National Historical Sites and Parks: Connecting Economic History

This assignment is intended to help you make some connections with some of the National Historic Site that have been designated and maintained here is the US with the vast amount of Economic History we have been learning this semester.  You may want to delve further into colonial times and research the Jamestown Historical Site or something closer in location like the Golden Spike Historical Site.  There is a long list of possibilities.  In fact, there are 89 National Historical Sites and another 51 National Historical Parks to choose from.  Here is a link. to the current list. 

Keep in mind this should take will take some time to research and then put together a College-level, detailed presentation.  Do not underestimate the time commitment here.  When you are done you should be proud of the result.

This assignment is intended to help you make some connections with some of the National Historic Site that have been designated and maintained here is the US with the vast amount of Economic History we have been learning this semester.  You may want to delve further into colonial times and research the Jamestown Historical Site or something closer in location like the Golden Spike Historical Site.  There is a long list of possibilities.  In fact, there are 89 National Historical Sites and another 51 National Historical Parks to choose from.  Here is a link (Links to an external site.) to the current list. 

Your assignment will be to select one of these sites. Then dive in, research the site, and then report what your found out. We want to learn from your experience.  Remember this is an Economic History class so bring in the economically important aspects to your report. 

CHOOSE: Select from this list of National Historical Parks and National Historic Sites as the topic of your report (Link(Links to an external site.))

Post Once you have chosen your site please list it in the discussion thread so that no one picks your topic! If your selected site has already been selected pick another!

Contact : Contact your historical site and ask them to send you information concerning your site, including the Junior Ranger program. If you complete the Junior Ranger program and let me know that you have (and show it in your ePortfolio) you will get extra credit.

Research :

What is the general description of the historical site? (give a description of what you would find at your site and what it is all about)

What is the historical context of this site? (in other words, what else was happening at this same time frame)

Why is the site historically important? (why did the US think it was so important that they created a historical park/site)

Why is the site economically important? (Recall the Economic Reasonings as part of this historical context), I am not asking how much money they brought in last year. Example: The Golden Spike historical site was economically important as it joined the east to the west and created more choices for where producers could sell their products and allowed people to move more easily across the country.   

Why should you and I care about this place? (Help us understand why should care or what the significance of this site is or even why we might want to plan a vacation to visit this place)

Make the presentation interesting and something you are proud of.  The presentation that are more compelling, interesting are the ones that usually get higher grades.  Make this something you would share with friends and family.

Report /Presentation : This report is NOT an essay. I am not looking for a 20 page research paper on this topic. Make it interesting for your peers and I to review.

This is to be a multimedia presentation of the information that will take about 8-10 minutes to present. You may choose to do a presentation via Prezi, Explain Everything, Periscope, PowerPoint with voice over (least preferable), Video of you presenting or another appropriate medium - when in doubt ask.  Things to consider in your presentation: you should have pictures along with written explanations, narratives, and if appropriate period music, you may include links if appropriate.