America’s Mid-19th Century Landscape: Prompts for Extended Thinking

Using our imaginations when looking at art can activate prior knowledge and spark curiosity. Ask students to recall their Evans DLP visit and try this activity.

Click on the images below. Zoom in and pick one person from Robert Salmon’s painting Dismal Swamp Canal.  You can choose from anywhere in the painting. Zoom in and pick another person from William Keith’s Landscape. Would these two people ever have crossed paths? Why or why not? Imagine these two were to meet in person. What do you suppose the interaction would be like? What would these two people have in common? What would they have to explain to one another? Creatively share your ideas in the voice of each character by, for example, performing a sketch, crafting a comic strip, or writing and illustrating a story.

Looking closely at art helps us explore viewpoints from the past. During your Evans DLP visit, students practiced looking carefully to interpret what artists can tell us about the time in which they lived. Ask students to try this with other works of art from the time period. Use the Looking to Learn: Elaboration Game strategy to examine some of the works below.

Based on their observations, what are some ideas your students have about the American landscape as it may have existed in the middle part of the 19th Century?