Students will explore the documents that were used in shaping the United States, before, during, and after its creation. While studying these documents, students will use reading skills to interpret and analyze documents. By the end of...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students must determine whether John Brown was a "misguided fanatic," by examining a speech by...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Young scholars use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. For this investigation, students read six different sources that provide insight into what happened at Haymarket...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students examine a political cartoon, a muckraker text, and the defense of a political boss to...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Students solve a problem surrounding a historical question by reading primary source documents. When the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War, the New York Times and...

This site summarizes what a historian does, what tools they use, and how to prepare to ask a historical question.

This website is an excellent resource for teaching with primary sources. This resource features Holocaust lessons, lesson plan strategies, and podcasts.

Examine the primary sources provided by Great Britain's National Archives to discover the state of the prison system in late 18th century Great Britain, and the conditions on the prison ships used because of the prison system. Read court...

This activity asks learners to match documents to individuals based on the reasons these people came to and were living in the United States. The photographs and documents are attached to government forms in some of the millions of...

This activity is intended to get students thinking about where information comes from, how it is presented, how its presentation affects understanding, and how information is used. Because the featured document relates to the Japanese...

History Firsthand has been designed to provide elementary children with experiences which enable them to begin understanding primary sources. Students move from personal artifacts to the vast American Memory collections and learn how...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson in which students use primary resources to investigate questions and historian claims about the Battle of Thermopylae. Includes downloadable lesson plan, original documents, and PowerPoint.

[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson in which students use primary source material from ancient Greece to determine the extent of its democracy. Includes downloads for teacher materials, student materials, PowerPoint and original...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson in which students compare two primary source documents to investigate how people experienced or understood the plague in 1348. Inlcudes lesson plan, PowerPoint, and original documents.

This resource covers what primary sources are, where we can find them, and how we can assess them in the classroom.

The Eichmann Trial was the first time the world at-large heard copious amounts of evidence of the horrors that happened during the Holocaust. The prosecution used 100 witness and over 1600 documents to convict Adolf Eichmann. Watch video...

This primary source set uses documents, photographs, government records, and news reporting to explore the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee and its historical impact.