Finding Primary Sources: Moving Beyond the Teachers Page

Compass Rose from Map of Los Angeles

In a previous post, Cheryl Lederle provided suggestions on how to locate primary sources using resources from the Teachers Page. In addition to the materials found on the Teachers Page, there are many other resources on the Library of Congress website that teachers can use to find primary sources. Here are a few tools to add to your search tool kit.

A recent blog post highlighted how to locate maps using the global search function on the home page. You can limit search results by the original format of the item. When you get your search results, you can refine the list using the options on the left side. You can limit by subject, date, location and the way the item is presented online. In addition, you can decide how to display your search results either by relevance, title or date or in a list format, in a gallery of images with a brief description or in a grid of smaller images.

Today in History, March 27th

Another wonderful tool is Today in History, which provides information on an event or events that happened on a certain day in history. At the end of each story there is a list of links to additional resources from the Library’s website. These links can lead you to primary sources and can encourage deeper exploration of the Library’s collections.

For quick access to images on popular topics, the Prints and Photographs Division provides lists, including thumbnail images, for popular topics .

If you read further in the Teaching with the Library of Congress blog, you will find that the Library’s Educational Outreach staff really values Chronicling America, the collection of digitized historical newspapers. The newspapers are a treasure trove of eyewitness accounts of historical events. Topics in Chronicling America help users locate newspaper accounts of selected events.

Also don’t forget about the essays and special presentations that are included with many American Memory and Prints and Photographs collection descriptions. They provide useful information and links to primary sources from the collections.

What tools do you use to navigate the Library of Congress website when searching for primary sources?