three-step activities spanning subjects and grades
Zoom into a larger image of this political cartoon. Make a list of details that you see. Then describe the story you think this source tells using the details you noted as evidence. Compare and contrast this source with a similar political cartoon by Edward W. Clay (view larger image). What similarities and differences do you…
Zoom into this newspaper page online or download a larger image. Use the shopping insert to help craft a Thanksgiving menu. What would you serve based on the items offered for sale? Look closely at the illustrations surrounding the advertisements. Add speech bubbles to bring the scene depicted at the top of the page to life. Compare and contrast…
For each of the following questions, use specific details from the map to support your conclusions (zoom into this map online or download a larger image). Who created this map? How do you know? Why do you think this map was created? Who do you think the audience might have been when it was published…
How does this source present the state of Florida? What details from the source support your response (see larger image)? Who is sponsoring this map? Why do you think so? What might that company hope to gain? Does the company still exist today? What more can you discover? Do a bit of research about the Spanish-American…
Read the summary of the Lunar Narrative from the Museum of Hoaxes. What details from the articles do you see evidence of in this illustration? Why do you think the illustrator created an inset, or a picture within a picture? Access this .pdf to see the image in more detail. Compare and contrast the information about…
This source represents a game board. Look closely (larger image) to find a picture clue that tells you what game pieces you need to be able to play this game. Take a look at the 64 scenes and choose three to investigate more closely. If you were to happen upon each scene in real life, how would…
Use only details from the illustrations and text to determine what the author of this print wanted the audience to know (view larger image) about these people and their relation to an important historical event. Use evidence from the source to support your conclusions. Now review the bibliographic record from a copy of this source and read…
Look closely at the illustration. What can you determine about this broadside from the art? What more do you learn from the summary of this primary source? Do you think the illustration supports the summary? Why or why not? Look at both the front and back of this broadside. How does each stanza end? Why…
Where is your eye drawn to first in the photograph? Why do you think the photographer wanted you to focus on this portion of the photo? Zoom into this photograph (online | .pdf). Investigate other details you see in the photo. What do these details add to the overall story that the picture tells? What do…
What do you think the artist is trying to tell you through this poster? What details support your conclusion? Find out more about Spiro Agnew. Read the following curator notes: Anything Goes: Caricature Since the 1960s: Edward Sorel, Author and Caricaturist. What three reasons are given for the resurgence of caricature in the mid-1960s? What more did…
Zoom into this map (online | .pdf). How many states do you see? Describe the differences between this 1833 map and a current map of the United States. What impression of the United States do you get from this map? Explain your reaction. Then use details from the source to explain what might have been the…
What is the setting of this political cartoon? What details in the source support your conclusion? How is the consumer depicted in this cartoon? How do the coal strikers compare to the trusts? What details in the source support your conclusions? Gov. Osborn is literally jumping on the “Taft bandwagon” in the cartoon. What does this…