This year marks the centennial anniversary of both the U.S. entry into World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, the events that led to the fall of Russia's tsarist government and the eventual birth of the U.S.S.R. By analyzing reports in historic newspapers, students can explore the Great War’s role as a possible catalyst in starting the revolution and U.S. responses to the rise of communism in Russia.
I first stumbled across an image of Tom Wiggins when looking for images of African Americans during the Civil War, but I didn’t pay much attention to him until two days later when I saw the same piece of sheet music displayed at the National Portrait Gallery.
One hundred years ago next month, Alice Burke and Nell Richardson began a journey across the United States to promote women’s right to vote. Following their route can allow students to learn about them and their journey while also revealing more about the suffragist movement and women in the United States a century ago.
Traditions seem everlasting, but primary sources can show how Thanksgiving traditions change over time. Take, for instance, the tradition of the Thanksgiving Maskers in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In the November/December 2015 issue of Social Education, the journal of the National Council for the Social Studies, our “Sources and Strategies” article focused on analyzing newspapers from the presidential election of 1912, an unusual contest at an unusual time.
Now there's one especially for working with newspapers. Pair this guide with the printable or online primary source analysis tool to guide students into deeper analysis and reflection of primary sources from the online collections of rich historical primary sources from the Library of Congress.
During the webinar, Library staff will model primary source teaching strategies and highlight historic newspapers available through the Chronicling America project.
One of the most powerful effects of primary sources is their ability to complicate common understandings of history. As the raw materials of history, original documents are able to bring to light little-known details or neglected episodes that add complexity to oversimplified accounts.
One of the most popular resources on the Library of Congress website is Chronicling America. A collaboration with the National Endowment for the Humanities, Chronicling America provides digital access to newspapers published in the United States of America between 1836-1922. Meet one of the people responsible for making this collection available online, Tonijala Penn.
