Interactive heritage website brings history alive for PEI students

"A Living Archives” website, the end result of an innovative education project that used web-based technology to bring P.E.I. history and heritage to life for students, will be launched at a public event on Monday, May 26, at 10 a.m., in the Confederation Centre of the Arts’ Studio Theatre.

During the 2007-2008 school year, grade seven and eight students and their teachers from École Evangéline, Stonepark Intermediate School and Kensington Intermediate Senior High combined leading-edge web technology and Island history to create a “living textbook” in the form of the “Living Archives” website, found at www.livingarchives.ca.

The project was developed and implemented through the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island, and funded through Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Culture Online Partnerships Fund. Partners include the Public Archives and Records Office of PEI and the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, of the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs; the Department of Education; the Eastern and Western School Boards; and La Commission scolaire de langue française de l'ile-du-Prince-Édouard.

“The Government of Canada is proud to participate in projects like this one that use digital media to share our history with the world,” said The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. “This partnership with the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island helps showcase the richness of the Island’s culture and heritage.”

“To create A Living Archives, 12- and 13-year-old students used modern digital technologies to do ‘real’ history, planning, researching, writing, revising, and reporting their findings with a high degree of sophistication,” says project leader Dr. Sandy McAuley, of the UPEI Faculty of Education. “With the assistance of their project partners, they brought to life the P.E.I. of a century ago for themselves and, through the website, for the rest of the world.”

Using resources at the Public Archives and Records Office of PEI, the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, and the UPEI library’s Special Collections section, the students researched specific historical themes tied to the social studies curriculum, including the general store, the horse and transportation, school life in days gone by, L.M. Montgomery’s famous novel Anne of Green Gables, and Acadian life from 1875 to 1925.

They selected historical artifacts related to their themes to be digitized for the website, wrote accompanying text, developed videos and blogs, and conducted interviews with professional and community Island historians, all of which can be viewed on the website.

“Throughout the process of researching their chosen topics, the students had access to some of the most valuable resources for gathering historical information in our province, including the Provincial Archives and the Museum and Heritage Foundation,” said Carolyn Bertram, Minister of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour. “Their hard work resulted in an informative and entertaining web-based account of some of the most interesting parts of our Island story.”

Also featured on the website is a virtual world representing P.E.I. at the turn of the 20th century. With the assistance of a virtual “tour guide,” visitors to the site can explore period Island homes and the students’ research displayed inside them. And it offers promotional video, teacher resources and “how-tos” that encourage ongoing use by the educational community.

The website and its digital archives will be housed and supported by UPEI’s Robertson Library for the next five years.