1. Exploring Gilded Age Life in Fairview, PA A Web Quest for 9th Grade American Studies Designed by Ms. Susan Nelson snelson@fairview.iu5.org 1

2. Introduction This lesson was developed as part of the course “Using Online Resources to Bring Primary Sources to the Classroom Online.” The Local History Project component of the course required utilizing various primary resources discovered and examined during the eight week session. Purpose This lesson is designed for enriching student understanding of what life was like during The Gilded Age in Fairview, PA and in the surrounding Erie Country area. 2

3. Learners This lesson is designed for 9 th grade students studying contemporary US History. Students will be challenged to utilize a vast array of primary source documents. Examining, analyzing, and evaluating skills are practiced. This lesson could also serve to enrich Communications Courses studying similar time periods in US History. Learners will need basic navigation skills on the web in order to locate various resources. Curriculum Social Studies Standards Addressed  8.1.9.B Analyze and interpret historical sources.  8.1.9.C Analyze the fundamentals of historical interpretation.  8.1.9.D Analyze and interpret historical research.  8.3.9.B Identify and analyze primary documents, material artifacts and historic sites important in United States history from 1787 to 1914.  8.3.9.C Analyze how continuity and change has influenced United States history from 1787 to 1914. 3

4. 4 Process Over the next week, you will be provided workshop time during part of class each day to research the four topics. Each topic includes specific required tasks, as well as various project options. Partners and/or small teams may be assigned. Start by reading the introduction to the Sturgeon family information, and then proceed through the tasks and projects. You may work on these items in any order, however, they are to be assembled, labeled, and clearly organized upon submission. Rubric The rubric by which these items and your efforts will be graded is posted on our class wiki-space: http://2010americanstudiesp4.wikispaces.com/ http://2010americanstudiesp4.wikispaces.com/

5. Local family: The Sturgeons Task: Review these sites for names of real life residents associated with The Sturgeon House. Reference these people in the products you create while web-questing! http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/census/1873- 4FairviewBusDir.htm?cj=1&o_xid=0001231185&o_lid=0001231185http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/census/1873- 4FairviewBusDir.htm?cj=1&o_xid=0001231185&o_lid=0001231185 and http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/townships/Fairview.htm These sites contain Erie Country genealogical information specific to Fairview Township. Included are data like first and last names, addresses, and occupations. The Sturgeon family is referenced often! http://www.erielibrary.org/obits/obits19002.html Obituaries appearing in the Erie Newspaper for 1900 to 1906 (M - Z). Look for the Sturgeon name! http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/townships/Fairview.htm http://www.erielibrary.org/obits/obits19002.html 5

6. 6 Topic #1: Entertainment during the Gilded Age Key Question: What would a person from Fairview do for entertainment during the Gilded Age? Tasks: 1. Explore the following Entertainment Links. 2. Analyze at least one of the video clips using the NARA analysis sheet. 3. Analyze at least one sound recording using the SEA method. 4. Analyze one piece of sheet music using the NARA analysis sheet. 5. Listen to the music of Sousa. Project Options: (pick one) A) Create a poster that could be displayed in Fairview, PA during the era of the Gilded Age that offers at least FIVE entertainment options to members of the community. B) Create a radio recording, complete with Gilded Age background music you choose, that provides a listener with at least FIVE ideas of what to do for entertainment.

7. 7 Topic 1 Resources: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oachron.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oachron.html This American Memory site from the Library of Congress contains some of the earliest film clips made! You can view six short videos that focus on the time of the Gilded Age. http://www.tinfoil.com/http://www.tinfoil.com/ On this website you can view early sound devices and listen to some of the earliest recordings ever made! Easy to navigate, intriguing information about sound recordings is presented along with helpful photo images. You make want to explore the earliest recordings Sounds of Early 20th Century (http://www.tinfoil.com/sounds.htm) to encounter seven wax cylinder excerpts!http://www.tinfoil.com/sounds.htm http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vssound.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vssound.html This American Memory site contains Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment links from the years 1870-1920. Specific sound recordings from the Library of Congress are searchable by browsing, keyword, subject, or author. Look for pieces dated during the Gilded Age. (continued)

8. 8 Topic 1 Resources: (continued) http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/sheetmusic.pl?Rag&titlepages&1 http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/sheetmusic.pl?Rag&titlepages&1 This University of Colorado Digital Sheet Music Collection offers the covers of sheet music and the sheet music itself from across history! http://www.dws.org/sousa/ http://www.dws.org/sousa/ This site offers a great deal of background on the music of John Philip Sousa by providing links to Sousa music that can be played and analyzed. For example, a click on The Stars and Stripes Forever link allows you to hear the music, view the lyrics, examine the cover of the sheet music, and read the “Story Behind the Music.”

