The Civil War in 50 Objects

Ilisa Guarneri

The Forward School

Introduction

In 2013, The New York Historical Society compiled and displayed select artifacts in a Civil War installation. Based on the book titled The Civil War in 50 Objects by Harold Holzer and the NYHS, 13 objects were selected by the museum’s team of curators (museum keepers) for ongoing display at the Historical Society. The NYHS has decided to open an additional section of their ongoing exhibit and want to focus on the Reconstruction Era we have been learning about. The museum is unsure how they will organize their exhibit and wants to encourage more people to come to their museum, especially students. They would like to allow you to have input in the process. How should we remember the Reconstruction Era and set up its exhibit? You decide!

Task

Your group of four curators has been chosen to select the artifacts and set up for the new museum exhibit titled Reconstruction in Four Objects. You will set up your exhibit in a Reconstruction museum gallery walk day in Social Studies class.

Process

1. Define the problem your team of curators is setting out to solve – What’s the problem with museum exhibits today? With the members of your team, create and print a Wordle that combines the curators’ ideas about museum exhibits into one word cloud.

2. Gather Evidence – Use this Google Slide Presentation and The New York Historical Society’s existing exhibit to see existing exhibits in NYC and artifacts in the Civil War in 50 Objects exhibit. Use this worksheet to help you record information about existing museums in the NYC area. You can also cite evidence about other museums you have been to in this step.

3. Identify Causes – Think about visiting museums and remembering a historical time period. What are some factors that lead to the problems your team came up with earlier? As a team of curators, use this worksheet to help your team record some of their ideas.

4. Evaluate a Museum Policy – Consider the set up of your museum and the different possibilities for your exhibit. In this step, you should also select one of the three themes below to develop and guide your museum exhibit. In your team, make sure that all curators agree on the theme and take time to evaluate one of the museum policy choices with this worksheet.

· Changing Social Relationships: This theme refers to how social roles - such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, and religion - change and expand for individuals and groups of people.

· Power – Refers to uses and abuses of power in a society and the role of different organizations and associations in exerting power.

· Citizenship – Refers to the role of the individual in the community and country and the basic rights and responsibilities people have in a democratic society.

5. Develop Solutions – Review the given artifact choices in the resource section and select four that will reflect the theme and museum policy that your team selects. Each group member will develop their own artifact for use in the group’s exhibit. You may search for your own artifacts or items for your Reconstruction exhibit, if desired. Each curator will write a museum card of information for one artifact in your exhibit. Each information card must describe the object to explain its purpose or role during Reconstruction and how you would set it up in your group’s museum exhibit. Consider how visitors to your exhibit will interact with the artifact and why you chose to present it that way. Your writing must also explain why you selected the object for your exhibit by connecting it to your chosen theme.

6. Select the best solution – Determine how you will share your museum exhibit with the class by selecting the best way to present your work from the options below:

· Prezi - Craft an online exhibit presentation that unifies and explains each of your four artifacts. You may present each artifact and information card on its own slide in this presentation and include information about the museum experience your team would like to create. Please submit the link to our class Edmodo page.

· Audioboo - Plan and record an audio tour by reading the information cards for your artifacts and describing the museum experience. You will publish and share your audio tour with a title and image on Audioboo and submit the link to our Edmodo page.

Artifact Resources

1. Freedman’s Village Photo – Arlington, VA https://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/historyculture/emancipation.htm

2. An African American Majority in the South Carolina Legislature - http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1068

3. Ku Klux Klan whip (1865) - http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:54738

4. The First Vote (1867) - http://objectofhistory.org/objects/extendedtour/votingmachine/?order=2

5. Sharecropper Contract (1867) - http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/reconstruction/resources/sharecropper-contract-1867

6. Thomas Nast, Emancipation, 1865 Wood carving - http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/pga.03898/

7. Pen used by Ulysses S. Grant to sign the ratification of the 15th Amendment - http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/detail/abolishment-artifacts.html

8. Jim Crow Train Car - http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2012/feb/08/jim-crow-era-recalled-in-rail-car-project/

9. Poll Tax Receipt (1896) - http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/white-only-1.html

10. Carpet Bag (1865-1877) - https://www.interanalyst.us/blog/carpetbagger

Evaluation

Your museum exhibit will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Level 4

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Information Card

Develop the topic with relevant, facts, definitions, quotations, or other examples.

Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

Develop the topic with facts, quotations, or other examples.

Use domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic

Develop the topic with some facts, or other examples.

Use some domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

Limited development of the topic with facts, quotations, or other examples.

Uses very few to no domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

Artifact Connection to the Theme

Clearly and consistently explains the connection of the artifact to the theme.

The artifact information cards promote a clear understanding of the Reconstruction Era.

Consistently explains the connection of the artifact to the theme.

The artifact information card promotes understanding of the Reconstruction Era.

Attempts to explain the connection of the artifact to the theme.

The artifact information card does not clearly promote understanding of the Reconstruction Era.

Students selected artifacts that do not relate to the four themes. The artifact information card is not original or relevant to the Reconstruction Era.

Presentation Style

The presentation of the project is well organized and/or neat and the information was accurate and easy to understand.

The presentation of the project is for the most part organized and neat and most of the information was accurate and easy to understand.

Attempts to organize the project but some of the information were not accurate.

The presentation of the project was not organized or neat and the information was inaccurate or difficult to understand.

Originality

The project was original in presentation, content, and design.

The project was for the most part original in presentation and design.

There is significant evidence of plagiarism.

Copied work. Nothing original.

Conclusion

At the end of this task, your museum curator group has demonstrated a thematic historical understanding of the Reconstruction Era, while considering the real life issue of presenting artifacts and information to the public. Thank you for considering how people today remember history and engaging in the real work of historians!

Standards

Social Studies Framework

Key Idea 8.1 - Regional tensions following the Civil War complicated efforts to heal the nation and to redefine the status of African Americans. (Social Studies Standards 1, 4, 5)

Reading in History

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1 - Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7 - Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Writing in History

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.