In this activity you will create an architectural and archival history about your own family history. Your family's past can be pieced together with just a bit of historical skull-duggery -- simply by studying the places your ancestors lived.

Presentation Formats:

Students can choose their own method of presentation but the project lends itself to a visual, graphical presentation.

• Poster
• Storyboard
  
• Small Website
  
• Journal/sketchbook with pictures
  
• Hierarchical Chart or Graph
  
• Make a 2-D or 3-D tabletop display.

When you have completed the individual projects students will each present their findings in a ten-minute class presentation.

GETTING STARTED

To discover the most interesting housing in your past, you might need to go back a couple of generations. Pick your parents' or your grandparents' brains for the most interesting of all the past locals.

Who knows what might be lurking in your domicile past! A sod-hut, ranch, homestead, tee-pee, apartment in Venice, Moscow, Hong Kong, cottage in Yorkshire, mansion in Montreal, row housing in Glasgow, trailer park in Florida. A houseboat, commune or sailboat. Bungalow in the suburbs. Yurt. Tree house!

Remember, you are interested in family history and stories, but they will be discovered by studying the "place". You will be creating your version of a time-traveller's historical journal.

Then, In Between and Now: An Architectural Family Tree

You have probably all heard lots of stories about the way things were when your parents or grandparents grew up. You will have to rely on the verbal story-telling tradition in your family to come up with the answers to the questions below.

If you run into an uncooperative story-teller, try asking someone else such as a talkative aunt or great uncle. If there is absolutely nobody in your family you can find out information from, see if you could go talk to an elderly person at an old-folks home or lodge. There are lots of older people who would be delighted to tell their stories.

Read over these suggestions for Conducting an Interview

See if there are any pictures or special objects that have survived from past days. If there are, see if you can borrow them for this project. If you borrow any objects or photos treat them as if you are taking books out of a library. Be sure to write down what you borrowed, then get the borrowee to sign the paper. Return all the objects and have them sign that they were returned. Make sure you treat all old treasures with care and respect.

If there are no photographs then find out if anyone could draw a picture or provide a detailed description of the place. Descriptions can include anecdotes or interesting stories, but make sure these remembrances relate to the dwelling itself.

Try to get enough information to answer the following questions:

1. Geographic location. where was it?
   
2. Make a map showing where it was located.
   
3. Who built it and when?
   
4. When did your family member move there?
   
5. How long did your family member live there and what did they do?
   
6. Is it still there?
   
7. If not what is there now?
   
8. If it's still there then how has it changed?
   
9. If it was a farm or business at the living site then describe this as well.
   
10. Is anyone in your family still there?
    
11. Where did they come from?
    
12. When did they leave and why?
    
13. What was the dwelling built out of?
    
14. Write a physical description of the place and describe the most interesting architectural feature. Describe an interesting social event that used to take place there. Try to describe some of the archeological artifacts which would have been there. Was any very special item brought a long way from somewhere else?
    
15. Pictures and mementos are an invaluable source of historical information so try to collect and display as many of these as you can.

Use the presentation you have chosen for this part of the project. Complete a rough time-line family tree showing the places your family has lived. Record the place and the kind of dwelling. Go back two generations on one side of your family. Record only the major moves. For example, from country to city to town, or any other moves that might stand out as really interesting.

Now describe where you live now. Draw a diagram or take a picture of your room. What makes it really "you"? Throughout the whole project think about how this physical continuity is important.

Put your projects on display for the class to look at.