Rob Williams first used the Library’s digital newspaper collections more than a decade ago as a high-school teacher of U.S. history in Powhatan County, Virginia, near Richmond. Today, he’s a recording artist—he released his third album, “An Hour Before Daylight,” in October. But he still draws inspiration from the same online resources that captivated his history students.
Two articles about Patrick Gilmore's June 1869 peace jubilee in Boston, an event many students and teachers may not be familiar with, might pique students' interest in learning about the event and lend themselves to structured evaluation and analysis of each source of information
In the November/December 2017 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article features a 1910 map of South San Francisco, San Mateo County, California. The map was created for the unique purpose of documenting estimated fire hazards, and resides in the Sanborn Map Collection, part of an ongoing digitization project at the Library of Congress.
Harry Houdini, who died on Halloween in 1926, is probably best known as a magician and escape artist, but he also devoted considerable energy to investigating and debunking the claims of spiritualists. Who better to peel back that veil than a master illusionist?
In the May/June 2017 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article features a letter that Walt Whitman wrote to his mother on December 29, 1862. Whitman wrote the letter to let his mother know that he had found his brother George alive and healing from an injury sustained during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
At first glance, most students, and even many adults, might dismiss these shorthand notes as a page of scribbles, but they sketch out a plan for international peace.
Why is it important to evaluate and corroborate sources of information? These are not new questions, as a study of historical newspapers will confirm. Sometimes reports reflect an editorial bias, and sometimes they simply reflect what the reporter knows at the time, with updates being added as new information from more sources surfaces.
