When I typed in Sitting Bull in the Archive Grid, I really didn't learn anything new about him, but got a refresher on what I had read in the past. I'm assuming the autograph card will be from his days with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. What a great piece of history that would be to have!
For my own search I chose Lewis and Clark. There were 4,587 results, but they weren't all specific to the explorers. Gotta read everything to make sure you are looking at what you want!! There were several items that I found would be interesting if I was a serious history buff - the journal of Meriwether Lewis from 1803 that is housed at the American Philosophical Society and photographs from the route of Lewis and Clark at the Wisconsin Historical Society. There is also a letter written by Meriwether Lewis to General Henry Dearborn in 1806 requesting payment for supplies used on the expedition, which is at the Montana Historical Society. I noticed that there are 3 different locations for these items, which makes sense, seeing as they traveled quite a distance and each area they were in would most likely have the historical items for their area.
When I thought of how I would use this information in our library, I thought of the people that call or stop in looking for information for history from the Black Hills. I also thought of the 4th grade classes when they do their SD famous people research. I don't think this would help them much. Poker Alice is a biggie for us and there isn't much kid-friendly info. about her. I didn't find anything that would help the kids with her. And since they'd have to go to the institution holding the items, it really isn't much of a reference tool. Just for kicks, I typed in my last name to see what would come up. There were several people that had written articles that shared my name.
CAMIO is lots of fun. I could spend all day looking at the items in the "Sioux" search! For Paul Revere, there was an item said made by him that is a Tea Urn. I guess I question whether he made it or if it was something in his possession.
Like I said, I enjoyed looking at the items by the Sioux. What a great reference tool for the teachers when they are studying the different tribes. You can show your students pictures of the actual clothing , paintings, decorative arts and photographs from each tribe. I tried a couple of other tribes then to see what I'd get. The Plains Indians Scalp Shirt gave a terrific description of the shirt along with the photo. Not that you can't already get this same information from books, but being able to put it up on a screen for the kids to look at is impressive.
I thought of the teachers again when I looked up my favorite artists. Others had already blogged that there was nothing for Jon Crane and Terry Redlin, so I went with the masters. A few summers ago the summer reading program was on being creative and I'd gotten books and did activities around Georgia O'Keeffe and Piet Mondrian. This would have been an excellent tool to use during that time to show the kids their artwork. There were 69 works for Georgia O'Keeffe, but none for Piet Mondrian. With his name I only got 3 other artists who had been inspired by Mondrian. I can see this being a tool for the teachers to use when studying art. Being able to put up two pictures to compare and contrast on artists or styles would be easy. And being able to put it in a webpage to have it right on your computer, ready when you need it is very handy!
Good work, Kathy! Yes, Paul Revere was a silversmith by trade, and he did create the items you found. Your ArchiveGrid finds were great, too. Imagine looking at M. Lewis' actual journal! This is for serious researchers who are willing to take field trips. Conversely, CAMIO brings the field trip to you! Great museum/gallery pieces at our fingertips. I like your ability to connect these with potential users. Thanks for your comments.
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