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

Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: We’ll See You at the NSTA Conference in Philadelphia

Posted by: Danna Bell

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is hosting an Area Conference in Philadelphia November 12-14 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Educational staff from the Library of Congress will facilitate a workshop on Thursday called “Science as a Human Endeavor: Analyzing Historical Primary Sources from the Library of Congress.”

Posted in: News and Events

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Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Paint, Poisoning, Proportions, and Public Health and Policy

Posted by: Danna Bell

Throughout history, humans have sought out substances to color, coat, and cover dwellings, objects, and bodies. Modern inorganic pigments and dyes joined natural and organic substances used by the ancients. The properties of one substance, lead white, once made it the pigment of choice in white paint. However, the toxicity of lead contributed to a public health crisis.

Posted in: Contemporary United States (1945-present), Development of the Industrial United States (1877-1914), Science Technology and Math

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

Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Mapping the Ocean Floor, Marie Tharp, and Making Arguments from Evidence (Part 2)

Posted by: Danna Bell

Textbooks and teachers often tell students about German scientist Alfred Wegener who went public in 1912 with his theory of continental drift. The scientific community did not widely accept Wegener's ideas during his lifetime and often derided colleagues who entertained the theory. Wegener passed away in 1930. Even as Marie Tharp was creating maps in the 1950s, scientists were actively constructing ideas and compiling evidence related to seafloor spreading and magnetic striping.

Posted in: Geography and Maps, Science Technology and Math

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

Primary Sources in Science Classrooms: Mapping the Ocean Floor, Marie Tharp, and Making Arguments from Evidence (Part 1)

Posted by: Danna Bell

What might a map from 1977, a poster from 1944, and a newspaper article from 1915 have in common with three twentieth century wars and the theory of plate tectonics? These three digitized artifacts in the Library of Congress’s collection have quite a bit in common when it comes to the emergence of evidence supporting a key theory in Earth science.

Posted in: Geography and Maps, Science Technology and Math

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

Five Questions with Constance Carter, Head of the Science Reference Section at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Danna Bell

While I'm officially the Head of the Science Reference Section, I spend most of my time working with the collections, answering reference requests and creating webcasts, book displays, and bibliographies. I work with text-books, journals, diaries, cookbooks, reminiscences, biographies, magazines, pictures, electronic sources, manuscript materials, microforms, artifacts--everything you might expect to find in a Library. I especially like the 18th and 19th century materials and learning more about the daily lives of our forefathers--their foraging techniques, what they ate, how they cooked and cleaned, what they wore, and how they spent their time.

Posted in: Interviews with Experts, Science Technology and Math, Women's History