Example of "Then and Now" photos for Class Project #1:

Old kitchen at the historic Knott House in Tallahassee, built in 1843.	A modern kitchen

CLASS OBJECTIVES

     Our classes have been invited to participate in a Florida State Archives photo project, The Florida Memory Project, that showcases student work resurveying landscapes, architecture and themes from historic photographs.
     In the classroom, we will select and study old photographs from the Tallahassee State Archives Florida Photographic Collection. Through these photographs, students will learn about our local history, relevant issues and architecture.
    Because historic homes give clues about the people who built and lived in them, students will study local architectural styles – Georgian, Carpenter Gothic, Queen Anne, Renaissance, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, and they will learn how to "read a building."
    Then, on an April 9th walking tour of downtown led by Beth LaCivita, director of Historic Florida Consulting, LLC and former executive director of Tallahassee's local historic preservation board, students will learn about and photograph the same buildings and sites as they appear today.
 
    In a separate project (Project #1), students will also document a change that’s more personal to them.

    Using the photos and their research, students will write two short essays, one for each project, reflecting upon the changes they observe.

Important: 
Parents, please download this form, sign it and return to me: Parental Permission form for the Florida State Archives to use your personal "old photo" (See Project #1, below), use students' work, etc.

STUDENT PROJECTS (Required)

Project #1

1. Example
     Look at some changes in their city that third graders in Ocala, Florida, discovered and wrote about. These children chose different themes for their photos: dolls, horses, family, etc.

2. Choose your own theme.
     You will choose a theme from the list that you brainstormed in class.

3. Using this theme, find an old photo that shows how something in your life (YOUR THEME) – your neighborhood, your family, your hobby, etc. used to be.

   Bring the old photo to school. Or, if you don't have a suitable old photo at home, choose and print an old photograph from the Florida Memory Project Photo Collection. If you choose a photo from this collection, write its web site address in pencil on the back of the picture. This is due February 20th!

    Be prepared to tell the class about the photograph: 

• What is your theme?
  
• What is your subject of your photo? (Who? What?)
• Who took it?
  
• Where did they take it?
  
• When did they take it?
  
• Some information about the subject.
  
• Why you chose it.

4. Take or find a new photo of the same subject as it appears today.
For the "new photo," parents, please either send to class a CD with a digital file of the student's "new photo," the camera with which you took the photo (*and the cable with which we will download the picture) or a clear, high-quality (high-resolution) print that we can scan.

For this individual project, it would be helpful, but not necessary, for the student to have use of a digital camera at home.
    
5. In class, you will research and write a short essay that reflects on your subject (theme) – how it once was and how it has changed.

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Project #2 
(Students will begin this project when they have successfully completed Project #1).

1. Using the Harper Collection, the Granger Collection and the Red Kerce Collection at the Florida State Archives and other resources, you will study historic (old) photos of buildings, parks and other historic sites in downtown Tallahassee.

2. Choose one photo of one of these buildings or site that especially interests you.

• The Calhoun Historic District:
  Randall-Lewis House (424 North Calhoun)
  Governor Bloxham House (410 North Calhoun)
  Mizell-McMullen (525 North Calhoun)
  Bradford-Cobb House (403 North Calhoun)
  Cotten House, 400 North Meridian Street
  Brokaw-McDougall House (329 North Meridian Street)
  
  
• The Park Avenue Historic District:
  Knott House Museum (301 East Park Avenue)
  Munroe House, (133 North Gadsden Street), LeMoyne's Gift Shop
  Murphy House (317 East Park Avenue)
  B.C. Lewis House (316 East Park Avenue)
  The Columns (100 North Duval Street)
  
  
• The Old City Cemetery, founded in 1829 (Park Ave. and MLK Boulevard)
  
• Gallie’s Hall (northeast corner of Jefferson and Adams Street)
  
• John Gilmore Riley House (419 East Jefferson Street)
• St. Johns Episcopal Church, 211 North Monroe Street

3. You will do research to learn about the building or historic site in your photo.

4. April 9th we will go on a Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Tallahassee.

*Only students who have completed Project #1 and parts 1, 2 and 3 of Project #2, will be permitted to go on the field trip.

On our field trip, you will take a copy of your photo. Using a digital camera, you will also take a new photo of the same subject today (standing in the same spot as the photographer did when he or she took the old photo).

5. You will research, observe and write about how this building or site has changed.

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More Online Resources for this class:

Comparison and Contrast Essay Guide

Tallahassee State Archives Florida Photographic Collection

Capitol Downtown Cultural District Walking Tour brochure

Tallahassee Walking Tour (audio MP3 files)

Tallahassee-Leon County Local Register of Historic Places and Historic Preservation Properties

Hounding local history in antique houses, an article in FSView, April 5, 2004

Florida's History Through Its Places

Map of Downtown Tallahassee

Books

America:  Then & Now, Great Old Photographs of America's Life and Times and How Those Same Scenes Look Today, by David Cohen, editor

Favored Land, Tallahassee, by Mary Louise Ellis and William Warren Rogers

The Photographs of Alvan Harper

Historic Photos of Tallahassee, by Andrew N. Edel

Gifted and Talented Program at Astoria Park Elementary

The Wild Classroom