PrimaryResearch.org

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PrimaryResearch.org

• Local History Research by High School Students

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Founded in 1998Mass. Historical Records
Advisory Board Grant for Project Apprentice to
History (PATH)Extracurricular and curricular
projects created by high school students.
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CollaborationPATH (Project Apprentice to
History)Out of school class for high school
students who learn local history as part of a
collaboration with the loacl public library and
several of Bostons finest archives, museums, and
research libraries.

• PATH I (Spring 2000) Boston Massacre, Civil War
  Soldiers from Beverly.
• PATH II (Spring 2001) Maritime History
• PATH III (Spring 2002) Church Records
• PATH IV (Spring 2003) African-Americans in
  Antebellum Boston

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Collaboration DigitizationNathan Dane
CollaborativeModel project designed to expand
the archival resources of both the Massachusetts
Historical Society and the Beverly Historical
Society. The Collaborative provides a catalyst
for other local historical societies to catalog
and digitize manuscript collections.
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Research in the Field (Or Cemetery!)Tiptoeing
Through the TombstonesEarly morning visits to
local Puritan-era graveyards highlight student
research on aspects of Puritan life and
death.Dracuts Claypit Cemetery- Lakeview
Junior High School students (Dracut, MA) -
Cyber-CemeteryThe Local Environment as a
Laboratory for History
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Digitization Research

• Students begin by digitizing collections eg,
  Microform, Manuscripts, Photographs.
• Resulting digital collections are brought to life
  through their own investigation and published
  research.

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Student Research Digitization Projects

• Landscape History
• Public School History
• Social History of Postcards
• Neighborhood History
• Stone Walls of New England
• More (Annotated List)

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Beverly Educational Archives

• Documents dating from 1763 to present.
• Records collected by the archives include
  yearbooks, student publications, school committee
  reports, municipal documents, census records,
  letters, meeting minutes, microfilmed newspapers,
  and more
• Open for alumni, parents, students and scholars
• Highlights include
• Trade school / Industrial school collection
• Student publications (The Aegis 1901- present)
• Beverly Athletics Photographs

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Student Research Digitization ProjectsPublic
School HistoryA Study of American High School
Contributions to the World Wars,
1917-1949Immigration and Vocational Schools in
Beverly and the United StatesChanges in
America's Youth Culture as Portrayed Through High
School Literary Publications From 1915-2001The
Multifaceted Functions of the Beverly Evening
SchoolsThe Americanization of Beverly's
Immigrants Through EducationThe Social History
of Beverly High School Cheerleading The Evolving
Role of Young Women in Middle Class Culture and
SocietyCorporal Punishment in Beverly and
Cambridge, MA Just, or Just Plain Mean?The
History of Special Education in the Late 1800s to
Mid-1900sA Look Through Beverly SchoolsThe
History of Student Councils in Beverly as an
Example of John Dewey's Participatory
GovernmentMolding Beverly's Youth into Model
Citizens Character Education Curriculum,
1890-1930Noblese Oblige, or Self Interest? A
Demographic Analysis of School Committee
Membership, Responsibility and Action,
1860-1900Changes in Beverly High School's
Culture and Organizations in Response to World
War OneNormal Schools' Influence on Women's
Changing Roles in SocietyVocational Education in
Beverly A Model of the Factory-School Connection
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African Americans in Antebellum Boston

• 1900 individuals living in Beacon Hill and West
  End neighborhoods around 1850 (year of the
  passage of the Fugitive Slave Law)
• Census, City Directories, Tax Records, State
  Legislative documents
• Digitization of The Liberator
• Record Linkage
• Collaboration with the Beverly Public Library,
  Boston Athenaeum, Massachusetts Historical
  Society and State House Library.

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Expanding Our Focus

• Newton North High School
• Student Life in 1973
• World War II veterans project
• Newton HS Archives Digitization / Jr. Thesis
• Lakeview Junior High School (Dracut)
• Claypit Cemetery Project
• African Americans in Pawtucketville
• Others!

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Contact Us!

• Dean Eastman
• eastman_at_primaryresearch.org
• Kevin McGrath
• mcgrath_at_primaryesearch.org