning about the American Industrial Revolution through activities and tours of the sites where history happened. My aim while creating the following lessons was to achieve the mission of the Tsongas Industrial History Center by inspiring, “...connections with and understandings about America's industrial past, present, and future through experiential learning using Lowell's unique resources.” The following lessons include opportunities for students to complete primary and secondary source based activities in which Lowell’s history is used as a case study to explore the causes and consequences of the American Industrial Revolution.
Year: 2019
Audience: K - 12

Lesson plan (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Lesson plan
Author: Kaitlin Magsarili
Abstract: Throughout my participation in “The Lowell Experience” workshop, I have not only increased my background knowledge of Lowell’s impact on the Industrial Revolution, but I have gained access to valuable resources I can use in my teaching practice. My fifth graders often have a difficult time imagining what life would have been like throughout periods of history and they learn best through visuals and role-play. Therefore, when developing my lessons following the workshop, I wanted to focus on allowing students to explore the Industrial Revolution through hands-on activities, research-based lessons, and creative experiences. I’d also love to take my students on a field trip to the Tsongas Industrial History Center and encourage colleagues at my school to do the same. In the following lessons, you’ll find more information on the context of the lessons as well as lesson objectives and essential questions. I plan to share these lessons and resources with my colleagues to help all fifth grade students in my school gain a deeper understanding of the Industrial Revolution as it pertains to Lowell, our town’s neighboring city.
Year: 2019
Audience: K - 12

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