In addition to these Saturday trips to Boston, PATH students came to the Beverly Public Library every Wednesday morning ninety minutes before school to continue the research they had started on the previous Saturday. Of the original thirteen, six continued in their research throughout the summer and fall. In September, five students from the Beverly High School course Primary Research Through the History of Beverly also became involved.
The Boston Massacre
In the spring of 2000, our class studied the Boston Massacre. To investigate sources of the history of the Boston Massacre, we visited the Massachusetts Historical Society, for the Adams family papers and other documents;the Gutman Education Library at Harvard, for school textbooks; the Massachusetts State Archives, for Paul Revere’s engraving; and Judge Hiller Zobel, who wrote the authoritative work on the subject Boston Massacre.
Civil War Soldiers in Beverly
Another theme we employed in our first PATH program was the Civil War in Beverly, Massachusetts. Specifically, we would focus on enhancing the documentary heritage of Civil War history in Beverly by linking census records to regiment lists. This would allow us to know more about each soldier, including whether he owned property, his occupation, etc. We visited the following places: the Beverly Public Library, to discover what is known so far about Beverly Civil War soldiers.the Center for Lowell History, to read letters, journals, and other documents from Civil War soldiers. the National Archives in Waltham, to use census microfilm from 1860.To read in detail about how this theme was used during PATH I, click here.
Class Schedule (2000)
| Date: | Site: | Activity: |
| Wed., Feb. 9 | Beverly Public Library |
Introduction; overview of types of research libraries |
| Sat., Feb. 12 | Beverly Public Library |
Scavenger hunt using history reference books and Internet |
| Wed., Feb. 16 | Beverly Public Library |
Basics of primary documents and primary research |
| F E B R U A R Y V A C A T I O N |
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| Wed., Mar. 1 | Beverly Public Library |
Preparing for Beverly room with demonstration of city documents & directories. |
| Sat., Mar. 4 | Beverly Public Library |
David Shawn, use of Midwife’s Tale as teaching tool |
| Wed., Mar. 8 | Beverly Public Library |
Types of historical records and archives, record linkage using slave ship manifest and letters . |
| Sat., Mar. 11 | Beverly Public Library |
Scavenger hunt in Beverly Room |
| Wed., Mar. 15 | Beverly Public Library |
Assignment of project, GAR and women’s relief corps, civil war pensions |
| Sat., Mar. 18 | Massachusetts Historical Society |
Meet director Bill Fowler, Resources on Boston Massacre, samples of documents, tour by Jennifer Tolpa, Peter Drummey. |
| Wed., Mar. 22 | Beverly Public Library |
Social history of the Civil War, finding census records, introduction to Center for Lowell History website. |
| Sat., Mar. 25 | Center for Lowell History |
Tour by director Martha Mayo, Federal census records; Civil War research by regiment. |
| Wed., Mar. 29 | Beverly Public Library |
Mr. Eastman discusses Americanization, character education, Gutman Education Library collection, textbooks |
| Sat., Apr. 1 | Gutman Library (Harvard) |
Textbooks, educational records, historiography of Boston Massacre, tour by Marylene Altieri |
| Wed., Apr. 5 | Beverly Public Library |
Outline of questions to ask about the Boston Massacre |
| Sat., Apr. 8 | Beverly Public Library |
Compilation and cross-referencing of census data with Civil War regiment lists |
| Wed., Apr. 12 | Beverly Public Library |
Preparation for Hiller Zobel. |
| Thur., Apr. 13 |
Boston Superior Court | Judge Hiller Zobel discusses how intellectual curiosity leads to historical research. Boston Massacre. |
| A P R I L V A C A T I O N |
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| Wed., Apr. 26 | Beverly Public Library |
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| Sat., Apr. 29 | Massachusetts Archives |
Tour by Maxine Trost; Big Dig exhibit, Revere engraving, probate records |
| Wed., May 3 | Beverly Public Library |
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| Sat., May 6 | Beverly Public Library |
Compilation and cross-referencing of census data with Civil War regiment lists |
| Wed., May 10 | Beverly Public Library |
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| Sat., May 13 | National Archives (Waltham) |
Meet with Reed Ueda, tour by Jim Owen |
| Wed., May 17 | Beverly Public Library |
Compilation and cross-referencing of census data with Civil War regiment lists. Hand out sweatshirts. |
| Sat., May 20 | Massachusetts Historical Society |
Immigrant Massachusetts 1880-2000 seminar |
| Wed., May 24 | Beverly High School Library |
Demonstration of BHS Archives, tour, and instruction by Julliette Liu |
| Wed., May 24 | Beverly Historical Society |
Introduction and tour by Steve Hall & David Goss |
| Thur., May 25 | Beverly Public Library |
Banquet ceremony; pizza, |
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