“Tiptoeing Through the Tombstones”
In the course “Primary Research through the History of Beverly”, we incorporate research into the student learning opportunity. We attempt to bridge the distance between student, teacher and scholar.
The need for this type of “student as their own historian” approach evolved as part of a national reform movement to improve social studies education. The classroom approach of critical thinking through primary research is an integral aspect of this movement. This approach has finally enabled scholars and teachers to work co-operatively in the development of a strategy that is both academically challenging and exciting.
As the study of social history has become more widely used in our classroom, it becomes increasingly more relevant for students to be able to investigate the relationship of their local community or group with the larger national or international context or perspective of events. Unfortunately, history for many students has become a dull memorization of facts. This hands on approach to primary research will hopefully make history come alive through its own investigation.
In availing opportunities for a critical thinking through primary research, we have integrated a myriad of research vehicles for intellectual investigation. One of our most popular units of study is in the field of Early American Gravestone Studies which we fondly refer to as “Tiptoeing Through the Tombstones”.
Published articles
Eastman, Dean. “Tiptoeing Through the Tombstones,” Common Place, Vol 2, Issue 2 (January 2002). 2 Jan. 2002 <http://www.common-place.org/vol-02/no-02/school/>
I have to say I find your study of stones interesting, primarily because I went through a similar phase of doing essentially the same thing on eastern Long Island. What I was trying to do was gain a sense, or assess, changing attitudes within the Puritan world over time. What I eventually concluded was that the Calvinist aspects of Puritanism – very little of Puritanism is, or was, actually “Calvinist,” predestination being both a primary tenet and exception – was that it had received its final blow in 1790 when one half of the congregation of Gloucester, MA, rose to walk from the church with these words: “God has revealed to us a new light” (words to that effect). The use of the word “light” here, incidentally, is figurative; it was not intended as a reference to the “New Light” of the Awakening. But at this point, I think, we can effectively mark the birth of what I came to then label, as “Modern Protestantism.” (Emphasis in the above, btw, on the word “final.”) I cannot say, either, that this change was entirely for the better; what predestination did was aid to ensure those of the community walked “in the way” in an effort to lend the impression of “Saved.” In this sense, Grace becomes a matter of political expedience; in short, it’s “social justice,” but it also admits of a lessened behavioral standard. Either way though this creation over generations of American Puritanism, and its ensuing evolution, served to temper religion throughout the western world. A “light upon the hill” is precisely what occurred.
Mr. Eastman, I have been tiptoeing with my HS students as part of a local history course at Rockport High School. If you have any interest in comparing notes, let me know—we are very close by!