American Centuries was originally launched in 2000. The website was possible through the generosity and work from the institutions and individuals listed below.
Project Funders
We are grateful for the generous support of our public and private funders who share an interest in the use of technology to improve and enliven education in our schools.
We are also grateful to the members and donors of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts.
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association welcomes donations from individuals and corporations to support this web site project. To contact us about a donation please visit our museum’s donations page.
Project Scholars
This project was advised by a distinguished group of scholars. These scholars carefully reviewed the text of this site for both content and historic interpretation. In addition, scholars were also central to developing the curriculum and lesson plans on this site through the NEH Schools for the New Millennium, the Institute for Museums and Library Services and Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Partnership projects. Additional scholars advising the curriculum are listed below in the Curricula Credits section of this page.
Taiaiake Alfred, PhD, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Director Indigenous Governance Programs, and Assistant Professor, Political Science, and of Human and Social Development. Dr. Alfred has authored several books, including Peace, Power, Righteousness : An Indigenous Manifesto and Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism. He is also a descendant of Eunice Kanenstehawi Williams.
Colin Calloway, PhD, Dartmouth College, Professor of History and Native American Studies. Prolific author, titles include: New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of America, After King Phillips War: Presence and Persistence in Indian New England, and Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600-1800: War, Migration and the Survival of an Indian People.
Harvey Green, PhD, Northeastern University, Boston, Professor of History. Author of numerous works including, Fit for America: Health, Fitness, Sport, and American Society, 1830 – 1940. The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America. The Consumer Culture and the American Home, 1890-1930.
John Stilgoe, PhD, Harvard University, Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape. Publications include: Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History, Awareness in Everyday Place, and Common Landscape of America, 1580-1845.
Kevin Sweeney, PhD, Amherst College, Associate Professor of History and American Studies. Dr. Sweeney has written extensively on American Colonial History and early American material culture. His forthcoming book (2002) will center on the Deerfield Raid of 1704.
Esther M. A. Terry, PhD, University of Massachusetts, Chair of the Afro-American Studies Department. Dr. Terry has expertise in African American History and Literature.
Patricia Tracy, PhD, Williams College, Professor of History. Dr Tracy has expertise in early American History and the history of women and is the author of Jonathan Edwards, Pastor: Religion and Society in Eighteenth Century Northampton and Jonathan Edwards, Pastor: Minister and Congregation in the Eighteenth-Century Connecticut Valley.
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, PhD, Harvard University, Professor of Early American History. Dr. Ulrich is the Author of A Midwife’s Tale : The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 and Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750.
Production Credits
Institutions involved with this project
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
Museum and Library, Deerfield, Massachusetts
The Center for Computer-Based Instructional Technology
at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
Frontier Regional / Union 38 Schools
Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately, Massachusetts
Greenfield Community College
Greenfield, Massachusetts, is the host of this site.
Project Producers
Project Co-Directors
Timothy C. Neumann, Executive Director, PVMA
David M. Hart, Executive Director, CCBIT
Project Coordinator
Angela Goebel Bain
Site Designer
Juliet Jacobson
Software System Architect
Stephen Battisti, CCBIT
Software System Engineers
Peter Brown, PhD, Lead Web Applications Developer, CCBIT
Thomas Armstrong, Web Applications Developer, CCBIT
Web Design Consultant
Frederick C. Zinn, Multimedia Applications Designer, Office of Information Technologies, UMass/Amherst
Multimedia Development, CCBIT
Matthew Mattingly, Multimedia Director
David Gosselin, Web Programming and Multimedia Development
Jason Thibedeau, Web Programming and Multimedia Development
Mycho Jellison, Flash Development
Rena Jones, Graphic Artist
Yvonne Arnold, Graphic Artist
Marci Langevin, Graphic Artist
Deb Osgood, Graphic Artist
Morgan Robinson, Graphic Artist
Research and Writing
Angela Goebel Bain, Co-Editor
Barbara Mathews, PhD, Co-Editor
Susan McGowan, Director of Adult Programs
Lynne Manring, Director of Youth Programs
Shirley Majewski, Library Assistant
With Contributions By:
Timothy C. Neumann, Executive Director
Suzanne L. Flynt, Curator
David Bosse, Librarian
