Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (Memorial Hall Museum)

Purpose: Expanding Educational Services Memorial Hall Museum will permanently establish a teachers' Center for American History and related Social Studies. Planned in collaboration with public school educators, the teachers' Center has been designed to provide elementary and secondary teachers and school librarians multidisciplinary study and training in American history and related social studies, including the classroom use of historic artifacts and documents in teaching. It will house a lending library of teaching resources, a bank of computers, and a comfortable area for educators to participate in educational offerings. A variety of professional development programs will be offered, including workshops and graduate courses through distance learning. Programs will reflect current educational research and will emphasize teaching with primary sources, presenting local history as a window to major themes of American History. Establishment of a permanent teachers' Center is a natural culmination and institutionalization of Memorial Hall museum's recent major teacher professional development programs.