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.
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.
Introduce a lesson or unit on electricity, engineering, or computer science using historical primary sources that describe the first transatlantic telegraph.
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
Looking for resources and teaching ideas for Women's History Month? These posts from Teaching with the Library of Congress feature primary sources on various topics and easy to implement teaching ideas.
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.
As we prepare to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday on February 12th and George Washington's birthday on the 15th we thought it might be helpful to remind our readers of some of the resources we have on the presidents of the United States.
At the end of the 19th century, advances in science, engineering, and technology resulted in a revolution in transportation. Historical primary sources offer opportunities for students to consider energy and engineering principles related to electric cars from a century ago.
Join us for a one-hour webinar, February 18 at 4pm EST, to explore how to use visible thinking routines to enhance the power of primary sources in your classroom. A wide variety of easy-to-use routines will be introduced.
