Primary+Sources

Helping colleagues find great primary source material and developing lessons around that material takes time. This column focuses on primary source sites that work well in the classroom. Consider perusing these sites over the summer break, and then introduce them to fellow educators in the fall, along with information literacy suggestions and activities. Think about developing quick engagement activities that can be displayed as students enter the room. This practice captures additional instructional time and provides an opportunity to impart information literacy skills. Enjoy! Begin your exploration by viewing the Artifact & Analysis site from the Smithsonian, [|www.smithsonianeducation.org/idealabs/ap/index.htm]. Designed as a companion site for an advanced placement history course, many of the learning activities are transferable to students of all ages. Artifacts analyzed range from Fiesta dishes to jeans to Barbie dolls to lunchboxes. Student worksheets and writing assignments are included. Then view the current edition of History Now, [|www.historynow.org/]. This superbly developed web site provides a wealth of teaching ideas along with access to primary source materials. The issue on Lincoln has an interactive history option where users find digitized political cartoons on war, poll tics, and slavery. Another archived issue on elections leads to video clips of the Kennedy-Nixon debate. A teacher resource link provides four lesson plans, including lessons for high school, middle school, and elementary school. The quality of materials and thought-provoking discussions make this a true gem. Introduce your fellow middle school and high school educators to the Research Channel, [|www.researchchannel.org/]. An astonishing number of on-demand videos dealing with research activities at universities and corporations are found here. Topics range from health care, wildfires, and biology as nanotechnology to National Book Festival events. The video library includes subject headings on arts and humanities, engineering, health and medicine, social sciences, and K-12 education. Investigate the project links to see what areas these topflight entities are currently researching. Social studies educators can unearth a treasure trove of primary source material at the American President web site, [|www.americanpresident.org/]. Housed at the University of Virginia and developed by the Miller Center of Public Affairs, this site provides a nonpartisan look at presidential history. A vast number of images, speech and interview transcripts, and actual White House recordings are available. Recent additions include an exhibit on the Nixon resignation and a newly started oral history project on the presidency of Jimmy Carter. This site serves as a great starting point for finding primary sources on any U.S. president. Enhance teaching about the Holocaust by visiting the Cybrary of the Holocaust, [|www.remember.org/]. Here learners can take a virtual tour of Auschwitz, as well as view a number of art works and still pictures. Another excellent exhibit includes the artwork of a survivor alongside current-day photographs. Lesson plans for students in grades 4-12 are indexed and available. Also, be sure to visit Alan Jacobs's photos of three camps: Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Mauthausen. The University of Michigan Library's Documents Center, [|www.lib.umich.edu/] govdocs/docnewsnew.html, provides access to news articles, video clips, and audio clips for use with current events research. The 2006 archive includes information on avian flu, Supreme Court nominations, Iraqi war debate, domestic wiretapping, and other topics. Learners searching for primary source information on Samuel Alito will find links to court cases and opinions, video of President Bush announcing the nomination, and articles written by Judge Alito. History and Politics Out Loud, [[[|http://www.hpol.org/,|www.hpol.org/],]] provides access to over 100 audio files indexed by date, speaker, and title. Developed under a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the archive began in 1999 and continues to add items. Speeches and interviews with world leaders, past U.S. presidents, Supreme Court judges, and other political figures-starting with the 1930s-can be found on this site. In addition to the audio file, a complete transcript is included. This site makes a good companion to Great Speeches from the History Channel, [[[|http://www.historychannel.com/,|www.historychannel.com/],]] which has over 500 entries. Lost and Found Sound, [|www.npr.org/] programs/Infsound/index.html, produced by National Public Radio, includes a number of primary sources related to various aspects of the world. Starting with sounds from Thomas Edison and ranging to 5-year-old Sofia Coppola being interviewed by her father, Oscar-winner Francis Ford Coppola, in 1977, these archives include a rich history. The "Audio Artifacts" link includes a number of files never used in stories. One such item contains a number of tapes on 20th-century war. This site provides a number of excellent starting points and background information for students studying a specific period in history. Be sure to examine and develop activities for using the Historical Census Browser, found at the Geostat Center, [|http://fisherJib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/.Here] students can examine data from the 1790-1960 censuses. Information categories include population, education and literacy, agriculture, slave population, and ethnicity, as well as economic and employment information. Drop-down menus make the site easy to use and navigate. A "Map It" feature provides an interactive map of the data for teachers and students to examine. One of the most comprehensive collections of real-time data sites can be found at the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education site, [|www.k12science.org/realtimedatasites.html]. Here students of all ages will find links to information on animals, weather, oceanography, space, earth science, and other categories. In addition, there are links to a number of archived data sets, which can be used as an introduction to analyzing data. One example is tracking radio-tagged whales and seals via satellite. This particular site includes a number of lesson plans and teaching activities.

