Local History in the Classroom: Connecting Community & Curriculum

Find local portrait images-- paintings and photos. that lead to discussions about their subjects and context.  Use generic Primary Source and DBQ tools to examine them, framing the lesson in the local community.

• Portraits:  
  • Paintings: Whose portraits do we have?  Do we have historical information from them?
  • Photographs:
    • What photographs do we have?  Is everything recorded?  Are some things not recorded?
    • Civil War Cartes de Visit: Faces of young men heading to war.

Using local Civil War soldier's photographs and artwork, discuss

• who the soldier was; what battles he was at, do a "diary", etc. that describes his life and arrival home.
• Who or what is in the painting?  Is art a primary source?  How may we access the intent of the artist?
• Technology & Social Sciences: What are cartes de visite?"  Why were these images taken at this time period?

Examples:

• Flag of the 124th Regiment, NYS Volunteers (Orange County)
• First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation (Wm. H. Seward of Florida, NY)
• Civil War photograph and letters of Francis Benedict (Warwick, NY)

Analyze local early painted portraits and landscape paintings.

• Local examples:
  • Jasper Cropsey at Warwick (Hudson River School; links to Industrial Revolution's impact, etc.)
  • Slide presentation on social developments expressed in art & the Hudson River School