Discovering the past

  1. Outline
    1. How do we get information about the past
      • objects
      • buildings
      • photographs
      • old newspapers
      • personal accounts
      • old business records
      • cemeteries and church records
      • civil records
  2. Sample Projects
    1. Aural history - interview a parent or a grandparent in regard to a specified period (1930's). Decide on a series of questions to be answered ahead of time. Some of your students may have parents or grandparents who were in the Wells area in the 1930-1940's.
    2. Investigate how a hydraulic hose system works.
      • Look for signs of mining during your visit; machinery, tailings, etc.
      • Find a residence of a typical miner and describe.
    3. Pretend you are a child growing up in the 1930's and write a page in your diary telling about all the activities during a typical day.
    4. Write a play using some of the characters developed.
    5. Have the students make costumes for use in class of the era of 1930's.
    6. Pick a building and do a complete inventory on it: measurements, materials, windows, doors etc.
    7. Draw a picture of a Wells building.
    8. Draw a map of the transportation routes.
      • Pick a country from which miners came to Wells. Trace the route taken. Compare conditions and customs in the homeland and compare with those in Wells. Think about the changes and adjustments you would have to make.
    9. Have the students make a list of all the contents they would have brought if they lived in Wells in the 1930's.
    10. Write a diary depicting your journey to Wells if you were:
      • a miner
      • a passenger on the stage
      • a business man

Materials used in this kit:

  1. Core samples/rock set
  2. Video
  3. Slide show / Best kept secret in the Cariboo
  4. Old underground miners' helmet
  5. Mineral titles book
  6. Wells Photo book / Our town...Our times...Our history
  7. Wells History
  8. Excerpts from different books
  9. Hydraulic system (model)
  10. Walking tours, directions

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