WPA Posters: Colorful Messages in Dark Economic Times
When the nation’s financial future was at its darkest, some exceptional artists used color and design to spread the word about programs that could help.
Archive for the Primary Source Highlights Category (70 posts)
Booker T. Washington and the Atlanta Compromise
This post comes to us from Danna Bell-Russel of the Library of Congress. As the United States entered the 20th century, African Americans faced a new and challenging landscape. A mere thirty-five years after the abolition of slavery, the majority of African Americans had learned to read and hundreds were heading to colleges and …
The Dust Bowl: An Iconic Catastrophe
Scorched earth. Abandoned farms. Skies black with dust. Houses buried under great dunes of earth. Decades after the drought and depression of the 1930s ended, images of the Dust Bowl are still familiar to millions of people worldwide. These images, and the stories and songs that emerged at the same time, are powerful tools for …
Primary Sources by State: Making Local Connections
Hook your students with historic sights and sounds that are close to home: Primary Sources by State.
Science in Popular Culture: Let’s Do the Radium Dance
Today’s post comes to us from the Library’s Danna Bell-Russel. Can science teachers use primary sources? They certainly can. One approach is to use primary sources to examine how scientific discoveries were treated in popular culture. Here is a series of examples that can be used to discuss radium and its uses in the early …
Civil War Sketch Artists: Pencils on the Front Lines
When is the pencil mightier than the camera? When it is recording the action on a Civil War battlefield.
World War I Posters: Making a Point from a Distance
This is a guest post from our Library of Congress colleague Cheryl Lederle, who develops classroom materials and presents professional development to K-12 teachers. Before television and before radio, people communicated across distances using print. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, then one of the most compelling print formats is the poster. …
Historic Newspapers: Paper, Paper….Get Your Paper Here!
Today I’m honored to present a guest post by Library of Congress staff member Danna Bell-Russel, an archivist by training who works with K-12 teachers as a reference librarian. Over to Danna: How many of you get your news and information from the Internet or one of the 24-hour news channels? It’s hard to believe …
Political Cartoons: Seriously Funny
When is a cartoon serious about making a point? When it’s a political cartoon.
Drake’s West Indian Voyage: Primary Source Highlight
How can a set of 16th century maps capture students’ imagination and invite close observation? Read on to find out!