For many of us Thanksgiving Day is an opportunity to share a wonderful meal with family and friends, to give thanks for all of the good things that have taken place and to watch or play football.

This guest post was excerpted from e-mail correspondence from Eden Kuhlenschmidt, who works as a school librarian. Eden participated in a 2012 Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute. She wrote to us about her experience taking what she learned back to the teachers and students in her school. Watch this blog for the 2013 Summer Teacher Institute application — coming next month.

As part of the continuing commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, the Library of Congress just opened an exhibition The Civil War in America, displaying more than 200 items from the Library’s unmatched collections. Students may look at maps, letters, diaries, or photographs to learn about the experiences of those who fought in the war and those who were left behind to tend the homestead. While these sources are excellent, make sure to include music as a way to help students learn about life during the Civil War.

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.

The Library of Congress American Folklife Center has worked to preserve the culture of America’s people. Through on-site recordings and unposed images we are able to experience the language, the songs, the stories and the performances of Native Americans in their communities or here at the Library of Congress.

Service men and women away from home have always prompted a variety of methods of communication. Auditory and visual learners can listen and read imaginatively to evaluate emotions conveyed through print and non-print primary sources produced by veterans and their families.