TPS Spotlight: Civics! An American Musical

TPS Spotlight: Civics! An American Musical

Civics! An American Musical is a part of the Library of Congress’ Teaching with Primary Sources Program. Created by FableVision in partnership with Maryland Public Television, Maryland Humanities, and Tufts’ Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Civics! An American Musical is designed to teach middle school students the inquiry process…

Primary Source Spotlight: Three-Fifths Compromise & the Northwest Ordinance

Primary Source Spotlight: Three-Fifths Compromise & the Northwest Ordinance

Three-Fifths Compromise U.S. Constitution Article I Section 2 Clause 3 Fragment of an original letter on the slavery of the negroes; written in the year 1776, by Thomas Day, Esq James Madison correspondence related to slavery Madison Debates, Avalon Project June 11, 1787 July 11, 1787 July 12, 1787 August 8, 1787 August 25, 1787…

Finding Resources: LOC.gov Teachers’ Section

Finding Resources: LOC.gov Teachers’ Section

The Teachers section of the Library of Congress website is chock full of ready-made classroom materials, free professional development and many more resources for educators. Below we describe the resources and provide links to get you what you need quickly. Teaching with Primary Sources Partner Program grantees, who comprise the TPS Consortium, deliver TPS professional…

Analyzing Primary Sources: Tools & Guides

Analyzing Primary Sources: Tools & Guides

Primary sources, as described by the Library of Congress, “are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts that retell, analyze, or interpret events, usually at a distance of time or place. Bringing young people into close contact with…

Collections Spotlight: African American Perspectives

Collections Spotlight: African American Perspectives

“African American Perspectives” gives a panoramic and eclectic review of African American history and culture and is primarily comprised of two collections in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division: the African American Pamphlet Collection and the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection with a date range of 1822 through 1909. Most were written by African-American authors,…

TPS Spotlight: SHEG & Beyond the Bubble

TPS Spotlight: SHEG & Beyond the Bubble

Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) is an award-winning research and development group that seeks to improve education by conducting research, working with school districts, and reaching directly into classrooms with free materials for teachers and students. Beyond the Bubble is the cornerstone of SHEG’s membership in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Consortium….

Primary Source Spotlight: Black American History & Heritage

Primary Source Spotlight: Black American History & Heritage

Primary source sets with teacher guides Story maps Curated resource sets – primary sources & secondary too Individuals Groups Topics African American Studies Research Guides Library collections Additional collections outside the Library Online exhibitions Veterans History Project Spotlights, features & special presentations Image Sets Historic African-American newspapers Music & Dance resources Congressional activity Library blog…

Finding Resources: Story Maps

Finding Resources: Story Maps

Story Maps are immersive web applications that tell the incredible stories of the Library’s collections through narrative, multimedia, and interactive maps. The story maps are created within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based software platform created by Esri. Story Maps are chock full of primary sources, including photographs, illustrations, texts, newspaper articles, and even maps. “I find story…

Primary Source Spotlight: Charles Curtis

Primary Source Spotlight: Charles Curtis

Politician Charles Curtis of Kansas was, as he liked to tell audiences, “one-eighth Kaw Indian and a one-hundred per cent Republican”.  He was a member of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, serving as Senate majority leader from 1924 until his inauguration as the 31st vice president in 1929. Representative Curtis…

Primary Source Learning: Inaugural Poems & Poets

Primary Source Learning: Inaugural Poems & Poets

Poetry has a long history of addressing and illuminating public issues and events but a disjointed and relatively short history of inclusion in presidential inauguration ceremonies. These moments, however, provide additional nuance to the state of the country during these important transitional moments in our nation. Use the links below to read and listen to…

TPS Spotlight: Voices for Suffrage

TPS Spotlight: Voices for Suffrage

Voices for Suffrage, part of the Congress, Civic Participation, and Primary Sources Project supported by a grant from the Library of Congress, is an interactive web application for students in grades 7-12 that promotes primary source analysis, reading comprehension, and supporting inferences with evidence. This web-based learning application contains over 700 primary sources from the…