Peer Review

The Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The Plymouth Colony Archive presents a vast collection of materials that take the viewer deep into the lives and times of the citizens of Plymouth Colony of the 17th century. The collection consists of items such as court records, colony laws, journals, memoirs, probate inventories, wills, town plans, maps, fort plans,biographies and items of material culture.
Type of Material:: Collection
Recommended Uses:: In-class resource for student exploration of Plymouth Colony. Online component to support unit or module on Colonial New England.
Technical Requirements:: Tested well on Firefox, Safari and Explorer
Identify Major Learning Goals:: To teach students the importance of primary sources in interpreting history.
To provide students with the most current information on the history of the
first permanent English settlement in Massachusetts in the most comprehensive
way possible.
Target Student Population:: Wide variety--materials basic enough for advanced high school students, yet the collection includes detailed primary sources for fairly sophisticated advanced college-level research.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic computer skills. Basic knowledge of Pilgrim history is helpful, but the
site offers all the materials needed.

Rating:
Strengths:: This is a comprehensive site offering 17th century primary sources, including:
court records, colonial laws, 17th century journals and memoirs, probate
inventories, wills, town plans, town maps, fort plans, cemetery records, and
biographical information. There is extensive material on the architectural,
archaeological, and culture of Pilgrim Massachusetts. A search engine permits
the user to tailor requests to both broad and specific areas of interest. The
site is very comprehensive. The diagram of Plymouth "House and Parlor," allows
the user to navigate the site by Architectural Forms, Material Culture, Research
Papers, Maps and Plans, Topical Articles, Glossary, Court Records, Laws, and
17th Century Texts, Probates, Wills, and Biographies. There are links to Lesson
Plans, Grave Art, and Images of Plymouth. The materials are excellent and of
the highest order. Visitors to the site not only get an intimate view of life in the colony, but have the chance to see the results of Professor James Deetz's life work.
Concerns:: None.

Rating:
Strengths:: This site is clearly designed for college level courses, but could be adapted
for advanced high school United States history classes. The extensive range of
primary sources is amazing. There are links to lesson plans, which can be
adapted to a variety of ages based on the instructor's interest in doing so. A
nice feature is the inclusion of research papers to illustrate how this
fantastic archive is being used to analyze and interpret historical information.
This, in itself, is a great learning object for a survey history course. The links were active and appropriate, with sub-menus to keep visitors focused on their "tour."
Concerns:: The potential for classroom, online instruction, or a hybrid course is clearly
based on the instructor's creativity. Learning objectives are not clearly
identified. Site use does expect some student knowledge about this period of
history.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is easy to navigate. No special downloads are required. The graphic
of the Plymouoth "House and Parlor" allows the user to quickly determine the
categories of primary source material available. The Search Engine allows both
specific and broad inquiries into materials in the collection. I particularly
liked how the primary sources were listed once I clicked onto a specific
category, e.g. Probabets, Wills, and Biographies. The range of primary source
material is astounding and offers a wide range of instructional uses.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: Excellent primary sources, but the site would be more effective if there more
ways to utitlize the materials for classroom instruction for teachers who may be
less sure how to use the information in the classroom.
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