On the Maine Memory Network, I first explored my hometown of Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor and found nearly 150 pictures dating all the way back to the late 1800s. Along with these pictures, there was also 6 "exhibits" that included something about Boothbay in them, including an exhibit about tourists in the 1900s and a schooner boat, called Bowdoin, in the 1900s. I was extremely interested by everything I found about the town that I grew up in, a town that I was unaware had the history that I was able to find on this website. After looking up Boothbay, I looked up the Aroostook War, which took place from 1838-1839 and was able to find pictures of soldiers that were involved in the war, documents from before and after the war and locations from the war. Having no previous information about this war, learning more about it through these pictures was really interesting.
Being a social studies teacher, I would love to do a unit completely about Maine history and would use the Maine Memory Network as a guide to the unit. It would be really interesting to having each student find a picture and have to write about what they think was happening in the picture, or something similar. The Maine Memory Network would be a wonderful database for the unit or just has an extra resource for students throughout the year. As a social studies teacher there would be a bunch of different ways that I would love to use the Maine Memory Network, and I can definitely see myself using it as a tool in the future.
I think MMN is one of the state's hidden treasures. How fun that you learned so much about your own home town. The concept of " learning more about it through these pictures" is a powerful one for your social studies classroom.
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