9. 9 Topic 2: Women of the Gilded Age Key Question: What was life like for women during the Gilded Age? Tasks: 1. Print, or copy into Word, the KWL chart. 2. Complete the K & W portions of the chart based on the Key Questions. 3. Examine video clips that include women. 4. Complete a SEA analysis sheet for one of the video clips. 5. Explore the advertisements, especially those connected with products sold to women (Beauty and Hygiene) using various Gilded Age years (1907, 1911 etc.). 6. Complete a NARA poster analysis form for one poster ad. 7. Read portions of Ida Tarbell’s book. Consider why a woman wrote this book. 8. Examine images of women at work. Complete a SEA analysis form for one photo.

10. 10 Topic 2 Project Options: Women of the Gilded Age (pick one) A) Write a song about women and their various roles during the Gilded Age. Perform the song for the class, or record it and upload the song and lyrics to the class wiki. OR B) Create an ABC’s Alphabet Product that portrays 26 different aspects of women’ s lives.

11. 11 Topic 2 Resources: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmi10/silent_women.htmlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmi10/silent_women.html This American Memory site focuses on women on the silent screen and includes short video clips of women in real life situations as well as acting on the stage. http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/search/results?t=1911 http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/search/results?t=1911 This collection consists of over 7,000 advertisement posters from the US and Canada. Dated between 1911 and 1955 the site provides examples from five product lines: Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda. http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTMhttp://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM This site contains the actual document History of Standard Oil by Ida Tarbell. This expose on the corrupt practices of JD Rockefeller’s Oil Empire would have been available to the public during the Gilded Age. The local Sturgeon family was likely familiar with the theme of the books, and perhaps even read it! (The text was obtained from the book The History of The Standard Oil Company by Ida M. Tarbell. Copyright, 1904, by McCLURE, PHILLIPS AND CO.) (continued)

12. 12 Topic 2 Resources :(continued) http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image- idx?xc=1&page=index&g=imlshttp://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image- idx?xc=1&page=index&g=imls Part of the University of Pittsburgh’s Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection 1901-2000, this site houses scads of photographs. The coolest aspect of this site is the zoom tool built into the site! On this site the search “women workers” reveals images of women in various jobs. Students may want to explore specifically what kinds of jobs women had during that era. Searching using “women workers + 1905” sharpens the search a lot, and provides images of women at specific jobs from that specific year!

13. 13 Topic 3: Daily Life in the US and Fairview, PA during the Gilded Age Key Question: How is Fairview Township the same/different from the Gilded Age and today? Tasks: 1. Examine the 1896 Fairview Township map. Complete the NARA map analysis worksheet. 2. Create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting what exists in Fairview today with the Gilded Age. 3. Examine the Birth of the Progressive Era video and the photographs from The New Century (1901) gallery. 4. Create a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts life during that era with life in Fairview today.

14. 14 Topic 3 Resources: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/maps/fairv1896map.htmhttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~paerie/maps/fairv1896map.htm This site provides a map of Fairview Township in 1896, just on the cusp on the Gilded Age Era! Look closely for familiar names of local sites, like neighborhoods that exist today! http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10328-the-progressive-era-the- birth-of-the-progressive-era-video.htmhttp://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/10328-the-progressive-era-the- birth-of-the-progressive-era-video.htm This site provides a video that explains the contradiction of the word “Gilded” and why the era really wasn’t that great. Primary source footage includes scenes of the Statue of Liberty,, workers, streets, jobs, strikes, and wealthy people’s homes. You will better understand why the Progressive Era was born. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/galleries/newcent. html#http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/galleries/newcent. html# Picturing the Century One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives site contains primary source photos in galleries organized by themes. Explore the gallery called The New Century (1901)!

15. 15 Topic 4: Disasters during the Gilded Age Key Question: What would people living in Fairview, PA during the Gilded Age have thought about disasters during their lifetimes? Tasks: 1. Examine the video of the Quebec Bridge Disaster. 2. Answer the questions listed after the link. 3. Explore the information about the 1893 Erie Flood, and answer the questions listed after that link. 4. Complete a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts these two disasters. 5. Project: Create a diary/journal entry of at least three paragraphs that shares how your Fairview “character” may have responded to news of these disasters.

16. 16 Topic 4 Resources: http://www.factualtv.com/documentary/Disasters-of-the- century-Quebec-Bridge-Disasterhttp://www.factualtv.com/documentary/Disasters-of-the- century-Quebec-Bridge-Disaster This video portrays a foreign disaster that occurred in 1907. What happened to the bridge and why? Was this catastrophe preventable? http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/pa/floods/erie- flood-may1893.htmhttp://www.gendisasters.com/data1/pa/floods/erie- flood-may1893.htm (tells of Erie flooding in 1893). This website contains primary source newspaper documents from cities around the US in 1893. What kind of damage occurred due to this flooding? Was this calamity preventable?

17. 17 RESOURCES PAGE Links to SEA and NARA analysis worksheets: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/ Link to Venn Diagram: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/venn.pd f Link to KWL Chart: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/kwl.pdf