Guided Primary Source Analysis: U.S. Must Set Pace for Racial Tolerance

Guided Primary Source Analysis: U.S. Must Set Pace for Racial Tolerance

Read the article, then answer the questions below. If you need help, click the links in the Related resources section below. What was happening in the world at the time this article was published? Who was Mrs. Roosevelt and why was what she had to say important? Who else attended the conference and what groups…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does Your Vote for President Count?

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does Your Vote for President Count?

Work in a group to discuss what you can learn from this historical newspaper article (download .pdf) just by examining the headline, illustrations, the introduction (the first three paragraphs), and the section headers. What questions do you still have? Divide the reading of the article among your group members so that each reads 2 or…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: I Am an American Day

Guided Primary Source Analysis: I Am an American Day

Find a partner and have one read the first article and the other the second article. Each person should re-read their article and then analyze the source to answer the questions below. (NOTE: to enlarge the type, click here to read them online) What argument does the article present? What evidence from the text supports…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Woman Whom Justice Brewer Would Make Mayor

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Woman Whom Justice Brewer Would Make Mayor

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page but before reading the article, what do you learn about the featured woman and Justice Brewer just from reading the headline and the photo captions? Make a list of as many facts as you can. Then provide an educated guess as to why this was a news…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: How the Sun Spots Control Our Weather

Guided Primary Source Analysis: How the Sun Spots Control Our Weather

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page from 1912. Look at the images carefully and only read the headline and image captions. Outline the assertions—facts or beliefs—that are suggested. Now read the first paragraph of the article. Describe your reaction to this text. Then relate how the descriptions of weather events compare to what…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does the Camera Ever Lie?

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does the Camera Ever Lie?

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page from 1901. Read only the headline and image captions. Then carefully review the images and make an educated guess about what the article will discuss. Now read the article. How does it answer the question posed in the title? What evidence is provided to support this…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Chinese Citizenship in Hawaii

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Chinese Citizenship in Hawaii

This 1906 newspaper article quotes a 1904 magazine editorial, which sums up the “widely prevailing sentiment against the Chinese immigrant laborer in the United States.” Make a list of the arguments for the “defense of our political antagonism to the Chinaman”. The first page of the newspaper article responds to three arguments. Choose one and summarize the comparisons…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Origin of April Fool’s Day

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Origin of April Fool’s Day

For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then make a list of the countries mentioned that celebrate April Fool’s Day and information about how they celebrate the day. Explain which story you found funniest or most interesting. Create an April Fool’s Day poem using information from the article and your own experiences. For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Science & the Suffragettes

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Science & the Suffragettes

Zoom into the top half of this newspaper page that contains only the article’s headline and subhead and photos and captions. Based on this information, explain the points you think the newspaper article will discuss. Now read the article. What is the main point, or claim, of the article. List the arguments the author makes and…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Why I Believe in Santa

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Why I Believe in Santa

Click the newspaper above to zoom in to the page. First read the center article, “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” What was the editor’s claim and what arguments did he make to support that claim? Now read what the citizens of Rock Island had to say about Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit….

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Hello, Earth! Hello!

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Hello, Earth! Hello!

Click the newspaper above to zoom in and read the article. Make a chart that lists the name of each scientist or inventor mentioned in the article, whether the expert was quoted directly or indirectly, and the expert’s view of the possibility of communication with other planets. Find out more information about the publisher of this newspaper, then…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Solving the Riddle of Mars?

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Solving the Riddle of Mars?

Click the newspaper image above to zoom into the page. What is the riddle of Mars? Does the article answer the headline question? What evidence does the article give that there is life on Mars? What evidence does the article provide that Professor Lowell believes these Martian extraterrestrials are superior to mankind as the subhead claims?…