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Available for Spring
The paperback edition of Independence Hall in American Memory is now published, well in advance of the publication date previously stated on Amazon.com and the Penn Press website. If you are considering course adoption, feel free to contact me with any questions or if you would like to request additions to this website to support your teaching. Email Charlene Mires at cmires@camden.rutgers.edu.
New this week (Dec. 1, 2013)
This week’s additions to the Independence Hall in American Memory website include:
- Case study for teaching: Architecture, Preservation, and Memory [link]
- Links to teaching resources [link]
- Document: Workingmen’s demonstration, 1836 [link]
- Document: Liberty for Europe demonstration (attended also by African Americans), 1848 [link]
- Documents: Newspaper editorials criticizing the condition of Independence Hall, 1836 [link]
- Timeline links to documents and external websites [link]
History in Jeopardy
Although I am not a regular viewer of Jeopardy, I paid attention this week when Alex Trebek announced the category: Independence National Historical Park. Then I watched as the contestants — this week, teachers — selected every other category on the board first. When almost all of the choices were gone, they turned to Independence. Through the clues filmed on-site, we got a quick glimpses of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Franklin Post Office, and the First Bank of the United States. The teachers ultimately answered most of the questions correctly — but their hesitation to venture into the category makes me wonder if history is in jeopardy in more ways than one.
Presidential Addresses
Presidential commemorations are in the forefront of the news this week as we approach the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (November 19) and the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy (November 22). Like many other American presidents, both gave speeches at Independence Hall and measured the challenges of their times against the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. To read these and other presidential speeches at Independence Hall, click here.
For Public History and U.S. History Classes
This site is a work in progress, but the teaching guides for public history and U.S. history classes are ready (and will continue to grow with new links and teaching strategies). For public history classes and staff development workshops, also see the President’s House Case Study, which offers a step-by-step encounter with the process of marking the site of the President’s House in Philadelphia, including the challenge of acknowledging slavery in close proximity to the Liberty Bell. I welcome feedback from colleagues who are teaching with Independence Hall in American Memory, and I hope you will add your teaching suggestions to these online guides.