CGYHU for January 2023

As part of the Carmine Guica Young Historians (CGYH) program, the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) provides teachers, students, families and the community with information on town, state and national history for the month ahead. 

GENERAL INFORMATION

• If you have questions, want to arrange for a program or need more information, call 802-226-7807 or e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.com

• To learn more about the various programs that CHS offers for students and community, as well as opportunities close to Cavendish, go to the Resource Page. 

• The CHS Cares Closet, located next to the steps of the Museum is free, open 24/7, and offers a wide array of things to do, read etc. for both children and adults.

 

TRACKING THE SUN: We were fortunate to have our series of December workshops on the 21st this year. As part of the workshops, we discussed how many of the traditions that are attributed to Christmas and other holidays actually grew out of solstice customs. 

 

After Dec. 21, daylight hours start to increase, and the sun is higher up, which  ends  with the summer solstice in June. Solar intensity depends on the sun’s height. But since the ground and the air take a while to catch up we won’t reach our coldest average temperature until the third week of January. Our daily gains in sunlight will be minuscule at first, just a matter of seconds a day, but will steadily grow until daily daylight expands by three daily minutes per day in March. 

 

The amount of increasing sunlight is different depending on location. For example, in Alaska in March, they receive an extra 7 minutes of daylight per day, adding up to an extra hour of sunlight each week, while in our area it’s much slower. By the end of January we will be gaining sunlight by 2.23 minutes per day and reach our peak of sunlight per day at the time of the spring equinox March 20.  

 

It can be both and interesting for students to track the changes over the next month or so. Use this link for Cavendish Sunrise, Sunset and Daylength. 

 

TRIPS: Now is the time to be thinking about history related class trips for spring. Please let us know what you’d like to consider.

 

HISTORICAL DATES FOR JANUARY

January 1: Happy New Year! The most celebrated holiday around the world

• 1863: Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves

 PBS Emancipation Proclamation Lesson Kids video 

 

Note : The Emancipation proclamation was not enforceable but as Union troops moved through the South, they brought the news of emancipation with them and the ability to enforce the order through military might. Further encouraged by the proclamation, large numbers of slaves freed themselves. 

 

On June 19, 1865, US Brigadier General Gordon Granger and his troops landed at Galveston, Texas confirming the news that the Civil War had ended and that enslaved African Americans were now free. Prior to Granger’s arrival, the US military presence in Texas was too weak to enforce President Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Two months after General Lee’s surrender in Virginia, Union forces were strong enough to act as a liberating force for enslaved African Americans throughout the state. This became known as Juneteenth, which is now a federal holiday. 

 

The 13^th Amendment, which abolished slavery was ratified on Dec. 6, 1865. Unfortunately, slavery was not abolished until the summer of 1866, as the five tribes that were driven in the Trail of Tears, continued the practice of slavery. 

 

Other events on this date include: The establishment of the United Nations in 1942

 

January 6: Feast of the three Kings, which officially ends the 12 Days of Christmas

 

January 11: Alexander Hamilton is born in the British West Indies. While the film version of the Broadway play is available from Disney+, a special website has been set up for teachers and students-Teaching History with Hamilton 

 

January 15: Martin Luther King was born in 1929

• The King Center: The King Library and Archives in Atlanta is the largest repository of primary source materials on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement in the world. 

• Smithsonian Resources for MLK 

• PBS MLK Legacy 

• Teaching Tolerance 

 

January 17: Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706

• Franklin Institute 

 

January 19: Edgar Allen Poe was born 1809. 

The Poe Museum Educational Resources 

CHS Briefs December 2022

If you have questions, would like to volunteer with Cavendish Historical Society (CHS), or have items for the CHS Cares Closet please e-mail margocaulfield@icloud.comor call 802-226-7807.

 Welcome winter, though it officially doesn’t start for about 20 days. Thanks to Dave Gallagher and Ana, the lights at the Museum are shinning bright, and thank you to Svetlana Phillips for the Stone Church decorations.

 

NEW FOR WINTER 2023/Fireside history chats: In response to various people asking if we’d be repeating different talks/programs at times that were better suited for them, CHS is introducing “Fireside History Chats”this winter. You pick the topic, the time and the place. Invite up to 10 other people, and CHS will bring the program to you, provided it’s within the Okemo Valley. It can be at someone’s home or a central meeting place. 

 

While we can arrange for a particular topic, some talks you might be interested in include:

• Captive Johnson: The story behind “Calico Captive”

• Reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Pick a book, prose poems etc.

• “Columbian Exchange,” refers to the transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, disease and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia after 1492.

• Phineas Gage

• The eerie side of Cavendish

• The first peoples of Cavendish

 

HOLIDAY PROGRAM: In December, CHS runs a series of workshops for CTES students, featuring a different country and Winter Solstice traditions. This year we will be studying the Ukraine through its folktales, Father Frost and the legend of the spider. The date for the workshops is tentatively set for Dec. 21. If you have a home learner that would like to take part in the workshops, please contact the teacher for their respective grade. 

 

INTERESTED IN ARCHIVAL WORK? CHS is going to be relocating the archives in 2023. Before they are moved, a lot of work is needed in sorting and cataloguing. It’s very interesting work and you’ll learn a lot. If interested? Contact us at the numbers above.

 

WHAT’S NEW AT THE CHS BLOG

• CGYHU (Young Historian’s) Update for Dec. 2022 

• Fall Scribbler II 

 

CHS’S ANNUAL APPEAL

November 25, 2022

 

Dear Friend:

 

Chances are that you follow one of the many outreach efforts of the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) and therefore know it’s been a busy year, with new programs, amazing young historians, and uncovering hidden aspects of Cavendish history. What we haven’t had a chance to post is that the Cavendish Stone Church belfry and roof were repaired in October. We can breathe a sigh of relief as winter rain, snow and wind are now upon us. 

One of my favorite parts of the summer, was the emergence of a group of Cavendish boys that call themselves, “Wild Boys,” because they are teaching themselves how to live off the land. In grades 2-5 at Cavendish Elementary, they’re part of CHS’s Young Historian’s program. In August, they asked if I’d open the Museum so they could see Phineas Gage’s skull. We ended up doing a special mid-week program for them. They became regular Sunday visitors, asking terrific questions and wanting to participate in other CHS programs.  It’s incredible to see a new generation of historians forming, and we hope to have new programs for them and other curious kids the summer of 2023. 

 

Even though the Museum is closed for the winter months, there is still a lot happening, not only with Young Historians, but with archival work. While we need all the donations we can get, please look at the ways below you can help with volunteer activities and let us know, using the numbers above, if you can help 

 

You can play an integral part in CHS by:

• Donating to the annual appeal campaign (see attached form), specifying how you want your contribution to be used. 

 

• Renewing your annual membership.

 

• Volunteering to help with our various programs. We are currently in need of volunteers to help with the archives; identifying WWII patches for the Brenda Gregory project; organizing archives; serving on the board and planning fundraisers.

 

• Donating gently used items to the CHS Closet (please call or e-mail, we’ll make arrangements to pick up items).

 

• Sharing family Covid journals and items that can be archived for future generations. 

 

Wishing you a joyous holiday season, and a safe and happy New Year.

 

Sincerely,

 

Margo Caulfield, Director