Historical Source Lesson: Buildings
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ALL GRADES For the Educator: Use this historical source lesson with the sample analysis page (as a handout or overhead) to illustrate how to interpret buildings.
Download the sample analysis Image only as jpg |
Relevant Standards: When presented with the interpretive lessons and projects herein, this lesson meets Michigan Content and Benchmark Standards for Social Studies: II:1-3 Geographic Perspective
What are buildings?
Buildings are structures built by people for shelter, storage, gathering, and other functions. These might be sheds, packing houses, stores/markets, factories, houses, garages, hotels, schools, offices, etc.
Where can you find them?
Downtown Benton Harbor once housed many buildings related to the fruit industry: the Market, canneries, cold storage facilities, packaging companies, and other important businesses. Today, downtown Benton Harbor holds very few of the industries it once had. Noting the changing locations of different buildings, like the Benton Harbor Fruit Market, can help you understand the changing needs of a community.
How do you interpret them?
Analyzing architecture can help you understand a great deal about your community. Follow these steps to clearly and effectively interpret the buildings around you.
Take a walk around your community. What kinds of buildings do you find? Note the different styles and appearances of certain buildings. Do they look new or old? It may help you to take a photograph or draw a picture of the building for reference later.
Ask questions about the style and function of the building: Who built it and why? What was it used for originally? What is it made from? Does it look different today than it did originally? How? What can you say about its style and design? Who uses the building today, and how? What do you think this building says about the community today? What do you think it said when it was originally built? How did events in American history (like World War II) affect this building? Has the environment affected this building? How?
Answering questions like these can help you understand the uses of different buildings, and how the buildings have changed over time. They can also help you understand how communities change. You can write a story about the community using what you’ve learned about its buildings.
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