Alexander Graham Bell, Educator
To mark Teacher Appreciation Week, we’d like to take a look at the work of Alexander Graham Bell, educator.
To mark Teacher Appreciation Week, we’d like to take a look at the work of Alexander Graham Bell, educator.
May is Bike Month, a time to celebrate the many reasons that people around the world ride bicycles. In the United States, bicycles exploded in popularity in the 1890s. Although at first limited to the wealthy, bicycle use quickly became widespread.
May is Physical Fitness Month. Based on America’s popular culture obsession with physical fitness, one might be tempted to label fitness as a modern phenomenon. Primary sources hardly come to mind, but in fact, students can discover a rich and extensive history of physical fitness through the collections of the Library of Congress.
Men who endeavored to cross Antarctica on wooden skis are featured in the photos taken nearly 100 years ago by one man, Frank Hurley. They were part of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton
Primary sources are original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. We know that primary sources can show a certain point of view or a certain perception about an event. But students may not think about the reasons why a particular primary source was created.
How much do our students really know about the Irish in America?
On March 3, 1913, thousands of demonstrators marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in a call for women’s suffrage. Primary sources from the Library of Congress can help students not only see the size and grandeur of this historic parade, but also go behind the scenes to examine the plans and promotional strategies of its organizers.
Primary sources can provide a window into the Great Migration, the largest internal migration in the history of the United States.
Photographs offer a snapshot of a particular time and place, telling a careful viewer as much about the photographer as about the subjects of the pictures. That’s often particularly true when the photographer isn’t a member of the group being photographed. One example from the Library of Congress’s collections is Edward S. Curtis, who dedicated most of his career to photographing Native American cultures and traditions to publish in a multi-volume book titled The North American Indian.
What do you think of when you think of the President of the United States of America? We are fortunate that most presidents have left us their personal papers where we can read about their feelings, their concerns and their love for family and friends.