The creation of an 8th-grade American history course and the training of teachers for the course are the goals of this project. Primarily a course in national history, it uses local (Northampton, Mass.) events and people as a key to understanding the larger national picture. The course objectives were to enable students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate historical evidence, and to understand the nature of history as a discipline. Emphasized in this report are the development, rationale, activities, and unique teaching techniques for the seven units: The Historiographical Unit, The Founding Generation, The Revolutionary Generation, The Young America Generation, The Gilded Age Generation, The Between the Wars Generation, and The American Dream. Also included are: a general discussion of the problem of teaching national history through local history, an ongoing evaluation of the project, a project chronology (July 1, 1967 to August 3, 1968), a list of participants, and a budget summary. For related documents, see: SO 000 034, report of the second year; and SO 000 153, third and final report. (DJB)