Discovering American Social History on the Web

Project Summary

I designed these web projects with two goals in mind. First, I wanted to locate American social history primary materials that my students would not otherwise have access to. I wanted these sources to be varied, including pictures, text and sound. I also wanted these sources to be of sufficient quantity that the students would have a lot to work with. This fits into my second goal, I wanted the students to use the sources to engage in their own research. As such I have tried to find sources that are open-ended, that allow the students to draw their own conclusions after going through the “sifting and winnowing” process of research.

Biography

Dan Kallgren is an award-winning Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin – Marinette. He has been at UW – Marinette since September of 1995. He received his BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1986, and his Ph.D in history from the University of Minnesota in 1995. His dissertation research was on the changing patterns of school attendance in the United States from 1850 to 1950. He has published in articles Historical Methods, The History Teacher and Historical Geography. Since coming to UW-Marinette, he has been particularly interested in innovations in undergraduate history instruction, including the use of the Internet and creating interdisciplinary learning communities. He has presented papers on those topics at national conferences, including the 2000 American Historical Association annual meeting in Chicago. He teaches courses primarily in American history and Western Civilization.