(Wampsville, NY – Dec. 2014) On Oct. 21, Madison County and the Madison-Oneida BOCES received the NYS Archives Award for Excellence in the Educational Use of Local Government Records by a Local Government for their partnership in brining local primary source documents into local classrooms.
For nearly three years, Madison County Clerk Denise Roe, Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz and Madison-Oneida BOCES School Library System Director Diana Wendell partnered on a project to utilize local historical documents from the Madison County Archives in lesson plans for local classrooms and beyond. The three-day seminars bring teachers to the Madison County Clerk’s Office where they utilize local documents to create lesson plans centered on archival holdings. Local lesson plans covered the Erie Canal, the Civil War, World War II and more. The lesson plans are available online by visiting the Madison-Oneida BOCES website sites.google.com/site/mobprimarysources.
Public records have statutory utility, but, if used creatively, they can also help community members, educators, researchers and students tell real-life stories about local history. This solid, collaborative relationship has generated positive results in the area of professional development and local historical appreciation. It began with a Teaching with Primary Sources Grant from the Library of Congress and has continued with assistance from NYS Archives grants for the educational use of local government records. Madison County’s strong and active records management program has made it possible for educators to easily access county records. All educational resources resulting from this collaboration are available free to the project participants and the public on the Internet.
The project team has shared their experience by presenting at regional and statewide professional development workshops and conferences for public historians, archivists, school, academic and public librarians, K-12 teachers and at the Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Albany-based and regional conferences.
This collaborative, inventive effort has created an effective, replicable model for providing professional development using local government records that is efficient, creative and timely with far-reaching benefits for teaching, research and local government records management.