INTRODUCTION

Thanks to the ease with which old photos, text documents, maps and other materials can be digitized and shared over the internet, we have an amazing wealth of original research materials at our fingertips. Documents, photos, maps, diaries, letters, etc. that were created at the time of an event and share the observations of people who observed or participated in an event are considered primary sources.

Working with primary sources gives students the opportunity to explore, examine original materials, form their own questions and come to their own conclusions.

This short video nicely explains the differences between primary and pecondary sources.

USING PRIMARY SOURCES

Ideas, lesson plans, activities and tips on how to teach with primary sources.

• Using Primary Sources – A great place to start. Examine how primary sources can engage students, develop critical thinking and construct knowledge.  Resources, ideas, lesson plans, etc from the Library of Congress
• Engaging Students with Primary Sources – “Classroom-ready
  activities designed to provide practical lessons on using primary sources. Each activity focuses on an object or objects from the collections of the National Museum of American History.”
• The Best Resources For Using Primary Sources – A great list of  resource sites, teaching ideas and more from Larry Ferlazzo.
• Teaching Primary Students with Primary Sources – Nice outline of how to use primary sources with young students, particularly photographs.
• Library of Congress introduces three new apps – Joyce Valenza introduces 3 new, fun learning apps from the Library of Congress: Eagle Eye Citizen, Engaging Congress, and the terrific KidCitizen project geared towards K-5 students. You can even create your own Eagle Eye Citizen activity.
• 5 Online Activities for Teaching With Primary Sources – Richard Byrne shares 5 easy to implement ways to teach with primary sources.
• 10 Resources for Teaching With Primary Sources – Some excellent teaching ideas and resources from Free Tech for Teachers.

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

Explore some of the many amazing repositories we have access to over the web.

• Digital Public Library of America – The DPLA is a great starting point in your research. It provides access to public domain or openly licensed material from museums, libraries, archives and other organizations around the country.
  • Primary Source Sets – Collections of material  that explore topics in history, literature, and culture. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. Seems to be geared to  Grades 6 and up.
• NY Heritage Newly relaunched NY Heritage site. “New York Heritage is a portal for learning more about the people, places and events that contributed to the making of New York State.”  Includes photos, maps, postcards, newspapers, letters and more. Content from over 200 libraries and other history archives. Includes a page of lesson plan ideas.  A good place to start is to check for participating organizations in your region.
• New York Public Library Digital Collections – Over 700,000 digitized items from the NYPL’s collections. “new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.”  The ABOUT NYPL DIGITAL COLLECTIONS page will help you get started exploring. Fascinating examples of how the NYPL collections have been put to use via their open data connections.
  • New York Public Library Invites a Deep Digital Dive  Some fascinating examples
  • The Green Book – The Green Book was a travel guide published between 1936 and 1966 that listed hotels, restaurants, bars, gas stations, etc. where black travelers would be welcome. Using data extracted from the books themselves, we welcome you to visualize a trip one may have taken using these books. Learn More.
  • Old NYC – Select locations on a map of Manhattan and view long ago photos of that location.
• Library of Congress Digital Collections
  • Classroom resources
  • LOC Primary Sources by State
  • Explore the collections by themes – Links to primary materials, relevant lesson plans, search terms and more.
• American Memory Project – The American Memory Historical Collections from the Library of Congress provide free access to historical images, maps, sound recordings, and motion pictures that document the American experience.
  • About the Project
  • Classroom Resources 
• Google Arts and Culture – What an amazing collection of art, stories, and cultural treasures from around the world.
  • Use this map to locate collections from institutions around the world
  • Historical events collections
  • Explore with Street View
  • To explore further, click on the 3-bar menu icon at top of the website.
• Google Books – Lots of full-text books with great source material. Use the Tools menu to see search limiters. Select “Free Google ebooks”.
• Docs Teach – Digital platform for teaching with resources from the US National Archives. Browse materials by historical period and document type. Use online learning activities created by other educators or create your own.
• Europeana – A collaboration of European countries to create a central index to cultural materials held in European libraries, museums, archives and more. Much like the DPLA project in the US.  “Explore 51,132,068 artworks, artifacts, books, videos and sounds from across Europe.”
• World Digital Library –  A collaboration between the Library of Congress, UNESCO, and other educational institutions around the world.  Includes material from many cultures and countries. Descriptive information can be read in 7 languages or listened to in English.  Browse by country, time period, topics, type of material, languages (145 of them!) and by participating institution.
• Example Digital Libraries/Repositories – Long list of even more digital collections from Louisiana State University.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Remember, you don’t have to explore everything or do all of these activities – just be sure you’re learning something new!

Activity Suggestions – Some ideas and activities to consider for this lesson:

• Explore the lesson plans and activities in the Using Primary Sources section of the lesson. Find something that might work with your students.
• Explore some of the digital repositories in the DIGITAL COLLECTIONS section.
• Create a collection of material to use in a lesson with one of the tools that has a “create a collection” option.
• Feeling inspired? Create your own activity based on resources you’ve discovered.
• Explore any other aspect of this topic that interests you.  As long as you’re learning something new!

Your Blog Post

• Reflect on any articles you read and the materials you explored.
• What new ideas did you glean?
• How might you use these materials with your students?
• Share your experiences and ideas about the topic.
• Link to any material you might have created.

*TURNING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Write & publish your blog post.
• Copy the URL (webpage address) for your post.
• Return to your Google Classroom, find the assignment page for the lesson you just completed and follow the directions for turning in and sharing your work.

*Only for students participating in the workshop for PD credit hours through the Google Classroom.