The American Farm in U.S. History

FAIN: BH-50173-07

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5200)
Fredrick John Dobney (Project Director: March 2006 to July 2009)

Three one-week workshops for 120 school teachers on American farm life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Our approach will be threefold. First, students will examine the American farm as an organizing concept for understanding key historical eras and transitions between those eras. Second, our workshops will approach the American farm as a way of understanding American history at both national and grassroots levels. Third, our workshops will emphasize hands-on techniques for studying history. Teachers will acquire analytical tools and hands-on experience with agricultural artifacts (farm tools, implements and household items) and primary source documents to understand important historical processes such as technological and economic transformation in the 19th and 20th centuries, and to teach in ways that will inspire high school students to see the historical significance of nearby places.