Thomas Jefferson

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit about Thomas Jefferson's life. The exhibit includes stories, documents, maps and drawings about this former President of the United States.

Independence Day

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence
Tomorrow is July 4th. To celebrate, I give you the document that started it all. Here, here, and here are transcriptions of the Declaration of Independence.

However, what worth is the document if you can't teach it? As good citizens, your students should learn about the document by examining and evaluating it. Therefore, here, here, and here are some good lesson plans that you can use to teach them how to do that.

Oh, by the way, would you like to buy a copy of the document so that you can put it on your classroom wall?

1492

Here's a great site that you can share with your students: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage (an Exhibit of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) It includes text, photos, artwork, and primary sources. It details not only what the Europeans were doing, but also what was happening in the Americas before Columbus.

Calisphere: A World of Primary Sources

Here is a link to the University of California "Calisphere" site. This site has priamry source photographs on California history from 1848 to the 1970s. The photographs are divided into historical periods. Each section contains an brief overview of the period, questions for students to consider about the photographs, activities and worksheets.

Although the site focuses only on California history, teachers should find stuff they can use in a U.S. History class. For instance, the site has photos that relate to Western Expansion, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Dust Bowl and the Depression, Japanese Internment Camps, etc.

Making of America Books

From the website:

Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The book collection currently contains approximately 10,000 books with 19th century imprints.

Enough said. Click on this link to find out more about this website.

Using Primary Sources on the Internet

Using primary sources on the internet can be tricky. The main problem is figuring out which documents are accurate and which are not.

On the University of Washington Library website, I found an excellent article titled Using Primary Sources on the Web. The website lists good sites, explains how to evaluate a website for accuracy, and how to cite material from the web.

History Detectives

One of my favorite shows is "The History Detectives" on PBS. On the show, investigators search out the history of certain artifcats. Not only is it interesting history, but the program also demonstrates research methods that historians use to gather facts.

The program's website includes do it yourself activities, games and lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms. Click on this link for more information.