An Adventure of the American Mind

Joining Educators and Students with Library of Congress Resources

In 1999, Congressman Taylor took the initiative and lead in starting the AAM in North Carolina. He created the first-in-the-nation pilot program to instruct K-12 teachers how to use the resources of the Library of Congress' American Memory website, which now has over 7 million digitized items in over 100 thematic collections. Senator Richard J. "Dick" Durbin (D-IL) saw the success North Carolina achieved and decided to spread this project to the K-12 teachers in the state of Illinois. This exciting project, began in the spring of 2003, training teachers to access and utilize these new resources using the latest technology to greatly enhance teaching and learning.

The project includes regional public schools that will be on the leading edge of development for a classroom technology program that will become a national model. Additional workshops and institutes will include teacher education faculty, pre-service and in-service teachers outside the regional area, and AAM alumni. There are college and universities supporting the project in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Arizona. AAM works with their region through investments in education and research to make this project a success for students in years to come.