Photographer
Penny Leveritt
Curriculum
Barbara Levy, PhD, Curriculum Advisor
Web-based Curriculum Development
Victoria Getis, PhD, Web Programming and Interactive Curriculum Development
Elizabeth Terhune, Web Programming and Interactive Curriculum Development
Curriculum Content Development
From Deerfield Elementary School:
Charlene Galenski, 5th grade Teacher
Kathleen Klaes, 5th grade Teacher
Mary Gene Devlin, 6th grade Teacher
Bette Schmitt, School Librarian
From Frontier Regional School, Middle School:
Howard Barnard, 8th grade History Teacher
Robert Smith, 8th grade English Teacher
From Frontier Regional School, High School
Carolyn Dashef, middle, high school Art and Drama Teacher
Dr. Janice Dore, Library/Media Center Director
Frank Heston, high school Social Studies Teacher
Evaluator
Marilyn McArthur, PhD
Site Reviewers
Anne Bussler, 5th Grade Teacher, Conway Grammar School, Conway, MA
Mary Gene Devlin, 6th Grade Teacher, Deerfield Elementary School, Deerfield, MA
Kathy Lanza, Edward Bellamy Middle School, Chicopee, MA
Michelle Mueller Technology Coordinator Bunker Hill School District #8 Bunker Hill, IL
John O’Neill Computer coordinator Edward Bellamy Middle School Chicopee, MA
Elizabeth Pycko Edward Bellamy Middle School Chicopee, MA
Jeremy Rogers Frontier Regional School Deerfield, MA
Sue Silvester, Mohawk Regional School, Buckland, MA
Gail Steinbring Greenfield High School Greenfield, MA
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
Museum and Library, Deerfield, Massachusetts
www.deerfield-ma.org
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association is located in the Old Deerfield National Historic District, in western Massachusetts on the Connecticut River, recently designated as an American Heritage River. It is one of the oldest history museums in New England. This materials development project grows directly out of the PVMA’s mission statement, “to collect, preserve, and interpret the multicultural history of the Deerfield and Connecticut River Valleys, … presenting educational, cultural and artistic programs.” The Museum has also pursued its mission through award-winning publications that disseminate information about its collections and New England history throughout the country.
The Museum provides educational programs to all school districts (90 schools) in the three counties of the Connecticut River Valley. The Museum has a particularly close relationship with its local school district, Frontier Regional /Union 38 and has worked with the district over the past 20 years on a number of collaborative curriculum projects. Most recently, this local, rural school district has made a major institutional commitment to co-create the cutting edge Turns of the Centuries curriculum material in collaboration with the Museum (an outgrowth of a National Endowment for the Humanities focus grant). The PVMA has provided elementary, middle and high schools in the Frontier district with Museum staff to serve as a “humanist-in-residence” (funded by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities) to work side by side with classroom teachers to infuse history education with primary resources and forge a new model of museum/school collaboration.
Present holdings of over 70,000 objects and documents chronicle the entire history of the region, spanning pre-history through the 20th century, and include Native American objects. A remarkable feature of the collection is the depth of the documentation of its objects within the curatorial files as well as interrelated to the journals, newspapers, and schoolbooks in the library. Combining the early printed and manuscript resources of the library with objects in the museum provides a unique opportunity to teach local history with a national and international overview.
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association:
Timothy C. Neumann, Executive Director
Suzanne L. Flynt, Curator
David Bosse, Librarian
Susan McGowan, Director of Adult Programs
Lynne Manring, Director of Youth Programs
Shirley Majewski, Library Assistant
Angela Goebel Bain, Project Manager
Louise Neidle, Development Specialist and Project Facilitator
“This institution is an equal opportunity provider.”
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800)795-3272 (voice) or (202)720-6382 (TDD) “USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.”
The Center for Computer-Based Instructional Technology
at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
CCBIT develops innovative instructional technology applications that promote active student learning. Sponsored by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and working out of the University’s Computer Science Department, CCBIT collaborates with faculty to develop effective instructional tools for the undergraduate curriculum. CCBIT also works closely with schools, museums and other educational institutions to create new ways of using instructional technology in K-12 classrooms. CCBIT staff have four particular areas of expertise: instructional design for online learning; database and web-based software engineering; interactive multimedia; and intelligent tutoring. CCBIT applications typically blend most or all of these to create innovative approaches to learning with technology.
