Skip to Main Content

Share Suggestion

A Diversity of Industries - W. Atlee Burpee and the "Seeds" of Becoming an Entrepreneur

Web-based Content

 

explore pa history.png

 

 

A Diversity of Industries - W. Atlee Burpee and the "Seeds" of Becoming an Entrepreneur

Grade Levels

5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Course, Subject

History
Related Academic Standards
8.2.3.C 8.2.3.C

Identify and describe how continuity and change have impacted Pennsylvania history.

  • Belief systems and religions
  • Commerce and industry
  • Technology
  • Politics and government
  • Physical and human geography
  • Social organizations
8.2.5.C 8.2.5.C

Differentiate how continuity and change in Pennsylvania history are formed and operate.

  •  Belief systems and religions
  •  Commerce and industry
  •  Technology
  •  Politics and government
  •  Physical and human geography
  •  Social organizations
Expand
  • Big Ideas
    The history of the Commonwealth continues to influence Pennsylvanians today, and has impacted the United States and the rest of the world.
    World history continues to influence Pennsylvanians, citizens of the United States, and individuals throughout the world today.
  • Concepts
    Conflict and cooperation among social groups, organizations, and nation-states are critical to comprehending past cultures throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
    Conflict and cooperation among social groups, organizations, and nation-states are critical to comprehending societies throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
    Groups that have influenced Pennsylvania history had different beliefs, customs, ceremonies, traditions, and social practices.
    Human organizations work to socialize members and, even though there is a constancy of purpose, changes occur over time.
    Long-term continuities and discontinuities in the structures of Pennsylvania culture provide vital contributions to contemporary issues.
    Long-term continuities and discontinuities in the structures of Pennsylvania society provide vital contributions to contemporary issues. Belief systems and religion, commerce and industry, innovations, settlement patterns, social organization, transportation and trade, and equality are examples continuity and change.
    World history looks for common patterns that emerge across all cultures.
    World history looks for common patterns that emerge across all cultures. Long-term continuities and discontinuities in the structures of societies provide vital contributions to contemporary issues.
  • Competencies
    Apply the theme of continuity and change in Pennsylvania history and relate the benefits and drawbacks of your example.
    Identify a group in Pennsylvania history and explain how it differed from other groups.

Description

In 1878 W. Atlee Burpee founded a company dedicated to developing and selling the highest quality seeds. His guarantee of customer satisfaction became the hallmark of his company—a company which prospered over the years. Fordhook Farm, Burpee's family home, became his experimental agricultural center where he tested new varieties of vegetables and flowers. The arrival of rural free delivery enabled Burpee to market his seeds to backyard gardeners and farmers using a mail order catalog. By 1915 Burpee was the largest mail order supplier of seeds in the world.

Web-based Resource

Access this lesson at:  A Diversity of Industries - W. Atlee Burpee and the "Seeds" of Becoming an Entrepreneur

Content Provider

Story Credits:  https://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-1F



The idea for ExplorePAhistory.com first took shape early in the year 2000. Kathleen Pavelko, President and CEO of WITF, Inc. (Harrisburg's PBS and NPR affiliate), imagined the creation of an online resource that would make innovative use of the nearly 2,000 historical markers that the state's official history agency, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), had been placing on the Pennsylvania landscape since 1946. The new web site would make Pennsylvania and American history more exciting and available to public audiences, while providing educational resources for K-12 teachers and promoting visitation to the state's many historic sites and museums. When Pavelko and her colleagues from the Pennsylvania Public Television Network presented the idea for such a web site to officials at the PHMC, they quickly agreed to a partnership. And ExplorePAhistory.com was born.

 

ExplorePAhistory.com was launched in the spring of 2003 with support from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the William Penn Foundation, and the United States Department of Education. From the start, WITF has assumed responsibilities for project management, while PHMC has taken on content management responsibilities. WITF has managed funds and overseen the site's initial technical development by Pittsburgh-based firm Ripple Effects Interactive and subsequent development by MATRIX, a program based at Michigan State University. PHMC has worked with the Pennsylvania Historical Association, the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations, and history professionals across the state to create the site's content. The two partners also worked with the Ridgway School District to secure and manage Teaching American History Grants and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities to produce educational content.

 

New information is regularly being added to the site. We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions. Contact us at: https://explorepahistory.com/contact.php

Content Collections

Loading
Please wait...

Insert Template

Information