This site has three main themes. Each theme was created by students from one of Prince Edward Island's three school boards. Content for each theme exists only in the language of the students who created it: The Acadian Life theme is French-only, while the General Store, and Horse & Transportation themes are English-only. A fourth sample theme, School Life, is also English-only. Other content, including the Virtual Island, Digital Archives, Video Resources, and Teacher Resources, is variably presented in French or English.

Marilyn MacDonald's grade 7 social studies class at KISH have researched, written, and published this multipart, interlinked Etextbook exploring the theme of General Stores on PEI. Their work incorporates photos, catalogue images, documents, and 3d artifacts from the 1875-1925 period, as well as interviews with storytellers, community members and experts, and video footage of the making of the project. They are rightfully proud of their work, and invite you to explore it.

A Living Archives focuses on life on Prince Edward Island during the period 1875-1925. In order to help readers understand what daily life would have been like during that era, the class has created context pieces to give background about their theme of The General Store and the world in which it existed.

View Kensington's context pieces

Our Etext is a collection of interlinked, student-written research pieces and descriptions bringing to life archival images, documents, and artifacts from PEI at the turn of the 20th century. Each student in the class has researched and written a number of pieces to this interlinked collection.

View the Kensington Etext pieces

As part of the Living Archives project, students had the opportunity to interact with Island historical professionals, artifacts, and sites, as well as with elders and storytellers from their own communities. The class were trained by an NYC documentarian in the uses of video and in conducting interviews, and they've created an exciting body of work for your viewing pleasure.

View the Kensington videos