Collections Spotlight: Ruth Muskrat Bronson

Collections Spotlight: Ruth Muskrat Bronson

Ruth Muskrat image set Ruth Muskrat newspaper articles More Ruth Muskrat historical newspaper coverage Read a Speech by a Native American Activist from the Early 1920s PBS Roadshow Ruth Muskrat’s Speech to President Coolidge, December 13, 1923 Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke Alumna Embraced Both Parts of Her Cultural Identity Alumnae Association…

Primary Source Learning: LOC.gov Teacher-Created Lesson Plans

Primary Source Learning: LOC.gov Teacher-Created Lesson Plans

The Teacher’s section on LOC.gov features close to 100 teacher-created lesson plans. As you can see from the image above, lesson plans are listed in alphabetical order and there is a handy search bar to help you easily conduct a keyword search. Use the links below to jump to select groupings of the LOC.gov lesson…

Primary Source Spotlight: The Seminoles

Primary Source Spotlight: The Seminoles

Seminole image set Political cartoons related to the Seminoles Maps related to the Seminoles Seminole song recordings Books about the Seminoles Indian Chieftain newspaper 1882-1902 Seminole Indians historic newspaper coverage through 1922 Modern-day legislation related to the Seminoles Skulls, Scalps and Seminoles: Science and Violence in Florida, 1800-1842 streaming webcast Seminole Chief Osceola Osceola in Florida…

Primary Source Spotlight: Navajo

Primary Source Spotlight: Navajo

Navajo image set More Navajo images Navajo books, reports & other documents Indian (Navajo) Land Cessions in the U.S. 1784-1894 Historical newspaper coverage: Navajo Indians The Navajo mentions in personal narratives Navajo related oral history audio recordings Oral history stories of the Long Walk Navajo code talkers veterans oral histories Code Talkers historical newspaper articles Navajo…

Today in History: War of 1812

Today in History: War of 1812

Today in History–June 18–the Library of Congress features the War of 1812. On this date in 1812 President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain. Reasons for the war included frustration with Britain’s maritime practices and their support of Native American resistance to western expansion as well as a desire to conquer Canada. The war lingered on…

Today in History: Indian Citizenship Act

Today in History: Indian Citizenship Act

Today in History–June 2–the Library of Congress features the Indian Citizenship Act, enacted on this date in 1924. The act finally granted official U.S. citizenship to to all Native Americans born in the U.S. But because voting rights were governed by state law, some Native American citizens were barred from voting in political elections until 1957. Find out more by visiting…

Today in History: Fort Necessity & the French and Indian War

Today in History: Fort Necessity & the French and Indian War

Today in History–June 4–the Library of Congress features Fort Necessity near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. On this date in 1754, the young Colonel George Washington and his troops were hard at work constructing the makeshift stronghold to protect themselves from French aggression. Less than a month later, however, Washington and his troops were surrounded and forced to surrender to French troops on…

Primary Source Spotlight: Western Expansion & Manifest Destiny

Primary Source Spotlight: Western Expansion & Manifest Destiny

This set of primary sources and teaching resources focuses, primarily, on the time period 1800-1860. Western expansion stories from America’s Library Western expansion timeline (includes primary source activities) Primary source sets Western expansion (includes teacher guide) Primary Source Learning: Expansion & Reform (includes learning activity) Donner party primary sources Primary source collections Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from…

Today in History: Carl Schurz

Today in History: Carl Schurz

Today in History–October 29–the Library of Congress features journalist and politician Carl Schurz. On this date in 1855, the recent German immigrant wrote his wife, Margarethe Meyer Schurz, about his hope for their future in America. Exactly five years later Schurz sent his wife another letter, this time from Abraham Lincoln’s presidential campaign trail. Schurz served as a U.S. senator and worked with…

Learning from the Source: Zooming into Documentary Photography

Learning from the Source: Zooming into Documentary Photography

Zoom into the picture above and you will see a face recognizable to many. The mother in the photo is Florence Thompson, most famously known as the migrant mother. This photograph was one in a series taken in 1936 by Resettlement Administration photographer Dorothea Lange. In this primary source activity, students will examine photographs individually…