WGTE

Contact: Kathy Smith, Director of Early Learning and Outreach
Phone: 419-380-6438
Email: kathy_smith@wgte.org

WGTE’s outreach campaign for the The War That Made America series includes a partnership with Fort Ticonderoga in New York State and Fort Meigs in Ohio.  Both forts were instrumental in the French and Indian War as Americans fought for control of the Ohio River, critical for crucial goods and transportation routes and commerce.

Activities include conducting an educator’s workshop about the French and Indian War for teachers of American History, to assist them in making connections between the two forts based on the The Tale of Two Forts curriculum.  The workshop agenda will utilize clips of the series and the two short videos produced by WGTE.

WGTE will produce two 20-30 programs and each will be a guided tour of Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Miegs that will feature information about the important roles they played in the War.   Items from their historical collections and archival footage will be included in the programming.  As a companion piece, the station will create a local history page on its Web site that makes the connection between the two forts, with a link to the PBS Web site.

The station will hold a screening event in January 2006 and invitelocal history societies throughout the area.  They will also work with the Way Public Library (approximately one mile from Fort Meigs) in Perrysburg, Ohio.  It has agreed to be a site for the book display to promote the television series.  Tune-in and screening event announcements will be part of the display to enhance outreach efforts.