Digital Deerfield 1704: A New Perspective on the French and Indian Wars

1. Digital Deerfield 1704:A New Perspective on the French and Indian Wars Lynne Spichiger, Director of Online Exhibits, Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, MA Chris Sturm, Marlboro Middle School, Marlboro, NJ

2. Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704Motivation • PVMA’s Mission- 1870: Create a museum that memorializes the past, including the Native peoples of the region. • The Event: In the pre-dawn hours of February 29, 1704, a force of about 300 French and Native allies launched a daring raid on the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, situated in the Pocumtuck homeland. One hundred and twelve Deerfield men, women, and children were captured and taken on a 300-mile forced march to Canada in harsh winter conditions. Some of the captives were later redeemed and returned to Deerfield, but one-third chose to remain among their French and Native captors. • Controversy: For 300 years this assault in contested lands has been described by the dominant European viewpoint as an unprovoked, brutal attack on an innocent village of English settlers. Yet, it can also be viewed as a justified military action against a fortified settlement in a Native homeland. • 300th Anniversary: An appropriate occasion to launch a website that would both commemorate and reinterpret this event.

3. Website Goals • Present the Raid on Deerfield from the perspectives of ALL 5 GROUPS who were present at the event: Wobanakiak (Abenaki), Wendat (Huron), Kanienkehaka (Mohawk), French, and English. • Bring together historical scenes, stories of people’s lives, artifacts and documents, maps, voices & songs, and a timeline to illuminate broad and competing perspectives on a dramatic event that provides a window into a larger global contest. • Create a model for any organization interested in presenting conflicting points of view on a controversial topic. • Help teachers harness the power of conflict by providing students with an experience that encourages an appreciation for the complexity of issues and other points of view. • Create a process that itself is a collaborative effort, encouraging diverse communities and different cultural groups to work together in a spirit of collaboration, connection, and reconciliation.

4. Digital Resources in Service of Our Goals • A ‘tab’ design for historical scenes that allows users to move easily among different perspectives, facilitating comparison of the perspectives and enabling storytelling from conflicting points of view, without losing the coherence of the narrative. • A layered,pyramidal content structure that enables storytelling in small, understandable, compelling segments, supported by fuller context. This allows us to capture the casual user’s attention and then provide a rich context to satisfy his/her deeper interest. • Multiple paths - Linked content accessible from the context of historical scenes, and also from menus organized by content type. • Special Features: • Interactive maps that allow users to zoom in and out and pan up and down, right and left • Magic lens that allows for transcription of historical documents • Zoom feature for artifacts that allows you to bring the object closer • Interactive artifacts that allow you to turn an object around

5. Digital Deerfield 1704:A New Perspective on the French and Indian Wars Lynne Spichiger, Director of Online Exhibits, Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, MA Chris Sturm, Marlboro Middle School, Marlboro, NJ