American History Teachers' Collaborative Reflection Paper
Beth Koplinski

July 27, 2007

This summer institute was one of the best workshops that I have attended. I enjoyed learning about so many different things, but the one aspect that I continually enjoy listening about is about primary documents. I never realized until I started coming to these workshops that there are so many documents one can use in the classroom to help reinforce topics and standards. In the workshop this week, we were given the choice to write a lesson plan or a reflective paper. I have chosen to write a reflective paper analyzing a primary document.

The document that I have chosen is the one above. This is a picture of the Champaign Fire Department taken around the year 1900. The photo was found at the Champaign County Historical Museum. I chose this photo because many members of my family are firefighters. My father was a volunteer fireman and is now the assistant fire chief in his department, and my brother has chosen to be a fire fighter as his profession. Growing up, firefighting was always around me. There was always the sound of the radio telling which department was called for which fire, there were many Christmas parties at the fire house, and lots of close friends were made through this external family. When I saw this picture, many memories came back to me of pictures I’ve seen at home dealing with our local fire department. It seemed fitting to choose this picture to analyze.

As I looked at this photo, the impression that I got was that they probably didn’t put out too many fires and were not able to get where they needed to be very quickly. I gathered this impression by looking at the people, the objects, and the activities that seemed to be taking place. In the photo, you see men, all of whom appear to be white, sitting at the front of the wagon that are obviously the firemen; but you also see an old man with a cane, a man with overalls on, and someone who looks like a business man on the back of one of the wagons. I have to wonder who they are and what their part of the picture is. Was one the chief and one the horse caretaker? Were there standard uniforms? They don’t all appear to be wearing the same attire. I also see a set of beautiful white horses and 2 wagons with 4 wheels that carried ladders on both sides. I don’t see much equipment. Where did they carry the water? Was there any other equipment in the wagon? What did they actually use to put out the fires? By looking at the front doors of the firehouse, it looks as though there’s only room for the two wagons and I’m not quite sure where the horses would be kept. Did the men stay there or was it volunteer and the men would show up when needed? These are just a few of the many observations and questions that I had about this photo. To find the answers to these questions, I could research online, visit the Champaign Co. Public Library Archives, and probably go to a firehouse for an interview.

Our summer institute dealt with World War II. I know that this photo was from 1900, but listening to Mark Leff speak about sacrifice on the U.S. Homefront and how women took over many male positions and went to work, I had to ask myself about this type of job. Did women become firefighters, police officers, and take over for doctors? A website that I found that could answer this question for me was www.i-women.org. In the search box, type World War II and several article choices should appear. Researching online, going to the library, and interviewing women firefighters could provide me with more information about women in firefighting over time.

In third grade we discuss our community and city. This photo would be great for a compare/contrast activity. They could use a Venn Diagram to do this. By looking at this photo from 1900 and one from today, students could tell about the similarities of firefighting and also the differences. A conclusion statement at the bottom of the Venn Diagram, would be an assessment that they were able to pick out the similarities and differences from back then compared to today. This would also be a great historical research paper for a student to tackle. Students could do exactly what I did: use the NARA photo analysis worksheet for analysis, then do another worksheet for a picture taken from a firehouse today in order to write a compare/contrast paper. Perhaps they would want to research some of the questions they come up with when they analyze.

This photo really made me think about the large changes that have taken place over time. Due to World War II, our lives have changed dramatically, just like the changes that have taken place in the firefighting industry over time.