Latest News, Events, Opportunities, Resources & PD from the Library & TPS Consortium

Join In: Voluntary Associations in America
This new exhibition at the Library explores America’s history as a “nation of joiners” and the long tradition of volunteering for a wide range of groups and causes. It is available to explore online and will be on view in person throughout 2023.

Humanities Projects Nationwide Awarded Millions
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $28.1 million in grants for 204 humanities projects across the country. The grant awards support initiatives at college campuses, conservation research, innovative digital resources, and infrastructure projects at cultural institutions. Learn more about the NEH grant awards.

TPS Teachers Network Mentor Receives Award
Congratulations to TPSTN Mentor Margaret “Gigi” Lincoln, who received the Pat Slocum Meritorious Award from the Michigan Association for Media in Education. She has served as the Lakeview District Librarian since 1973. Read this article to learn more about this incomparable educator.

National Council of Teachers of English Call for Proposals
Learn about the 2023 NCTE Annual Convention to be held November 16-19 in Columbus, Ohio, and submit proposals by Wednesday, January 18, at 9:00 am ET.

Literacy Awards Now Accepting 2023 Applications
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards Program recognizes outstanding non-profit organizations and programs that promote literacy and reading in the United States and/or abroad. TPS Consortium members are encouraged to spread the word about this award and are also welcome to nominate a non-profit organization doing great literacy work. The Library will host an online applicant information session on February 2 at 1:00 pm ET. Register for the Literacy Awards information session. | Application details | Application deadline: March 1 at 11:59 pm ET.

For Educators

Mount Vernon Summer Residential Program
There’s still a few days left to apply for one of the five-day immersive professional development experiences offered by Mount Vernon this summer from mid-June through early August. Although there are scholarships for all who are accepted, some of the funds are state-based. Applicants from the following 15 states are particularly encouraged to apply: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. | Application deadline: January 16

Summer 2023 Professional Development at the Library of Congress
Applications are now open for these three-day summer workshops: July 5-7, 12-14, and 17-19. In each session Library of Congress education specialists will model a variety of hands-on, inquiry-based teaching strategies for using primary sources to engage students, build critical thinking skills, construct knowledge, and launch original research. Workshop tuition and materials are free but participants are responsible for all other costs, including transportation, meals, and lodging. Attendees will receive a certificate of participation upon successful completion of the workshop. | Information | Application deadline: February 10 | Questions? Email: teachinglcsummer@loc.gov

TPS Mississippi Virtual Winter Professional Development
Social Studies, ELA, and Gifted teachers are invited to learn about teaching with primary sources in this online synchronous PD event on February 4, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm ET. Participants will choose from 2 concurrent sessions per hour. TPS Mississippi will pay for the cost of obtaining .6 CEUs for the first 50 applicants from Mississippi. | Application deadline: February 2

For All

National African American Read-In 
During the month of February schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens are urged to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting an African American Read-In. The format of these events varies widely, but all events have a few things in common:

• Texts written by African American authors are shared.
• Participants either listen to or provide the readings.
• A count is taken of who attends and is reported.

Access the National African American Read-In Toolkit.

By the People Campaigns

• American Creativity: Early Copyright Title Pages
• The Blackwells: An Extraordinary Family
• By Design: Frederick Law Olmsted & Associates
• Civil War Justice: The Correspondence of Joseph Holt, Judge Advocate General
• Clara Barton: “Angel of the Battlefield
• Herencia: Centuries of Spanish Legal Documents
• “To Be Preserved”: The Correspondence of James A. Garfield
• Rough Rider to Bull Moose: Letters to Theodore Roosevelt
• Walt Whitman
• Woman of the World: Political Thinker Hannah Arendt

Family History for Kids
Staff from the Library’s Research and Reference Services have created a family history guide to help children gather family stories, organize photographs and other memories, create gifts, and create a family tree.

Recently Released Resources from Congress.gov

• Dates of Past Sessions page with links to legislation from March 4, 1789 to January 3, 2022
• Congressional Record – Bound Edition now includes coverage for the 53rd – 55th Congresses (1893-1899)
• Advanced Legislation Search Form with shareable shortened URLs

Searching Native American Newspapers in Chronicling America
Discover tips for searching the collections, with a special emphasis on historical Native American newspapers from Arizona and Minnesota, thanks to this Headlines & Heroes blog post.

