By Kate Melchior
Welcome to 2019! This year, the Center for the Teaching of History at the MHS brings a whole slate of education programs for teachers, students, and history enthusiasts.
Become a Mass History Day Judge
The MHS is proud to be the State Affiliate Sponsor for Massachusetts History Day, a year-long primary source-based project where students in grades 6-12 create documentaries, exhibits, websites, performances, and papers that explore their favorite topics in history. With 5 competitions state-wide in March and April, we are calling for history enthusiasts to spend a morning talking with passionate students about history! To learn more about Mass History Day and sign up to judge, visit our Mass History Day website.
Attend a Teacher Workshop
The MHS holds numerous teacher workshops during the year to dive deep into historical topics with educators and to explore methods for introducing them to the classroom. These programs are open to K-12 teachers and museum and heritage educators, and we offer a waiting list for those who are not educators but are interested in our programs. Check out our workshop calendar for more information and to register; e-mail education@masshist.org with any questions. This winter and spring, we have several exciting programs including:
Teaching the Industrial Revolution in Massachusetts
Wednesday, 20 February
Registration Fee: $45
This workshop will be hosted at the Tsongas Industrial History Center in Lowell, Mass.
Lowell’s water-powered textile mills catapulted the nation – including immigrant families and early female factory workers – into an uncertain new industrial era. Nearly 200 years later, the changes that began here still reverberate in our shifting global economy. Hosted in partnership with the Tsongas Industrial History Center, this workshop will explore the history of industrial growth in New England and its impact on immigration, labor movements, women’s rights, and communities in New England and beyond.
The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
Saturday, 13 April
Registration Fee: $25
On January 15, 1919, Boston suffered one of history’s most unusual disasters: a devastating flood of molasses. The “Great Molasses Flood” tore through the city’s North End at upwards of 35 miles per hour, killing 21 and injuring 150 while causing horrendous property damage. With historian and author Stephen Puleo, we will explore how the flood is more than a bizarre moment in Boston history: it offers a lens into Boston and World War I, Prohibition, the anarchist movement, immigration, and the expanding role of big business in society.
“Shall the Tail Wag the Dog?” The Fight For and Against the Right to Vote
Saturday, 11 May
Registration Fee: $25
Massachusetts citizens played a central role in the suffrage movement; Worcester hosted the first national woman’s rights convention in 1850 and Bostonians, led by Lucy Stone, headed a national suffrage organization and edited a long-running woman’s rights newspaper. In response to these influential reformers, activists formed the first anti-suffrage organizations in Massachusetts as well. Drawing on MHS collections and our new suffrage exhibition, we will explore letters, newspapers, political cartoons, visual propaganda, and other sources that illuminate the history and motivations of women on both sides of the campaign for the vote.
Teacher and Student Fellowships
Teacher and student fellowships deadlines are coming up! These scholarships are available to K-12 teachers and students who have a serious interest in using the collections at the MHS to perform research in the fields of American history, world history, or English/language arts. Applications must be postmarked by 18 February 2019. This year we are offering the following fellowships:
Each summer, the Swensrud Teacher Fellowship program offers educators the opportunity to create lesson plans using documents and artifacts from the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The fellowships carry a stipend of $4,000 for four weeks of on-site research at the MHS and for the development of a curricular unit based on their research.
The Kass Teacher Fellowship program gives educators the chance to perform 20 days of research at the Massachusetts Historical Society on the topic of their choosing. This fellowship will carry a stipend of $2,000 for four weeks of on-site research at the MHS, and teachers will complete a 1-2 page report on their findings at the end of the fellowship.
John Winthrop Student Fellowship:
This award encourages high school students to make use of the nationally significant documents of the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) in a research project of their choosing. Students apply with a teacher mentor, and the Winthrop Student Fellow and their teacher will each receive a $350 stipend to perform historical research and create a project using materials at the MHS. This project can be something assigned in a class, a National History Day project, or something of the student’s invention!
If you have questions or are interested in any of these programs, visit the Center for the Teaching of History website or e-mail education@masshist.org. We look forward to hearing from you!