July, 2010 Summer Institute Workshop
National Archives, Waltham Mass

Documents for the Moving Around- Using Historic Maps of Essex County to Learn About Changes in 19thc Communities(.pdf) Lesson

This lesson is meant to be used as a way to have students begin to think about how their community may have changed over time. It is often difficult for students, particularly younger children to “visualize” the changes that have occurred as people have moved into or out of an area. By focusing on the visuals that are emphasized through maps; landforms, transportation routes, human-made structures, etc. students can begin to imagine what a journey through their community would have looked like many years ago. Through this lesson, students will become more thoughtful about how people in their own community have shaped their environment and the motives behind those actions.

Primary Sources ...from the Leventhal Map Center, a division of the Boston Public Library Boston, MA

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• Historic Maps from Essex County towns - link to site only
• The Leventhal Map Center offers a variety of historic maps for download and for purchase. Maps used in this lesson include; Amesbury and Salisbury Mills, 1880, View of Beverly, MA, 1879, Survey of Property on Boxford Line, 1818, Ipswich, MA, 1893, Map of Lynn and Saugus, 1829, Plan of the City of Lynn, 1852, Sandy Bay (Rockport), 1829, Map of Salem Village, 1692, and Plan of the Town of Salem, 1820. In addition to the images provided there, Debra Block, Director of Education brought many of the original maps to our workshop and was very helpful in suggesting ways to use them with students
• Leventhal Map Center Teacher resources
  Leventhal Map Center Links of Interest

Primary Sources ...from the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds

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• Essex County Atlases, 1795, 1830, 1872 - link to site only
• When navigating on this site to get to particular Essex County towns - choose the Essex County option and the ESSEX COUNTY 1795 - then go to a particular town. Nearly every town in Essex County is represented in these atlases. Comparison of maps and the subsequent changes in town lay out can be traced rather dramatically..

Primary Sources ...from the Beverly Historical Society, Beverly, MA

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• Map of Hamilton/Wenham/Swampscott/Rockport - link to site only
• The Beverly Historical Society owns a volume of reproduced maps from the late 1800s. Please contact them to gain access to the maps

Primary Sources ...from the Ipswich Public Library

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• Ipswich Map, 1832
• The Ipswich Public library has an extensive collection of maps in its archives. One of these maps from 1832 is available for download from the Archives section of their website..

Maps to purchase...

Many local historical societies, city archives and public libraries have facsimiles of local historical maps for purchase. Listed below are some of the Essex County groups where you can buy maps. Please inquire at the individual sites for availability and prices.

Gloucester City Archives --The Archives of the City of Gloucester include historic maps; some have been reproduced and can be purchased here.

Andover Historical Society --A variety of historic maps of the Andover/North Andover community are on sale here.

North Andover Historical Society--A variety of historic maps of the Andover/North Andover community are on sale here.

Cape Ann Museum --The Cape Ann Museum has copies of historical Gloucester maps for sale.

Haverhill Public Library --The Friends of the Haverhill Public Library maintain a small gift shop at the front of the library. Maps of Haverhill, Ipswich, and Bradford can be found here.

Groveland Public Library --The Langley Adams Library has copies of a map of Groveland for sale.

...Web links for Related Subjects - web links current as of March 2011

Making A Collective Map Using Google Maps --activity from the PBS site that links with the National Parks, America's Best Idea, Ken Burns' film

Power of Place; Doing Ethnographic Studies of Local Sites -- N Y Times article/lesson ( April 15, 2010) asks students to explore the stereotypes associated with place names and begin to consider the ramifications of such.

Plymouth Colony Map Project --web listing of maps associated with both Plymoth and New England

Charting the New England Coast --University of Southern Maine site with a variety of early maps of the Atlantic coast of North America

Hubbard's 1677 Map of New England -a bold woodcut map of New England, regarded by its makers and acknowledged as the first ever to be engraved and printed in America, appeared in William Hubbard's Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, from the First Planting Thereof in the Year 1607, to the Present Year 1677."

US Geological Survey teacher pages -- site contains selected USGS educational resources that may be useful to educators in primary school grades