The rich array of primary sources in American Memory offers us an opportunity to explore and question literary and historical themes in "The American West". These resources help us ask questions of ourselves and others in our quest to understand the history that determines who we are today.

In this workshop, we will use a variety of multimedia items to investigate the formation of a "western" cultural identity as it formed in the American West in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. How did people survive and thrive in the American West? Through the use of prints, photos, text, sound, and film, we will examine and compare how the environment, the natural resources, and the migration of diverse peoples have influenced the development of our cultural identity that transcend this period of history to our lives today in the West.

The techniques, tools, and instructional structures for this workshop provide a framework for a study in local history, cultural identity, and document analysis. We will learn to analyze and use the multimedia items from the American Memory collection.
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The American West
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Objectives:

At the end of this workshop participants will:

• know more about how to apply critical analysis strategies to multimedia resources: audio, text-based, film, and photos and formulate questions and hypothesis about the context and meaning of the source(s)

• be able to use primary sources to question, critique, and assess an object’s value in the reconstruction of the history of our cultural identity in the American West

• be able to develop a lesson for students that uses multimedia resources in teaching historical and social science analysis skills

Tasks in Brief

In this workshop, participants will:

• practice using primary sources to question, critique, and assess an object’s value in the reconstruction of the history of our cultural identity in the American West
• select and interpret multimedia resources from several American Memory collections to deepen and question the formation of a uniquely "western" American identity
• demonstrate an understanding of content through performance using several strategies, for example: "tableau", dialogue, etc.
• discuss how unique environmental factors in the American West converged with the social and political events of the late 19^th and early 20^th century in the formation of a uniquely "western" cultural identity

Resources

American Memory Collections:

Buckaroos in Paradise, 1945-1982 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ncrhtml/crhome.html

California Gold: Folk Music from the Thirties http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html

California As I Saw It: First Person Narratives, 1849-1900 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbhome.html

Music for the Nation, 1870-1885 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/smhtml/smhome.html

The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngphome.html

Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-1941 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html

Additional Resources from the California Heritage Collection http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHeritage/