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Program

Education Programs: Landmarks of American History and Culture for K-12 Educators

Period of Performance

10/1/2013 - 12/31/2014

Funding Totals

$179,557.16 (approved)
$179,557.00 (awarded)

America's Industrial Revolution at The Henry Ford

FAIN: BH-50574-13

Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, MI 48124-5029)
Paula Gangopadhyay (Project Director: March 2013 to March 2015)

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on America's Industrial Revolution as interpreted through The Henry Ford's Greenfield Village and the River Rouge factory.

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for eighty school teachers on America's Industrial Revolution as interpreted through The Henry Ford's Greenfield Village and the River Rouge factory. This workshop combines morning lecture/discussion sessions with visiting scholars organized around a specific theme followed by afternoon site visits to the Ford Rouge factory and Greenfield Village led by the museums' curators. The latter features historic buildings ranging from a colonial farmstead to Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory complex that were gathered from around the United States to illustrate the country's economic development. Afternoons also include follow-up discussions with the morning's lecturer and curriculum development sessions. On Monday, Nancy Gabin (Purdue University) leads a session on the transition from home to factory production. On Tuesday, R. Douglas Hurt (Purdue University) presents on the mechanization of agriculture. On Wednesday, Martin Hershock (University of Michigan, Dearborn) speaks on the impact of steam power on transportation. On Thursday, Paul Israel (Rutgers University) discusses the increasing significance of science and systematic invention, paying special attention to Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, and other late-nineteenth-century innovators. On Friday, Robert H. Casey (The Henry Ford) speaks on the development of the assembly line method of mass production. Readings include selections from historical works by Ruth Cowan, R. Douglas Hurt, Sarah Gordon, William Pretzer, Steven Meyer, and David Hounshell that address central workshop themes; participants also work with primary sources in The Henry Ford's archives in order to prepare lesson plans.