This lesson will help you understand an era in history that marked a radical change in the United States of America. The Gilded Age is often overlooked because it was so different but out of it came the America of the Twentieth Century. The approach to be used will allow you to see how different segments of society shaped and were affected by the times. We are going to create a Gilded Age museum and your task will be to work in a group that will fill one wing of the museum. What will you put in your wing that best describes the Gilded Age experience of your group? Remember that the changes that occurred during the Gilded Age indeed shaped the United States that we know today.

The Task

• Research your assigned segment using internet and conventional sources;
• Know basic history of the Gilded Age;
• Decide what to include in your section of the museum;
• Be sure to include as variety of items: pictures, primary documents, pictures of or real artifacts, diaries, testimony, music, a suggested bibliography etc. If possible these should be authentic but some will have to be created to suit the needs of your exhibit. You may wish to consider creating and wearing appropriate costumes.
• Your group will present their work to the class using power point and physical objects, music, video etc.
• Each group should include a summary of their topic in the presentation.
• Each group should include ten questions on the most important parts of their museum wing.
• Part of the group and individual evaluation will be a self-evaluation of the group and the individual contributions.

1. This lesson will require work in and out of class. While it would be helpful to have Internet access for all group members there are things that can be done without one. Each member of the group will research and search for items that can be used in your museum wing. These should be ready to be incorporated into a power point presentation or shown in class during the presentation. All things used in the project should be documented. Turabian citation style should be used.
2. Each group member will have a role to fulfill as listed in the Group Roles section below.
3. The PowerPoint sections will be added to the BHS website.
4. Physically gather your information and save as much as possible on a disc.
5. Assemble the group's information and prepare it for presentation to the class.
6. Be prepared to explain and defend your selections and question the other groups on their presentations.
7. Each student will write a two-page paper summarizing their groups work and documenting important sources.

• Industrialists/entrepreneurs
• Immigrants
• Farmers
• Urban poor
• Children
• Industrial labor
• Politicians(the role of government)

• Curator- you are responsible for making sure that your exhibit is ready on time and of the highest quality. You will also take responsibility for presenting the exhibit to the class.
• Archeologist- your responsibility is to select the articles that will go into the exhibit. Each one gathered by the group will be evaluated and the best ones included.
• Historian- the historian will take responsibility for making sure that the important parts of the era are represented in the exhibit. Make sure that the important historical facts about your group are shown.
• Sociologist- the sociologist will make sure that the exhibit viewer can easily see the group's place in society and how they lived.

All members of the group should be familiar with appropriate sections of the text before beginning the research. The school and public libraries offer a variety of books and other sources of information. A list of Gilded Age Internet Resources is included, however this is simply a guide and does not preclude others sites and sources.
 
 

How the Other half lives. Jacob Riis

Robber Barons. Matthew Josephson

Twenty Years at Hull House. Jane Addams

The Immigrant Experience. David Reimers

Unwelcome Strangers:America, Identity and the Turn Against Immigration. David Reimers
 
 

The sights listed here should be used as links to other sites and the existence of this list does not prevent you from further searching for sites on your own.

Link to Gilded Age sites at universities

Cartoons of the Gilded age

Gilded Age - Primary Source Texts and Archives

http://history.hanover.edu/19th/gilded.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html general information
http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/history/courses/hist563/links.html

http://www.wm.edu/~srnels/giltext.htmlResources

http://www2.tntech.edu/history/.

Gilded Age home page (S. R. Nelson, College of William and Mary)

Evaluation
 

	4	3	2	1
RESEARCH	Entire group involved in internet and library research. Very efficient and of high quality.	Well done. All involved. Some flaws and work not evenly divided.	Got through the task but with minimal effort.	Group lacks intensity. Some barely breathing.
ROLES	Understood and fulfilled role at the highest level.	Fairly clear which role each had.	Roles not as clearly seen.	Role confusion.
THE SHOW	Great graphics. Entertaining and informative.	Good job. Clear and easy to follow.	Got the job done but lacking pizzaz.	Your mother would fall asleep.
QUALITY OF  MATERIALS	Everything clearly related to the age and group. Effectively shows the life style of the group.	Adequate coverage. Easy for others to learn from.	Understood but somewhat confusing.	Are you sure this is your class?
THE ESSAY	Fun to read, historically accurate, grammar correct.	Clear, covers most of the history.	Acceptable.	This makes no sense. barely better than nothing.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have learned about the gilded age by learning some information in groups and teaching this information to others. You should also have learned much from your classmates. Hopefully you will now be able to expand your own knowledge of the Gilded Age by exploring this project and examining the included references and finding more of your own.