Since its earliest days, Maine Memory Network has been used in schools throughout the state, for projects large and small, both in the classroom and in the community. Thanks to their creative and motivated teachers, thousands of Maine students, K-16, have experienced the excitement of learning about local history and how examining primary sources brings history to life.
Early on, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, which provides laptops to middle and high school students throughout the state, made it possible for Maine Historical Society, physically located in the southern part of the state, to digitally enter classrooms statewide. Students have been able to analyze primary sources—photos, documents, artifacts, and more—previously inaccessible to them, learn from hundreds of online exhibits, and engage in community projects designed to add their own community's history to the network. Educational engagement in Maine Memory Network provides students with superior service- and experiential-learning activities.
If you are an educator, student, or just want to learn more about Maine Memory's work in schools, the Education section of the Maine Memory Network is the place to begin. Teachers can select from "In the Classroom" and "In the Community" activities designed to fit their needs. The site includes numerous lesson plans including: a chapter-by-chapter primary source compendium to Finding Katahdin, a Maine history textbook; Maine History Online, its proprietary digital textbook of Maine history, organized by time period and theme; lesson plans developed by teachers; and multiple resources and training manuals for teachers.
With a free and private account, educators and students can begin to appreciate the depth and breadth of Maine Memory by using the Album Tool to create and save their own collections of images and documents to teach local and national history. Students can create their own online slideshows to illustrate Maine history in the classroom, and email them to teachers, fellow students, and parents as class projects.
Since 2007, nearly 50 educational institutions around the state have participated in major projects with Maine Memory Network. These projects include the Maine Community Heritage Project and the Community Mobilization Program, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Local & Legendary: Maine in the Civil War project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For the year-long MCHP and L&L projects, students collaborated with local historical societies and public libraries to create community history sites and exhibits for Maine Memory, resulting in thousands of new primary source items and hundreds of online exhibits added to the network. Much of the scanning, digital photography, research, writing, and exhibit construction was done by the students directly, making a large part of the content of today's Maine Memory a truly educational collaborative.
For more information about how your school can get involved in Maine Memory, visit the Education section, Email Kathleen Neumann, Manager of Education and Interpretation, or call her at (207) 774-1822 x214.
