When I've asked my students, “Would anyone be interested in a trip on a ferry?” they've all cheered with excitement. But I wonder how many of us would be brave enough to take a night voyage through an ice-clogged river on a boat battered by snow and high winds. Primary sources from the Library of Congress can let students explore this momentous--and shivery--event.
I talked the two sixth grade social studies teachers into letting me present the Waldseemüller Map: World 1507 and the Primary Source Analysis tool as part of their beginning of the year mapping unit.
Photographs offer a snapshot of a particular time and place, telling a careful viewer as much about the photographer as about the subjects of the pictures. That’s often particularly true when the photographer isn’t a member of the group being photographed. One example from the Library of Congress’s collections is Edward S. Curtis, who dedicated most of his career to photographing Native American cultures and traditions to publish in a multi-volume book titled The North American Indian.
