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Join us at Silas Deane Online
as we uncover the fascinating, little known and controversial biography
of a "lost
hero" of the American Revolution.
- Take a virtual tour of his house in Wethersfield,
Connecticut
- Explore an extensive collection of artifacts and
correspondence
- Learn about his exciting, mysterious and tragic
life in six lessons on the web
- Study a comprehensive, interactive timeline of historical
events
- Refer to an extensive bibliography of references
to Deane
Silas Deane Online
establishes a working model of off-site, museum-based learning for
high school history students. This web site harnesses digital technology
to offer a thematic curricula cluster centered on the life and experiences
of one of Connecticut's "lost heroes" of the American
Revolution.
The core of the site is
a cluster of lessons tied to the State of Connecticut's framework
for high school American history, supported by digital and virtual
reality images of the 1766
Silas Deane House (a National Historic Landmark), objects from the
Museum's collections, and primary documents
as well as a thoroughly researched and annotated bibliography with
links to other sites. In each plan, Silas Deane is examined in comparison
with better-known Revolutionary "heroes." Interactive
learning modules such as Virtual Reality walk-throughs capture the
essence of what it feels like to visit an historic site, and reveal
the ways scholars and museum professionals glean information from
artifacts and other primary sources in order to assemble and tell
a story.
Hero?
Crook? Silas Deane, An Enigmatic Figure In State History,
Gets His Own Voluminous Website
February 5, 2005
By Steve Grant, Courant Staff Writer
Below is an excerpt of the article: "Hero? Crook? Silas Deane, An Enigmatic Figure
In State History, Gets His Own Voluminous Website
By Steve Grant, Courant Staff Writer
The Hartford Courant, February 5,
2005, Copyright 2005
…
Deane, who may well deserve a better reputation, is an ideal figure
for study. And a new website created by the Webb-Deane-Stevens
Museum in Wethersfield is intended as a springboard for a fresh
look at what the museum calls Connecticut's "lost hero" of
the revolution. The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, which includes
Deane's house, is a popular field trip for elementary and middle
school
students
in the area but is not generally a destination for Connecticut
high school students. The online program will make Silas Deane
available to them and others in Connecticut and around the country
who could be interested in his story.
Silasdeaneonline.org was financed
by a $40,600 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Literae Interactive Design of Mystic,
a developer of websites, was a partner with the museum in developing
the site.
There is plenty of room for research into Deane's
life. There are no recent biographies, and major U.S. history texts
ignore
him.
That is precisely why the museum sees its new website as a valuable
tool, one that will allow researchers young and old to learn about
a real but "undiscovered" Revolutionary War figure."
For quite a while the Education staff
at Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum had been regretting the fact that
it was not able to tell the Silas
Deane story to high school students. Except for the most local
Wethersfield High School, whose students could hop on a bus,
tour a house and
ride the bus back in time for their next class in the high school
building, visits to our museum by high school students were impossible
due to scheduling and busing difficulties. We thought we had a
great story to tell which fit perfectly into Revolutionary War
social studies
requirements, but had no audience. Along came the announcement by IMLS of a grant for creative use
of technology to offer history to a broader audience. Perfect! We
applied for the grant and were rewarded in 2003 with funds to put
our thoughts to work. The Museum staff started pulling together its
knowledge of the story of Silas Deane, did additional research to
extend the story and transcribed many primary documents to complete
the story. The Museum formed a partnership with Literae Interactive,
which provided the creative and technological skills to put the Silas
Deane story online. Not only did their staff put the Museum’s
lessons and document transcriptions on line, they came up with many
creative details which enliven the site, including a virtual tour
of the Deane House for those who cannot physically walk through its
elegant front door. Throughout 2003 and 2004 the staffs of Webb-Deane-Stevens
Museum and Literae Interactive have been working hard and are pleased
to open this site in early 2005.
The road to this opening has included the help of many people. At
the Museum Diane Cameron, Jennifer Eifrig, Donna Baron and Jan Peake
have pulled together facts and stories. Mary Beth Manzi and Jessica
Roberts were our talented and patient summer interns who typed and
proofed the many documents for the site. Other museums and libraries
have been most helpful in providing us with images of portraits,
artifacts and pictures that illustrate the story of Silas Deane,
most specifically: Kent-Delord Museum, The National Parks Service,
Fort Ticonderoga Historic Site, Lewis Walpole Library, and our neighbor,
the Wethersfield Historical Society as well as their mapmaker, Phil
Lohman. Other images were acquired through the generosity of Steve
Bartrick Antique Maps and Prints and the estate of photographer Fred
Stein.
Our most important contributor has been the Connecticut Historical
Society Museum which holds so many of the documents and artifacts
of Connecticut resident Silas Deane. We are grateful to the CHS Museum’s
staff in their Collections Department and the Library for all their
help. The same is true for the staff of the Connecticut State Library
and Museum that holds in its archives many documents concerning slavery
and public records from the Revolutionary War period and beyond that
now appear in Silas Deane Online. The Town Clerk of Wethersfield
provided additional land records. The authentic 18th century musical
sounds were provided by David and Ginger Hildebrand.
At Literae Interactive, Thomas Mitchell and Dorry Clay performed
the gargantuan task of putting all this information on line in such
a beautiful, creative and useful manner. They were also responsible
for acquiring the talents of David Madacsi, videographer, who made
the virtual the tour of the Deane House available for many to enjoy.
We thank them as well as for obtaining the web hosting technology
of Bob Patin. Thank you all a thousand times over and please forgive
us if names have been inadvertently left off.
The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum
Wethersfield, Connecticut
December 2004
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Political Cartoon, 1783
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