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Archive: February 2016 (11 Posts)

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

The Mind of the Mapmaker: Purpose and Point of View in Maps

Posted by: Danna Bell

In the January/February 2016 "Sources and Strategies" article in Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, Cheryl Lederle and I focus on helping students understand cartographers’ purpose through comparing two 16th century maps: Americae sive quartae orbis partis nova et exactissima descriptio by Diego Gutierrez and page 18 of Theatrum orbis terrarium by Abraham Ortelius.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

The Rosa Parks Papers: A Powerful New Resource for Teachers and Students

Posted by: Stephen Wesson

Starting today, the Library has made the Rosa Parks Papers available on its Web site. This collection contains thousands of unique artifacts that shed light on this courageous fighter for social justice. The letters, diaries, notes, photographs, and other documents in this collection, which is on loan to the Library for ten years from the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, provide invaluable insights into her life and thoughts.

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

In Their Own Words: A Summer of Learning for Teachers at the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes

Posted by: Anne Savage

Last year, more than 100 educators attended one of the five Summer Teacher Institutes at the Library of Congress, where they spent an intensive week immersing themselves in primary sources and exploring how to use them in their classrooms. At the end of each week, we asked the participants to write a note to those who would be attending the next session. Read a few of the things that teachers wrote last year about what to expect from the experience

One woman watches as another examines with a magnifying glass an ornate, decorative image on a printed page

Know Your Candidate: Analyzing Sheet Music to Explore Presidential Nominee Identity

Posted by: Cheryl Lederle

It is difficult to miss talk of the upcoming presidential election. Speeches, debates, and soundbites fill television screens, newspapers, and websites. But unless you attend a live event for a presidential nominee, you may not hear his or her campaign song, typically a familiar, popular song selected to shape how voters perceive the candidate. Campaign songs from long ago, original scores or popular songs with rewritten lyrics, did the same.