Library of Congress
Loc: Found Poetry With Primary Sources: The Great Depression
Students explore poetry using American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 collection of American Memory, which covers personal stories collected by the Works Progress Administration. In particular,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Local History: Mapping My Spot
Students often think of history as tattered documents, worn photographs, and musty books, all of which have little or no relevance to their lives. Maps provide an often-overlooked source of information and a new and compelling...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Minerva Mosaic of the Library of Congress
Students take a close analytical look at the historic Minerva mosaic from the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, and discover what it can tell them about the mission of the Library's founders. They will perform a basic primary source...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Huexotzinco Codex
Students will analyze a set of pictograph documents created by native peoples of Puebla, Mexico in 1531. Students will take on the role of historians, study the documents, and create a scenario to explain what these documents were for,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507
The 1507 World Map by Martin Waldseemuller is one of the world's most important maps. For the first time, this map labels America and shows the continent as a separate land mass. It is often referred to as America's Birth Certificate....
Library of Congress
Loc: The Alaska Purchase: Debating the Sale
The 1867 Treaty of Cession, in which the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian empire, marked an unusually peaceful transition. The purchase of Alaska was done under amicable circumstances, and both Russia and the U.S. felt...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Conservation Movement at a Crossroads
The debate over damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park marked a crossroads in the American conservation movement. Until this debate, conservationists seemed fairly united in their aims. San Francisco's need for a...
Library of Congress
Loc: World War I: What Are We Fighting for Over There?
The Great War of 1914-1918 significantly shaped the course of the twentieth century, both at home and abroad. How can this pivotal event be personalized and brought to life for students in the new millennium? Unfortunately, increasingly...
Library of Congress
Loc: Immigration and Oral History
The primary goal of this activity is to give students the genuine experience of oral history in order to appreciate the process of historiography. We identified immigrants in our community who reflect the ethnic diversity of our student...
Library of Congress
Loc: Explorations in American Environmental History
These lessons introduce students to historical perspectives of nature and the environment, drawing on the American Memory collections, other digital resources, readings, and writing exercises. Students examine materials in a variety of...
Library of Congress
Loc: Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts
This lesson plan introduces the practice of using primary sources; where to find primary sources, what they are, how to examine them, and how to construct a context to tell more of the story.
Library of Congress
Loc: The Great Depression in North Carolina: Experiences
This lesson plan will result in imaginary Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews similar to those found in American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 of the Library of Congress that...
Library of Congress
Loc: Oral History and Social History
This instructional activity presents social history content and topics through the voices of ordinary people. It draws on primary sources from the collection, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw
This lesson relates to the westward movement in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students analyze the role that gunfighters played in the settlement of the West and distinguish between their factual...
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War Photojournalism: A Record of War
This instructional activity will analyze Civil War photographs and explore how and why the American Civil War was photographed.
Library of Congress
Loc: The u.s. Constitution: Governing of the u.s.
This unit includes four lessons using primary sources to examine continuity and change in the governing of the United States. Lessons one and two are focused on a study of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and provide access to primary...
Library of Congress
Loc: Change in Early 20th Century America: Doing the Decades
This unit provides a flexible investigative structure for the study of selected themes in U.S. history and culture using the American Memory collections and related resources. Core goals are the development of relationships between...
Library of Congress
Loc: Immigration: Our Changing Voices
Through dialogue, documentation, research, and interviews, students understand their role in society. This unit provides a background to students' family histories and gives them an opportunity to listen to the voices of immigrants of...
Library of Congress
Loc: Music and u.s. Reform History: Stand Up and Sing
Throughout American history, popular music has reflected the mood and opinions of the times. By exploring sheet music, students analyze issues related to industrialization and reform to answer the essential question, "How does society...
Library of Congress
Loc: 1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
To better understand the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, this interdisciplinary lesson integrates analyzing historical primary resources with literary analysis. Students work in groups and express themselves...
Library of Congress
Loc: Japanese American Internment
What was the World War II experience like for the thousands of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast? The activities in this activity are designed to provide a window into the war years. Using primary sources, students will explore...
Library of Congress
Loc: German Immigrants: Their Contributions to the Upper Midwest
Why did Germans immigrate to the Upper Midwest in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century? What contributions did they make to the region's cultural heritage? Students use American Memory photographs and documents to answer these...
Library of Congress
Loc: Around the World in 1896
Working in groups, young scholars plan, take, and document a trip around the world in 1896 using World's Transportation Commission. This collection presents documentary evidence concerning the role of technology at the turn of the...
Library of Congress
Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Competition for Empire
Part of a larger site, the primary sources here deal with the competition among the European countries in establishing a foothold in the New World.