Falling in Love #STEM #History

I hope that got your attention. I love research and I also see a strong connection between science and history (see my blog post from January 7th). On occasion, I become so involved with a project that I become deeply attached to it. For an upcoming workshop on 3D Printing in Any Curriculum, I encountered the model for an old shoe on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:552782). Why would somebody scan an old leather shoe? What is the significance? How does it have meaning?  I began digging. In the notes for the Thingiverse model, I found this article, A Shoe and the Historical Record. It begins with the story of how the students of a history class were scanning historical objects for a project. The authors go on to tell the story of the Nolan family who had the shoe made by a slave, "Old Jack", for their daughter Octavia in 1862. Anderson Nolan, the father joined the Confederates in the Civil War later that year. I discovered that many slaves lived and worked in the cities as craftsmen or laborers. "Old Jack" was a shoemaker who was hired out by his owner. I also realize that he was probably a lucky man. He had a trade and on January 1, 1863, he was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

This story pulled me in. Because of 3D printing, I could hold this shoe. The story could become tangible for me. Instead of a static image and a story on a website, I can interact directly with it.  I downloaded the model, which was a .thing file. None of the 3D printers I have access to could print .thing files. I needed an .stl file. Now I was learning about the printing process itself. I emailed John Campbell of the North Carolina History Museum, where the shoe is on display. He was able to find the .stl file. I printed two copies of the shoe, one 1/2 scale and one full scale. The full scale model took 16 hours to print and it was so worth it. I can hold the shoe and share the experience. Continue exploring and looking for the connections with learning across the curriculum.
-Al

Comparison of the printed shoe to the actual shoe (photo graph)