TEACHINGHISTORY WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS °Kathle.en D. Roe The chaZZenge of ZocaZ history using primary resource material is discussed. Early town records avaiZabZe in Dutchess County provide a fascinating Zook at the past. Kathleen Roe is an Archivist at the New York State Archives in Albany~ N.Y.
The excitement of history comes to life for students.when they view the past through the eyes and activities of the people who actually lived it. Historical records provide young people with a direct link to the past because they were created by and for history's participants, unlike textbooks which necessarily speak in generalities and stereotypes. Teachers, local historians, and other educators can use historical records to achieve both historical and educational goals while making history a more personal experience. / The records of local governments in Dutchess fbr County are an especially valuable resource obtaining a more complete and accurate understanding of the county's past. They provide a framework for understanding both individuals and their concerns, as well as showing how those individuals interact as a society. For example, records kept by overseers of the poor give.details on the economic and physical state of individuals who had.fallen on "hard times" and also show how people provided for the care of the poor and sick at a time when it was generally understood that care of such persons was the responsibility of the family. Local government records also include a wide range of people in their scope, not just those who could write. Commonly unrecorded groups such as blacks appear in slave manumissions, or registers of children born to slaves. Social issues are also reflected in local government records, ranging from the seventeenth century concern over destruction causedl by marauding pigs and cattle to twentieth century controversies over allowing bikini bathing suits to be worn at the public swimming pool. By providing both a panoramic view and an individual peek into the past, local government records help students to achieve a better understanding of all the facets of local.history, not merely the chronological Jjnes ~nd achievements oj' ceirt-ain .. loc.a1 •p~~iSJ>nages_,_ap.d) ·f a!fiJ,1ies:r .. treat.ad. in, p0-iii..t't.(i!a;tr:.hist0r:y. ,, "· •:L!:. :: • ':>;, •. ~ ; ,.,.:J :. . -~-
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