In the March/April 2014 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our "Sources and Strategies" article described the invention of the phonograph and how it was used by the 19th century American ethnologists, Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, to record music and interviews with Omaha Indians.
Did you know that there are fourteen blogs published by various divisions of the Library of Congress? These blogs are full of useful information and can direct you to primary sources or other information that you can make use of in your classroom.
Ask your students if there are certain things that their families do at the same time each year. Do they start working on the garden at the same time? Do they go on vacation at almost the exact same time? Are certain events celebrated with the same kinds of foods every year? These are the sorts of questions folklorists ask when they visit communities to learn about the traditions and activities that make up the fabric of the community.