Blog Posts

• 1902 Rose Bowl: First College Bowl Game
• African Americans and the Formation of National Parks: The Story of Charles Young
• Caught Our Eyes: Capturing Rainbows
• Caught Our Eyes: More Brünnhilde the Cat
• The Company Behind the Eyeglass Case that Saved Teddy Roosevelt
• Concepts Across the Sciences: Cause and Effect
• Alice Foote MacDougall and her (not so) Little Coffee Shop
• H.G. Wells’ Fighters from Mars?
• Lost and (Almost) Found: An Orphan Political Cartoon
• “The Master of Mysteries,” Latest in Library’s Crime Classics Series
• Ready for Research: Mission Gráfica/La Raza Collection
• The Secret (Past) Lives of Library Books
• Silent Shakespeare
• The Soldier’s Letter: The Civil War from the Western Frontier
• Three Questions with World Education and International Literacy and Development, 2022 Literacy Awards Successful Practice Honorees
• What Inventions Were Made by Kids? Inventing at the Library of Congress!
• Winter Poster Masterpieces

Podcasts

Access

From the TPS Consortium 

Primary Source Learning & Map-Making with the Question Formulation Technique
This classroom video from the Right Question Institute shows a multi-day mini unit on map-making in a 4th grade classroom in Gardnerville, Nevada. Watch as students use a nineteenth-century map from the Library of Congress and the QFT to practice skills of observation, questioning, inference, and independent research. View more QFT primary source videos.

Teaching About Martin Luther King, Jr.
The MLK resource set on the Citizen U Primary Source Nexus includes primary sources, secondary sources, and teaching resources related to this civil rights icon.

TPS Seminar Plans
This new online resource was created by National Paideia Center staff and facilitators from the District of Columbia Department of Social Studies. The seminar plans are intended to be used by adult educators across the United States to inspire candid and empathetic dialogue about racial identity and social justice to increase mutual understanding and contribute to equity in public education.

TPS Teachers Network Discussions

*Must join / login to participate except for albums, which are freely available

• Album – Alexander Graham Bell’s Tetrahedral Kites (1903-9)
• Album – Amplifying Our Voices Through Music
• Album – The Book Thief
• Album – The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier
• Album – Literacy as an Act of Resistance
• Album – The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier
• Album – Literacy as an Act of Resistance
• Album – Women in the Military Recruitment Posters: “Four Corners” Activity
• Escape at Alcatraz
• The History of African American Music
• Indian Child Welfare Act – SCOTUS Case
• Media Literacy and the Edward Curtis Portraits of Native Americans
• The Only Woman in the Room
• Problem of Plymouth Rock – When Primary Sources Lie
• Programming with Primary Sources: Women’s Suffrage: A Guide for Libraries
• Reporting On Mauna Loa with Primary Sources
• Sand Creek Massacre

WEBINARS/WORKSHOPS
Anytime

Virtual Student Workshops
Library of Congress
Tuesdays through Thursdays between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm ET, except for federal holidays, on a first-come, first-served basis and subject to staff availability
Access request form

January

Literacy: Nurturing Partnerships
Library of Congress
January 19, 3:00-4:30 pm ET | Information | Registration

Science Teaching with Embedded Primary Sources
University of Mississippi Center for Mathematics and Science Education
January 26-27, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm CT; The Toyota Experience Center, Blue Springs, MS; lunch provided + hotel accommodations for educators who live more than 60 miles from Blue Springs | Workshop information & registration

February

Literacy: Engaging Local Communities
Library of Congress
February 16, 3:00-4:30 pm ET | Information | Registration

March

Literacy: Promoting a Culture of Reading
Library of Congress
March 16, 3:00-4:30 pm ET | Information | Registration

April

Advancing Adult Literacy in the U.S.
Library of Congress
April 20, 3:00-4:30 pm ET | Information | Registration

July

Teaching with Primary Sources
Library of Congress
July 5-7, 12-14, or 17-19; Library of Congress Madison Building, Washington, DC
Information | Application deadline: February 10 | Questions? Email: teachinglcsummer@loc.gov

COURSES/COLLOQUIA/MICRO-CREDENTIALS

Anytime

TPS Micro-credentials
National Education Association, Citizen U, Emerging America, Inquiry in the Upper Midwest, Right Question Institute, TPS Western Region
Asynchronous, free for NEA members, $75 for all others (non-members may apply for a free voucher with a valid school email) | Access micro-credentials

TPS Basics
TPS Eastern Region
Asynchronous | Information | Registration

Teaching with Primary Sources in the Elementary Classroom
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Collaborative for Educational Services, Mars Hill University, TPS Midwest Region
Asynchronous
Free for Ed Leaders Network members, including all Illinois public school educators
Information

Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Primary Source Questions
Right Question Institute
Asynchronous learning modules | Access modules

Winter/Spring

Rural Lives in Context
National Council for History Education
February 25, April 15, and May 6, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET | Colloquia information & registration | Contact: Regina Holland

Accessing Inquiry for English Learners Through Primary Sources
Collaborative for Educational Services & the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies English Learner Collaborations Project
March 03 – April 14; mostly asynchronous with webinar March 08, 4:00-5:15 pm ET
$100, 22.5 PDPs, graduate credit available for additional fee | Course information & registration deadline: 4:30 pm ET, February 24

America and World Fascism: From the Spanish Civil War to Nuremberg and Beyond – Teaching Human Rights Today
Collaborative for Educational Services
March 9, 16, 30, and April 06, 4:00-5:15 pm ET; includes asynchronous work
$50, 22.5 PDPs, graduate credit available for additional fee | Course information & registration