The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925

Go directly to the collection, The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection. Critical thinking topics include:

Constructing Timelines | Using Poems as Historical Documents | Reading Imaginatively | Views on the Richmond Theater Fire | Using Photographs to Develop Research Questions | Interrogating Memoirs and Recollections | Analyzing Value-Laden Decisions

Chronological Thinking: Constructing Timelines

Timelines are useful tools for teaching chronological thinking, but timelines can also be misleading. Students too often fail to consider that the events on the timeline were selected by someone; instead, they conclude that the events listed were indeed the most important events—or perhaps the only significant events—of the period. Creating a timeline of local events related to larger national events can not only reinforce chronological thinking but broaden students' understanding of timelines as constructed documents.

Using a timeline of the American Revolution from your textbook, enlarged so there is ample room to add events, identify events on the timeline that involved Baltimore. Speculate on whether other events related to the colonies’ efforts to gain independence from Britain might have occurred in Baltimore during the Revolution. Then use the "Narrative of Events Which Occurred in Baltimore Town During the Revolutionary War," particularly the primary source documents in the "Appendix," to identify such events. Develop criteria for adding a limited number of these events (10 or 15) to the timeline, apply the criteria to choose events, and add the events to the timeline. This process simulates how all timelines in textbooks, encyclopedias, and other references are constructed.

Historical Comprehension: Using Poems as Historical Documents

Because literature reflects the values and interests of an era and because it can influence events, learning to interpret literary works as historical documents is an element of historical comprehension. The Capital and the Bay contains a collection of poetry by residents of Cecil County, Maryland, published in 1887. Choose an individual poet or poem from "The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland." Discuss the following questions:

• What topics does this poem or poet examine?
• What values are reflected in the poem(s)?
• Does this poetry collection tell us anything about the concerns of the period? The values of the poets?
• Might the interests and values reflected be different if the poets were from diverse geographic regions? Why or why not?

If feasible, conduct a similar study of a recently published poetry collection. What interests and values are reflected in the contemporary poems?

Constructing Timelines | Using Poems as Historical Documents | Reading Imaginatively | Views on the Richmond Theater Fire | Using Photographs to Develop Research Questions | Interrogating Memoirs and Recollections | Analyzing Value-Laden Decisions