Picturing America Grant Report by Burr Oak Community Library

The picturing America posters were displayed in the Burr Oak Library for 2 months. During this time all patrons were encouraged to look at them and read the resource book to answer any questions they had regarding the posters. Our Library is located in a school building. During the 2 month time period, several teachers brought their students to the library to view the posters. They used them to help strengthen their lessons on American History and its founding principles.

The students were encouraged to look at all the posters and ask questions. One teacher focused on the American history aspect of the posters. The kids talked about George Washington, Paul Revere, and Abraham Lincoln. Another teacher focused more on the art side of the posters talking about color, brush strokes, and composition. At the end of the school year the lessons were on American Indians. The teachers used the posters to show different types of Indian tribes that were featured on the posters, the Mandan, Lakota, and Mohican.

The Picturing America posters that hung in the library stimulated lots of conversations from young and old. I think they were well received and we will hang them again in the future. We may break them into smaller groupings and change the groupings every 2 weeks.