Primary Source Materials The Internet is an excellent place to introduce students to using primary source materials. Using primary source material also provides practice for students in achieving the information literacy standards:, "The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently." (American Library Association, 1998) as well as "The student who is information literature uses information accurately and creatively" (American Library Association). Social studies teachers and teacher librarians will also find that students are much more engaged in their learning when dealing with primary source material and analyzing it. Begin by using at least one of these first three sites to help students as they begin work. [|**Spy letters of the American Revolution: Interpreting primary sources**] In this Teachers' Lounge option the uQUsers will finds questions to help in evaluating the information both text and images. The materials here are designed to help the teacher introduce the use of primary source materials. http://www.si.umich.edu/SPIES/lounge-sources.html [|**Library of Congress on using primary sources in the classroom**] This site includes excellent tips for introducing students to using objects, images, audio, statistics, and the community at large. Includes projects and In addition to information evaluation ideas, project ideas are also included. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/primary.html [|**You be the historian**] Students take on the role of historians as they visit the house of Thomas and Elizabeth Springer. Students make predictions about the life style of these people based on artifacts found in the 200-year-old house. http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/hohr/ springer/index.htm After students are introduced to some of the necessary tools for using primary source material, teachers will want to move to actual sites containing materials. [|**Spy letters of the American Revolution**] Here are stories of spy networks, Benedict Arnold, female spies, maps of spy letter routes, digitized pictures of the actual letters and the text. http://www.si.umich.edu/SPIES/ [|**Images of American political history**] Students interpret the information found at this site through links to the stories, maps, and timelines help students interpret the information found at this site. Users will find over 500 public domain pictures. The images can be searched via time period or through one of four special topics-maps of growth, population and elections; images of toleration, abolition, suffrage, and civil rights; the Capitol and related buildings; and the Presidents. Each image includes a thumbnail, a description, the credits, and a full size version of the image. [|http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer%5fpol%5fhist/] [|**Ad*Access**] Another interesting database of primary source material is found at this site. Here are newspaper ads for beauty and hygiene, radio, television, transportation and World War II. Searching can be done by keyword, names and dates. In addition, the user can browse the ads by category. Browsing is done by time period and then ad title. Each ad is represented by a thumbnail with the publication information, date, and ad number and can be accessed in 72dpi size and 150 dpi size. http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/browse.html [|**George Rarey's journals of the 397th fighter squadron (WWII)**] This site is a treasure-trove of primary source information. This wonderful artist chronicles his life starting with the draft and through his last cartoon drawing on June 21, 1944 before being killed in action on June 26, 1944. This site also houses a nice collection of WWII airplane nose art for exploration. http://www.rarey.com/sites/rareybird/index.html [|**Letters from an Iowa soldier in the Civil War**] Housed here are a collection of letters written over a three year period by Newton Robert Scott, Private, Company A, of the 36th Infantry, Iowa Volunteers. These letters were written to neighborhood friend, Hannah Cone. The final letter, written to his parents, describes the mustering out process in August 1865. The letters have been transcribed and stored at the web site. http://www.civilwarletters.com/ [|**Eyewitness-history through the eyes of those who lived it**] This site includes a number of historical photograph and transcribed eyewitness accounts of events. Users navigate via a timeline at the top of the screen. Options start with the Ancient World and continue through the 20th Century and World War II. The section on the Nazi occupation of Poland includes four photographs plus diary entries from a Polish physician. http://www.ibiscom.com/index.html [|**The Jack London collection**] Humanities students can learn more about Jack London and that period of time at this site and the era in which he lived. Available are letters written by the famous author as well as a number of photographs. Both sections of the web site can be searched by keyword or browsesed by category. Photographs are in medium and high resolution formats. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/ [|**Cariboo Gold Rush**] Visit the primary sources housed at this site where researchers will find diaries, letters and other historical documents. The information is indexed by person. One example is the link for Kinahan Cornwallis, who published a book in 1858 with very accurate maps of where gold was likely to be found. Another example is Thomas McMicking's journal entries. http://www.sbtc.gov.bc.ca/culture/schoolnet/cariboo/primary/ in dex.htm [|**Canada speaks**] This web site is another resource for students of Canadian history. It contains an archive of speeches by Canadian Prime Ministers. Access is by chronological list of names, a mosaic of pictures, or a timeline from Confederation to the present. Each prime minister's information contains a picture, biographical information and a single speech. An example is the information on The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald. His speech to the House of Commons on January 17, 1881 is included. The site is available in English and French. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/canspeak/ [|**National Library of Canada's Glenn Gould archive**] Students will find excellent audio primary source material at this site including archival tapes and writings by Gould, who was Canada's most renowned classical musician of the 20th century. In addition, a digital selection of documents, photographs and artifacts are accessible. This site is available in English or French. http://www.gould.nlc-bnc.ca/egould.htm [|**Alexander Graham Bell family papers**] The study of inventions is enriched by using this site. Here young researchers will find letters, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, drawings and photographs documenting the many inventions of Bell. Information can be searched by keyword or browsed by category. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html