The Legacy of Joseph Kuhn

Peggy Christensen

Summer Fellowship 2008

Abstract: Joseph Kuhn was a prominent resident of Champaign, Illinois in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Students will study aspects of the lives of Joseph Kuhn; his son, Isaac Kuhn; and Isaac Kuhn’s daughter, Ruth Kuhn Youngerman. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to better understand how information about an individual is gathered and will note how this information contributes to and reflects the history of the period.

Essential Questions / Enduring Understandings:

· How does an individual’s history reflect the history of a particular period?

· How does studying the life of an individual help us better understand moments in history?

· How do primary and secondary sources differ and what are some of their limitations?

· How can the use of multiple sources contribute to a more accurate understanding of a particular situation?

· How is historical fiction enriched by studying individuals and the ways their lives were influenced by and impacted historic events?

Assessments: Students’ worksheets, essays, and contributions to class discussions will be assessed throughout the unit. Once all lessons have been completed, students will submit their final project.

Setting the Purpose: The purpose of this unit is for students to learn how primary and secondary sources can be used to develop an understanding of history and to reflect that understanding by creating short pieces of historical fiction.

Duration: The entire unit will take eight to ten days.

Lesson 1: Students need to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources as well as some of the limitations of each.

Lesson 2: Students will continue investigating key questions raised by Isaac Kuhn’s memoir. In this lesson they will focus on conditions he described in Champaign in 1870s and compare them to conditions they observe in a photograph of Champaign taken in the 1890s.

Lesson 3: Fires often destroyed homes and businesses as Champaign was growing. In this lesson students will note how the growth of Joseph Kuhn’s business was impacted by fire.

Lesson 4: Isaac Kuhn mentioned having typhoid fever in his memoir. Students will have an opportunity to briefly investigate this and a few other illnesses mentioned in some of the primary sources used in this lesson. This information will help students add relevant details when creating short pieces of historical fiction. This lesson is designed to be used in a location where students have Internet access.

Lesson 5: Isaac Kuhn spent the years following his father’s death successfully building Joseph Kuhn & Co. while dealing with changing conditions and events at the state and national levels.

Lesson 6: The national bank crisis of 1933 offered unique challenges for Isaac Kuhn and his company. In this lesson students will refer to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address delivered March 4, 1933 and his March 12, 1933 fireside chat broadcast on radio from the White House.

Lesson 7: Ruth Kuhn Youngerman attended Avenue School in the early 1920s. In this lesson students will study two photographs, read an article from another 1920s Avenue School student, and listen to some of Mrs. Youngerman’s memories recorded on July 19, 2008.

Final Project: Students will pretend that they have just discovered a box of mementos stored in the attic of one of Isaac Kuhn’s homes. Amid financial records from Joseph Kuhn & Co., family pictures, and assorted souvenirs from events and places attended in the Champaign/Urbana community, they discover an artifact from a list of choices. Their job is to create the artifact so that it reflects the interaction between events in history and the people who experienced and molded them.