New Ebooks from the Library of Congress: Scientific Data, Weather Forecasting, and the New Deal

Pore over the first periodic table of chemical elements. Highlight interesting entries in Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten record of temperatures of Monticello. Hear the stories of people struggling to survive the Great Depression.

The Library of Congress is once again providing students everywhere with a chance to touch, draw on, and explore treasures from its vast collections with the release of its three newest free interactive ebooks for iPads: Scientific Data, Weather Forecasting, and the New Deal.

These Student Discovery Sets gather unique documents and artifacts related to landmark moments in the nation’s history. Interactive tools let students zoom in on, illustrate, and make notes about what they discover. All of these documents and artifacts, plus teaching resources, are also available from the Library’s Web site for teachers, loc.gov/teachers.

The objects in the Student Discovery Sets are primary sources: items created by eyewitnesses to history. From diagrams drawn by Isaac Newton to early weather instruments to the songs of migrant farm workers, these charts, sketches, notebooks, maps, booklets, posters, cartoons, and iconic images immerse students in history, culture, and science, and give them the power to explore.
The Library’s latest Student Discovery Sets are available now for the iPad, and can be downloaded for free on iBooks. They join twelve previously published sets on the U.S. Constitution, Symbols of the United States, Immigration, the Dust Bowl, the Harlem Renaissance, Understanding the Cosmos, the Industrial Revolution, Jim Crow and Segregation, Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, Japanese American Internment, Women’s Suffrage, and Political Cartoons.
The sets are designed for students, providing easy access to open-ended exploration. A Teacher’s Guide for each set, with background information, teaching ideas and additional resources, is one click away on the Library’s website for teachers, loc.gov/teachers. If you’ve tried the Library’s Student Discovery Sets, please let us know how you’ve used them.