The Blackberry Bramble Network is comprised of community people, students and educators who are working to network our schools with telecommunications and teach technical skills through the medium of creating a database of Humboldt County, California natural and social history. This Humboldt History product, which has been created by our participants and schools, is displayed to provide a model for schools in the form of authentic historical work: powerful learning through authentic community service by students investigating primary resources originally recorded by community historians.

Special Events

An educational partner with the BBNP, the Humboldt Branch of AAUW has compiled a suggested reading list of books which feature strong resourceful females. Please check out the availability of these books in your local and school libraries and encourage librarians to obtain those which are not included in their current collections.

The local History Day competition for grades 4-12 are held at Humboldt State University annually in March. The Blackberry Bramble Network has been working with HSU, Northcoast Internet and Humboldt Internet to sponsor the computer technology category of the competition since 1996. Dr. McBroome of HSU reported that state level organizers gave this new category official status locally in 1998. It is expected that state and national levels will incorporate the computer technology category officially for the year 2000 and beyond. Info links:

• Local Computer Category Competition Workshops webpage.
• History Day at Humboldt State University website.
• National History Day website for information on the national level.

*The History Day '98 competition for grades 4-12 is complete. Here are the computer category winners!

Congratulations to Alex Golden, 6th grade, Maple Creek School, for receiving an "Outstanding Award" in the Junior Individual Computer Mediated Presentation category at the state level in Sacramento in 1998 for his entry: "Erin Go Bragh: An Escape from Famine"

*The History Day '97 competition for grades 4-12 is history. And here are the computer category winners! These fine students from Jacoby Creek and Pacific Union presented their entries in the Computer Technology "demonstration" category to judges at the state level in Sacramento in 1997. Check them out!

Junior Individual Technology: Kelly Edrington, 8th grade, Jacoby Creek School
Winning entry: "Poliomyelitis"

Junior Group Technology: Alexis Olson and Karis Wright, 8th grade, Pacific Union School
Winning entry: "Peacemakers- Their Triumphs and Tragedies in History"

Current Projects

• Net Tours for Schools
• Internet Resources

Digitized Library of Humboldt History

• *The Barnum History Contest '97 for Humboldt State University Students
  

  And the winners are:

     First place: Jeanette Cooper, "Horel House, Arcata"
     Second place: Colby Smart, "Fort Humboldt"

  

  Northcoast History Home Page Contest 1996 Entries:

• History of Fieldbrook, Fieldbrook School
• History of Arcata, Sunset School & Arcata High
• LaVerne Larson Collection, Zane Jr. High School
• Susie Baker Fountain Collection
• AAUW's Women in History Project
• Dows Prairie's Tin Lizzy
• Japanese Internment, a personal account
• Aviation, Fog Dispersal Experimentation, prepared by Zane Jr. High School
• LaVerne Larson Notebook, Addendum

Four of our favorite educator sites:

• http://www.cs.uidaho.edu/~connie/interests.html
• http://www.teleport.com/~vincer/starter.html
• And for local educator's here is a link to the Humboldt County Office of Education
• Info list- an educator's list of lists.

Come see how others left their mark in our guestbook.

To contact the BBNP Administrators directly, e-mail:

Dave Spreen

Joyce Farruggia

Thank you, Humboldt Internet, for providing free server space to this project.

Last updated August 16, 2007, ds.