This post is part of a series taking a closer look at various resources to support teachers using the Library’s digital collections in their classrooms.
Chronicling America is one of many digital collection gems that the Library has to offer teachers and students. The collection gives users access to selected digitized newspapers published through 1963. For long-time users of Chronicling America, you may notice the website has a new look. While the format is new, your favorite tools have been preserved and augmented: You can download and view newspapers, as well as clip, save, and share a particular section or article.
Newspapers, as a type of primary source, help students imagine what it might have been like to live in a particular time or place: consuming media of different historical eras can help to slow down the big events of history and see how they were experienced in real time. Newspapers can also be a tool for teaching different text types, media literacy, and message crafting.
Quick Ideas for Teaching with Historical Newspapers
- Examine as type of informational text
- Student research about a time, place, or event
- Gaining more context about significant historical events
- Slow down to see big things happening in real time
- Seeing coverage of a scientific invention or innovation from the past
You can find even more ideas for how to use Chronicling America with students in these blog posts.
Navigating Chronicling America
There are several ways you can search Chronicling America’s collection of historic newspapers. A good place to start is in the “Collection Items,” which you can find on the Chronicling America homepage.
Once in the collection, we recommend using some or all of the filters in the advanced search field. Depending on what you or your students are researching, you can narrow results through a keyword search, by location, ethnicity group, or by date. These search tips can be helpful to both teachers and students.
Another way to navigate Chronicling America is by exploring Recommended Topics. These research guides are organized in a variety of ways including by content, date, and location. Guides give readers a summary of the selected topic, a brief timeline to give historical context, and search strategies and selected newspaper articles.
Teachers and students can also search Chronicling America using the site’s interactive map and timeline. This approach offers a geospatial orientation to the collections, which is helpful for place-based research.
We hope this post is helpful for getting started with Chronicling America. If you use some of these tips or have additional recommendations, please share your ideas in the comments!