The National Archives preserves and provides access to the records of the Federal Government. Here is a sample of these records, from our most celebrated milestones to little-known surprises.
The features on this Web site enable educational communities to:
* Browse primary sources that teachers have used with students.
* Teach primary source-based learning experiences from the Teaching Materials Collection.
* Design learning experiences using MyPortfolio.
* Share discoveries with others through field-testing and publishing.
* Use our professional development programs to uncover the breadth and depth of LOC.gov resources.
* Learn through primary source-based online activities and samples of student projects.
* Create digital documentaries using University of Virginia's Primary Access or make a handout for students.
Calisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 150,000 digitized items - including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts - reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.
...using new technologies to enhance teaching and research. Primary sources for use in the classroom, Multimedia activities, eXplorations, timelines, lesson plans and more.
Welcome to the Digital Classroom, the National Archives' gateway for resources about primary sources, activities and training for educators and students.
This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections.
Teaching with primary documents encourages a varied learning environment for teachers and students alike. Lectures, demonstrations, analysis of documents, independent research, and group work become a gateway for research with historical records in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities.
The National Archives Digital Vault poster and video creation tools allow students to drag and drop digital artifacts into a poster or video. The National Archives provides images, documents, and audio in an easy to use editor. When making a poster students can combine multiple images, change background colors, and create captions to make collages of digital artifacts. See the screen capture below for a demonstration of poster editing.
Blog post about powerful web resources that have the power to engage students using digital tools and the desire today's youth have to express themselves, all while using the increasing amount of primary source materials available online.
The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
The principal objectives of the WDL are to:
* Promote international and intercultural understanding;
* Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
* Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
* Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.
"You now can access lots of free audio and video from the Library of Congress on iTunes U. There's a lot of great material suitable for a history class, such as early films made by Edison himself (or his company, at least). There are also fascinating oral histories from actual slaves in the Voices from the Days of Slavery collection. For a look at how people entertained themselves before TV, radio and the interweb came to be, you can look at early American animation, and even olde timey Vaudeville performances."
"In October, 1868, Laura Jernegan, a 6 year old girl from Edgartown, Massachusetts set out on a three year whaling voyage with her father, mother, brother and the ship's crew to the whaling grounds of the Pacific Ocean.
This website, produced by the Martha's Vineyard Museum, tells the story of Laura Jernegan and the journal she kept on her voyage. It also tells the adventurous history of whaling. "
This interactive journal was written by a 6-year-old and allows you to see her handwriting as well as use a "magic lens" to read it clearly in type. Would work great on the Smartboard. Super primary source that is primary grade appropriate! Lessons included on teachinghistory.org site.
"Footnote helps you find and share historic documents. We are able to bring you many never-before-seen historic documents through our unique partnerships with The National Archives, the Library of Congress and other institutions."