Center for Computer Based Instructional Technology
Beverly Woolf, Director
David Hart, Executive Director
Stephen Battisti, Chief Software Architect
Peter Brown, Senior Software Engineer
Victoria Getis, Curriculum Designer
Matthew Mattingly, Multimedia Director
Frontier Regional / Union 38 Schools
Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland and Whately, Massachusetts.
U38-FRD is comprised of a regional Middle/High School (700 students) and 4 elementary schools (900 students) serving the rural towns of Deerfield, Conway, Sunderland, and Whately, Massachusetts. The district strives to provide diverse cultural programming using outside resources while also integrating cultural resources into curriculum.
The mission of the Frontier Regional Schools is “to provide the highest quality education which builds a strong foundation for lifelong learning, values the individual, fosters community and respects tradition while responding to the changing needs of society.” The mission is followed by Student Expectations which include: understanding the role of history in shaping the world, developing the analytic and research skills, appreciation for the humanities, learning to use technology effectively.
School Administration
Edward O’Donoghue, Frontier Regional /Union 38 Interim Superintendent
Martha Barrett, Sunderland Elementary School Principal
J. Martin Leggott, Frontier Regional School Principal
Judith Siciliano, PhD, Conway Grammer School Principal
Donald Skroski, Whately Elementary School Principal
Douglas Tierney, Deerfield Elementary School Principal
Diana Campbell, PhD, Frontier Regional/Union 38 School Districts Technology Coordinator
Louise Law, Elementary School Curriculum Coordinator
Christine Sweklo, Middle and Secondary School Curriculum Coordinator
Curricula Credits
Teacher-Authors
Deerfield Elementary School, Deerfield, Massachusetts
Charlene Galenski, 5th grade Teacher
Kathleen Klaes, 5th grade TeacherMary Gene Devlin, 6th grade Teacher
Bette Schmitt, school Librarian
Frontier Regional School, Deerfield, Massachusetts
Middle School Team
Howard Barnard, 8th grade History Teacher
Robert Smith, 8th grade English TeacherHigh School Team
Carolyn Dashef, middle, high school Art and Drama Teacher
Janice Dore, PhD, Library/Media Center Director
Frank Heston, high school Social Studies Teacher
Curriculum Advisor
Barbara Levy, PhD
Curriculum Coordinators
Louise Law, Elementary School Curriculum Coordinator
Christine Sweklo, Middle and Secondary School Curriculum Coordinator
Humanists-in-Residence (in-school museum advisors)
Susan McGowan
Lynne Manring
Angela Goebel Bain
Scholars: NEH Humanities Focus Seminar
John Crowley is lecturer at Yale University and an award winning novelist as well as a writer of documentary films for Straight Ahead Pictures.
Thomas Doughton, PhD is an independent scholar and a member of the Nipmuc Nation. His expertise is Northeast Native American Studies, and has lectured at several universities including Dartmouth, the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Worcester College
David Glassberg, PhD, Director, Public History Program and Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University; has special expertise in work with teachers to revise classroom pedagogy.
Harvey Green, PhD, Northeastern University, Boston, Professor of History. Author of numerous works including, Fit for America: Health, Fitness, Sport, and American Society, 1830 – 1940. The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America. The Consumer Culture and the American Home, 1890-1930.
Kevin Sweeney, PhD, Amherst College, Associate Professor of History and American Studies. Dr. Sweeney has written extensively on American Colonial History and early American material culture. His forthcoming book (2002) will center on the Deerfield Raid of 1704.
Esther M. A. Terry, PhD, University of Massachusetts, Chair of the Afro-American Studies Department. Dr. Terry has expertise in African American History and Literature.
Patricia Tracy, PhD, Williams College, Professor of History. Dr Tracy has expertise in early American History and the history of women and is the author of Jonathan Edwards, Pastor: Religion and Society in Eighteenth Century Northampton and Jonathan Edwards, Pastor: Minister and Congregation in the Eighteenth-Century Connecticut Valley.
Project Consultants
Marilyn McArthur, PhD, Evaluation and Assessment Consultant
Victoria Getis, PhD, Curriculum Design Associate, Web page Developer
Elizabeth Terhune, Curriculum Design Associate, Web page Developer