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New Lesson Plan: Mapping Springfield's Industrial Growth

Published on Thu, 04/21/2016

[caption id="attachment_9186" align="alignright" width="300"]Springfield, Massachusetts in 1850 Springfield, Massachusetts in 1850[/caption] The following lesson on the industrial growth of Springfield, Massachusetts during the 19th century was created during the National Endowment for Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop – Forge of Innovation: The Springfield Armory and the Genesis of American Industry, in the summer of 2015. Utilizing both primary and secondary source materials students will explore the industrial transformation of the Pioneer Valley during the early 19th century. By engaging students with a slideshow of local business logos, students explore the Industrial history of the Springfield area. A secondary source reading and questions, Town to City by Michael Frisch, provides background information on what Springfield looked liked prior to and after industrialization began. Students new found understanding of industrialization in the Pioneer Valley is reinforced by evaluating two primary source maps, one from 1827 and another from 1855, to evaluate the impact on the Springfield area landscapes as a result of industrialization. Ultimately, students are assigned a product and tasked to determine which complementary industries would be needed to support production. View more details, or download and access the primary source set online. Emerging America brings this lesson to you thanks to the outstanding primary sources and materials provided by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Aligned to the Common Core and National History Standards.
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Karen Albano

former History eNews Editor, Emerging America
Karen Albano worked with Emerging America from 2015-2020, contributing to many facets of the program including developing curriculum, improving the accessibility of the website to educators, overseeing social media outreach, and editing the History eNews.