Heather-

We have a history kit that we ship out to teachers called "Village Life in
Early Vermont"  It focuses on farms and general stores and includes many
reproductions of goods that would have been in a Vermont general store from
1820-1850.  The teacher's guide has copies and transcripts of account books
from general stores in Vermont that list most of these items (and many
more).  This kit was created before my time here and I think it is really
helpful for teachers.  There are 3 activities you can do with these
artifacts off the top of my head that I think are fun and worthwhile for
students.

Economy- discuss the nature of the barter economy (we include examples of
ledgers from farmers that shows the different things they trade). And supply
and demand.  Have students take all of these items and put them in order of
most expensive to least expensive (the items in this kit include salt, grass
seed, a lustre pitcher, a transferware cup and plate, tin apple corer and
candle sconce, crckery butter churn, wool, linen, mourning calico, wrought
nails, etc.).  Talk about why something is valuable, luxury vs. necessity.
Then compare their results with the general store records.  You can also do
math stuff here (for example the the account book lists the price for a keg
of nails- how much would less cost?) There is also a cool price code based
on tic tac toe that storekeepers used so that exact prices weren't apparent.

Seasons- talk about what might be stocked in stores according to the
seasons.  There's a list in this teacher's guide by season (I can't take
credit for any of this, by the way, it was created before my time here).
Some examples- empty barrels are important in the fall, seeds and fishing
tackle in the spring, sugar and cotton textiles in the summer, woolens and
school books in the winter.

Geography- It's eye- opening for students to see that goods from all over
the world were fairly accessible to a rural farmer in Vermont inthe 1820s.
The general store account book lists goods from Havana, St. Croix, England ,
Spain, India and Turkey.  Identify these places on a period map.  How did
the goods get there?

Maybe some of these ideas would work for you- I'd be glad to send you the
teacher's guide for this kit.  Good luck!

Amy

Amy Cunningham, Director of Education
Vermont Historical Society
Vermont History Center
60 Washington Street
Barre, VT 05641-4209
phone (802) 479-8500
fax (802) 479-8510
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Visit our web site: vermonthistory.org






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