Picturing America

Last spring I applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program is called "Picturing America." I received several large, beautiful pictures to post in my room or around the school. I have already used several of the pictures as writing prompts to stimulate discussion in my classroom about leadership, citizenship and courage. There is an accompanying Guide Book that offers background information on the artworks as well as some questioning ideas. It is tiered by grade level- elementary, middle and secondary. There was a second round of grant applications this fall, and I believe a new round will be offered in the spring. The good news is that the pictures and the guide book are all available online here.

You may want to check the list of schools that already have this resource on NEH website. There are a lot of schools in the area that applied and were recipients of this grant. You may have them already, but not know it. They are a great resource for all subject areas, and to use for cross-curricular activities.

Presidential Inaugurations

There is already much buzz about the inauguration ceremonies of Barack Obama in January 2009. Certainly, the crowds will be large and the media coverage persistent. How will this inauguration compare with those of past presidents? Check out "I Do Solemnly Swear . . .": Presidential Inaugurations from the Library of Congress' American Memory. This presentation includes diaries and letters of presidents and of those who witnessed inaugurations, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets and programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music relating to inaugurations from George Washington's in 1789 to George W. Bush's inauguration of 2001.

"It's Toasted"

I have recently started watching Madmen, an AMC series that "follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising ...." I was struck by an scene early in the first season where lead character Don Draper meets with executives of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Discouraged by the recent exposure of the "health risks" of smoking, the company must try a different approach to advertising. Their ads featuring physicians claiming that Lucky Strike are less irritating must be replaced. After a few minutes of brainstorming, Don comes up with the phrase "it's toasted." A few weeks before seeing this episode, I came across an exhibit curated by the Stanford School of Medicine and on display in the New York Public Library through the end of December. Not a Cough in a Carload: Images from the Tobacco Industry Campaign to Hide the Hazards of Smoking tells "the story of how [principally through advertising images] between the late 1920s and the early 1950s, tobacco companies used deceptive and often patently false claims in an effort to reassure the public of the safety of their products." The ads in this exhibit illustrate social norms and gender roles of the early to mid 20th century. Check out the exhibit at http://lane.stanford.edu/tobacco/index.html.

Harding Home

On November 13 we visited the Marion, Ohio home of Warren G. Harding and made a stop at the Harding Tomb, a white marble monument designed with similar features of a Greek temple.

Harding is often ranked at or near the bottom of the list of American presidents. We learned that his designation as possibly the worst president to date is based on scandalous actions of his cabinet members and possible personal indiscretion. Are scholars considering Harding's high approval rating at the time of his death in office, the founding of the Veterans' Bureau under his administration, or the establishment of the Bureau of Budget to help curtail federal expenditures?

In the tradition of grand presidential tombs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Harding's memorial was complete with funding of public donations in 1927. However, the tomb was not dedicated until 1931, as President Coolidge was unwilling to preside over the dedication ceremony in fear of too closely associating himself with the Harding administration.