I am very pleased to report that we recently received a $10,000 donation from the Foundation For MetroWest to help fund our upcoming Civil War Teacher Training Workshop at the Edgell Memorial Library this summer from July 9-11. We are very excited by the prospect of sharing discoveries from two years of exhaustive research, as well as original programming created to commemorateFramingham’s Civil War history with up 20 high school teachers.
This workshop will bring local teachers to the FHC to see all that we have to offer by way of original documents, artifacts, our Civil War memorial building, recently published books and access to local historians. We are still in the process of putting a syllabus together but we know that Fred Wallace’s Framingham’s Civil War Hero: The Life of General George H. Gordon and Pat Lavin’s My Dear Esty – Letters from Framingham Civil War Soldiers will be heavily utilized. Teachers will also enjoy our “Walking Tour of General Gordon’sFramingham” around the Centre Common and a performance of Be Swift My Soul: A Civil War Salon with Julia Ward Howe presented by local storyteller Libby Franck.
We are also extremely grateful and excited to be collaborating with the Center for Global Education at Framingham State University. They have extensive experience running K-12 workshops and teachers will be eligible for two graduate credits along with a stipend. If you are a local teacher or know of educators who might be interested in this unique opportunity please contact me at director@framinghamhistory.org to learn more. Many thanks are due to the Foundation for MetroWest for making this possible. We appreciate their understanding of how important this will be for our teachers to learn more about our untapped resources and how to use local history to make the national story more personal and meaningful for their students.