This special hour-long presentation designed for high school classrooms features two Asian-American scholars discussing the work of three American photographers – Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Toyo Miyatake – during World War II. Each of them recorded the lives of Japanese American citizens who were imprisoned in concentration camps such as Manzanar in California after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The presenters explore how each photographer, one who visited Manzanar and is best known for his landscape images, one who was hired by the government to document the incarceration and then had her photographs impounded, and one who was a prisoner of Manzanar himself, documented this moment in American history from their own unique perspective, and how contemporary artists and activists have interacted with the Manzanar site in more recent years. This presentation relates to Fenimore Art Museum’s 2021 exhibition, Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams, but viewing the exhibition is not necessary for watching and understanding the video.
Ansel Adams Video for Smuggled Lenses: https://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/files/videos/Manzanar-HOH.mp4
The Underground Railroad played an important role in helping escaped slaves on their journey to freedom in Canada. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are the two New Yorkers most often associated with the success of the Underground Railroad and Abolition Movement, but many may not know that Cooperstown, Hartwick Seminary, Oneonta, and other local communities played a role that contributed to the success of both movements.
Lesson Plan: DL – Underground Railroad and Abolition
Power Point: DL Underground Railroad
UGRR Analyzing a Document
UGRR KWL chart
Activity: Underground Railroad and Abolition
Sheep were important to farm families in the mid-1800s. Sheep provided both meat and wool to the families. Wool allowed the families to make clothing and other needed goods. In this lesson, students will learn about sheep, wool, how it is processed, and products made from wool. This lesson is designed for younger students.
PowerPoint
Sheep to Wool PowerPoint
Lessons and Activities
Sheep to Wool Distance Learning K-2
Sheep to Wool Lesson
The majority of the people living in rural upstate New York in the mid-1800s were farmers, working the land to provide for themselves and their families. Most of the rest of the population was made up of lawyers, doctors, shopkeepers, and tradesmen. Tradesmen provided a variety of goods and services to the farmers and to other members of the communities throughout much of the nineteenth century. In this lesson, you will learn about some of the common trades and apprenticeships in the mid-1800s and how those trades relate to today’s jobs.
PowerPoint for Tradesman’s Tool Chest
Tradesman’s Tool Chest (3).pptx
4th Grade Lesson Plan and Activities
Distance Learning Tradesmans Tool Chest 4th Grade
Lesson 1 Trades Yesterday and Today
Lesson 1 Trades Yesterday and Today answer key
Trades in Otsego County 4th Grade
Trades in Otsego County answer key 4th Grade
Apprenticeships in the mid 1800s 4th grade
7th Grade Lesson Plan and Activities
7th Grade Distance Learning Tradesman’s Tool Chest
Lesson 1 Trades Yesterday and Today
Lesson 1 Trades Yesterday and Today answer
7th grade Apprenticeships in the mid 1800s
7th Grade Trades in Otsego County
The Erie Canal opened in 1825 to much fanfare and celebration, connecting New York City and the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. The success of the Erie Canal led to the building of other canals. This allowed agricultural and factory made goods, as well as people, to move cheaper and with greater speed from New York City to western New York. Canals created different opportunities to work outside the farm and home as Hosea Dimmick decided to do in 1845.
Impact of the Erie and Chenango Canals PowerPoint
Impact of the Erie and Chenango Canals Lesson Plan
Analyzing a Broadside Activity Worksheet
Economic Impact of Canals Activity Sheet
