Lesson # 7 - ArchiveGrid and CAMIO

As I completed the first discovery exercise using ArchiveGrid, I learned that Sitting Bull was involved in the Battle of the Little Big Horn and then eventually fled to Canada before surrrendering to US troops. He was killed while resisting arrest for refusing to abandon the traditions of the ritual Ghost Dance.
For my own search on ArchiveGrid, I searched for materials on Frederick Douglass, as my juniors in American literature read a cutting from one of Douglass' narratives. There were 716 results for Douglass, including letters and scrapboooks. The scrapbooks contain clippings on his life, career, funeral, interment, and the erection of a monument in Rochester, NY. Some of the institutions that have these materials include the Rochester Public Libray and the New York State Archives.
Moving on to the second discovery exercise using CAMIO to search for results on Paul Revere, I saw a number of the sterling silver items Revere is known for, including a teaspoon, sugar bowl and cover, teapot, urn and bowl. As I did this search, it reminded of a trip I took last summer to Boston as part of a Democratic Vistas conference I was selected to attend. While there, I had the opportunity to listen to guest lecturers who were art professors from the universities in and around Boston and to go to the musuem where John Singleton Copley's painting of Revere is located. Our guest lecturer talked at length about the sterling silver of Revere.
When I used Sioux as my search term in CAMIO, I found results that included books, drawings, dolls, pipe bowls, coats, and jewelry.
I entered Norman Rockwell as the search term of my choice and found many of his famous paintings. Rockwell is another artist I have studied in conjunction with the Democratic Vistas conference, and a portfolio of one of his famous paintings is part of the Picturing America collection that I incorporate into the American literature course that I teach.
As a teacher of American literaure, world literature, and mythology, I offer my students a variety of projects to choose from as we complete a unit of study. I always try to include a project choice that appeals to students interested in art, so iI am looking forward to introducing those students to CAMIO as a possible source for information for their projects.