Place-Based Education

A "MySpace" for Local Studies in Massachusetts

Announcing the launch of a new social networking site for "humanities practitioners" in Massachusetts, built on the Ning platform. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities has funded this experiment, with additional support from the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston, and Mass. Humanities.

Check out the MAStudies Network at MAStudies.ning.com and join up if this collegial group of Commonwealth collaborators suits you!

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive

Link: Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive.

Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program

The Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program is responsible for the conservation and protection of hundreds of species that are not hunted, fished, trapped, or commercially harvested in Massachusetts. The Program's highest priority is protecting the approximately 178 species of vertebrate and invertebrate animals and 264 species of native plants that are officially listed as Endangered, Threatened or of Special Concern in Massachusetts.

See the list of Rare Species Occurance List By Town

Massachusetts - Factbites

Factbites was created by Rapid Intelligence, a content technology company based in Sydney, Australia. Their focus is on computational linguistics, data mining and artificial intelligence. They demonstrate these competencies through "Factbites," a search engine more interested in content analysis than link popularity.

This entry shows the Factbites results for a search on "Massachusetts"

Link: Massachusett - Factbites.

Spontaneous Toasts to the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780

The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 - the oldest written, still-governing constitution in the world!

Link: Read some heartfelt toasts to the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780

Teaching Tools for Local History

A guide for using local resources in the classroom. Topics covered include:

• Buildings and Neighborhoods
• Cemeteries
• Census Documents
• Documents
• Images
• Maps
• Material Culture (Artifacts)
• News and Cartoons
• Timelines
• Town and City Records

Link: Table of Contents