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Movement and Migration: the Gold Nugget that launched the Gold Rush

Activity 2: The Gold Rush Experience: Dreams vs. Realities

  1. Watch the introductory movie together as a class [http://www.objectofhistory.org/objects/intro/nugget], then discuss the information presented in the film about the California gold rush.
  2. Visit the Virtual Object section in the Introduction [http://objectofhistory.org/objects/onyourown/nugget]. Ask students to remember the importance of closely examining material culture objects when using them as historical evidence. Provide them with a few minutes to use the Quicktime Virtual Reality version of the gold nugget that started the California gold rush.
  3. Allow students to spend time examining the sources in the Explore section of the gold nugget Object Lesson [http://www.objectofhistory.org/objects/explore/nugget]. Remind students that the Explore section contains primary and secondary sources, organized into three main categories:
    • The Object category contains sources related to the gold nugget as a piece of material culture.
    • The Object in History category contains sources related to the place of the gold nugget within the context of the California gold rush of 1848-49.
    • The Object in the Museum category contains information related to how NMAH acquired and displayed the gold nugget that started the California gold rush.
  4. Remind students that the video clips of the curators discussing the objects constitute the secondary sources on the site. All other materials are primary sources.
  5. Remind students that each primary source is accompanied by supporting information that is essential to critical historical thinking. First, at the top of the source is an annotation that provides contextual information. Second, at the bottom of the source, is information about its author, title, and date. Instruct students to consider all of this information carefully as they work.
  6. Ask students to investigate the objects and documents related to gold nugget and the California gold rush.
  7. Read, or sing, students the following excerpt from "Song of a Gold-Digger" (sung to the tune of "Old Susanna")

    I soon shall be in mining camp,
    And then I'll look around,
    And when I see the gold-dust there,
    I'll pick it off the ground.
    I'll scrape the mountains clean, old girl,
    I'll drain the rivers dry,
    A pocketful of rocks bring home,
    So, Anna, don't you cry.

    Chorus:
    O California!
    That's the land for me,
    I'm going to Calaveras,
    With my wash-bowl on my knee.

  8. Lead a discussion of the experience most miners actually had in the California gold fields. Be sure to include the experiences of a variety of peoples in the discussion.
  9. Instruct students to write a paragraph or an alternate next verse to the song explaining the difference between the dreams and the realities of the gold rush experience. Ask groups to share their answers with the class.
  10. Finally, compile a list of questions that students would like to ask the curators about the gold nugget or the gold rush, and as a class, select the best two or three to submit.