Click here to DOWNLOAD a copy of the Curriculum.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and a grant from Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
| Introduction |  |
Canal Barges in Brooklyn, Photograph courtesy of New York City Municipal Archives
Introduction This curriculum's release coincides with the 175th anniversary of the Erie Canal. Our collection of lessons is designed to introduce students to the use of primary sources. The curriculum is divided into eleven sections containing exercises and activities:
- The first unit explains what a canal is as well as the reasons for building the Erie Canal.
- The second unit introduces the students to Governor DeWitt Clinton, the canal's chief advocate, and discusses how the canal was built.
- The third and fourth lessons tell the story of the celebration of the Erie Canal's completion in New York City in 1825. The fourth section also discusses the various trades in early 19th-century New York City.
- The fifth unit is about doing business in New York City at the time of the celebration.
- The sixth lesson describes the technology of the Erie Canal.
- In the seventh unit, students learn about the effects of the canal on upstate towns along its route.
- In the eighth section, the different types of canal boats that appeared on the Erie Canal at various times of its history are explored.
- The ninth unit discusses how the Erie Canal, and later, railroads revolutionized transportation in New York State.
- The tenth lesson looks at children and families who lived and worked on the canal, and the communities of "canallers" who wintered in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the 19th century.
- The last chapter locates Erie Canal commerce along New York City's waterfront in the early 20th century and describes the canal's transformation from a commercial to a recreational waterway in the 1990s.
Click the link below for a lesson by lesson summary of the subjects and goals of the curriculum.
Additional Documents and Images
The following images and documents can be printed.
Weekly Statement of Cargo Shipped to New York City
Weekly Statement of Cargo Shipped from New York City
Bibliography, Societies and Museums
Children's Books about the Erie Canal:
Andrist, Ralph K. The Erie Canal. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1964.
Harness, Cheryl. The Amazing, Impossible Erie Canal. New York: Macmillan, 1995.
Stack, Debbie A. and Donald J. Wilson. Always Know Your Pal: Children on the Erie Canal. Syracuse: Erie Canal Museum, 1993.
Tagliaferro, Linda. Destination New York. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1998. (A history of the Port of New York)
Histories of the Erie Canal for Adults:
Albion, Robert G. The Rise of New York Port. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939.
Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. "The Canal Era." In Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, 429-451. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
"Erie Canal & New York: Locks, Stocks & Barrels." Financial History Issue 68, 2000 (I): pp. 20-22.
Garrity, Richard. Canal Boatman: My Life on Upstate Waterways. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1977
Larkin, F. Daniel. New York State Canals: A Short History. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press, 1998.
Modern Marvels: The Erie Canal. The History Channel. 50 min. 2000. Videocassette.
New York. Directed by Ric Burns. 600 min. Pbs Home Video, 1999. Videocassette.
Shaw, Ronald E. Erie Water West: A History of the Erie Canal, 1792-1854. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1990.
Sheriff, Carol. The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.
Canal Museums, Societies and Collections:
New York State Archives, Canal Collection Website.
Erie Canal Museum (Syracuse, NY), Website.
New York State Canal System, Official Website.
Museum of American Financial History, on-line exhibit "Locks, Stocks and Barrels".
Other Resources:
National Park Service/National Register of Historic Places Lesson Plans, History of Transportation (Building the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal).
Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge (Red Hook, Brooklyn), Website.
The Museum of the City of New York, Website.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's special exhibition, Art and the Empire City (September 19, 2000-January 7, 2001) explores the visual arts in America from the opening of the Erie Canal to the start of the Civil War. Contact the Museum to learn more about the educational programs related to this important exhibition.
Please e-mail your comments and suggestions on the Curriculum and this site to Lisa Sita ( lsita@lagcc.cuny.edu ) Archivist, La Guardia and Wagner Archives, or you can contact her at:
Lisa Sita
La Guardia and Wagner Archives
Fiorello H. La Guardia Community College/CUNY
31-10 Thomson Avenue, Room E-238
Long Island City, NY 11101
Tel: 718/482-5065
Fax: 718/482-5069
If you would like to set up a class visit to the La Guardia and Wagner Archives, tours are offered throughout the academic year, on Mondays and Wednesdays in the morning hours. For more information or to make a reservation, e-mail Lisa Sita (lsita@lagcc.cuny.edu) Assistant Archivist, La Guardia and Wagner Archives, or call her at 718/482-5065.
| Richard K. Lieberman | Director | Project Director for Curriculum |
| Rob Dishon | Archivist | |
| Joseph M. Komljenovich | City Council Archivist | |
| Eduvina Estrella | Administration | |
| Brian Gurian | Assistant Archivist/Processor | |
| Susan Waide | Assistant Archivist/Processor | Associate Project Director for Curriculum |
| Eric Wolf | Assistant Archivist/Processor | Associate Project Director for Curriculum |
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