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A preservation box sits on top of a map next to a magnifying glass. The box is decorated with black and white images and a newspaper clip. It has text saying "What's the history of my hometown?," "Discover Photos!" and "Read Newspapers."
An interactive primary source box created by spring 2023 AHHA intern Charlotte Orekhov, featuring materials from students who investigated the national impact of their hometown's history, out for testing in the Young Readers Center-Programs Lab. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ezell)

What’s the History of my Hometown? Activities & Collections to Explore

Posted by: Jennifer Ezell

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This post was written by Charlotte Orekhov, a graduate student at George Washington University and fall 2023 participant in the Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced (AHHA) internship program at the Library of Congress.

Have you ever wondered what impact your state, or even your town, has made on the nation? Do you know how your community came to be the way it is today? During my internship, I developed content for The Source, an educational research studio that will open at the Library in the next few years. The Source will feature real-life stories of researchers who used Library of Congress collections. This fall, I met students who were investigating the national impact of their hometown’s history while participating in the National Council for History Education (NCHE)’s The Rural Experience in America Project funded by a grant from the Library’s Teaching With Primary Sources (TPS) program. The ways that they explored the Library’s collection to find their own local history can be repeated by families everywhere.

Maps

Cooper and Sam are high school juniors who began their research by looking at Sanborn Maps of their rural town of Cuba, Illinois online. The Library holds a large collection of these fire insurance maps from the 19th and 20th century. These maps of