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…
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…
Library blog posts related to Italy European Month of Culture: Spotlight on Italy In the Muse May 13, 2016 Alan Lomax in Italy: a letter to Goffredo Plastino Folklife Today May 21, 2015 Deciphering the Land: An Unknown Estate Survey Book from Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Italy Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps February 19, 2016 The Italian Legislative…
Today in History–May 5–the Library of Congress features Cinco de Mayo. On May 5, 1862, Mexican troops successfully defended the town of Puebla against French forces. In the spring of 1863, the city was recaptured by the French and a European was crowned Emperor of Mexico. Emperor Maximillian remained in power until 1867 when Napoleon III withdrew troops…
Enduring Understandings* Politics is a process to determine who governs and for what purposes. Time, place, and culture influence our perspectives on people and issues. Different perspectives affect the interpretation of history. Activity Have students collaborate to compare and contrast how visual and text sources have described and depicted the country of Iran over time….
Today in History–March 27–the Library of Congress features Washington D.C.‘s cherry trees. On this day in 1912 two Yoshino cherry trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin by First Lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, the Japanese ambassador’s wife, to celebrate the Japanese government’s gift of 3,000 trees to…
In celebration of Native American Heritage month, the Teaching with the Library of Congress blog provides some great suggestions for teaching students to view the experiences and contributions of Native Americans from various perspectives. Comparing sources from multiple perspectives provides students with practice in critical thinking and evaluating evidence and arguments. Links to more Native American…
Today in History–October 7–the Library of Congress features cowboys, or buckaroos, and fall roundup time. On this day in 1979 the Ninety-Six Ranch in Nevada completed its fall roundup and trail drive. Learn more about this roundup in the Today in History section then click the links below to access all sorts of cowboy stories and primary sources. Cowboy primary sources Buckaroos in Paradise Collection…
The Teaching with Library of Congress blog provides some great tips for finding articles in the Chronicling America Historic Newspaper Collections and provides some teaching ideas as well. Be sure to check out, too, the following learning activity: Comparing Reports: Battle of Little Bighorn. Below is a list of topic guides by subject, each of which…
Read an oral history excerpt or the full oral history account by an audience member who attended amateur night at the Apollo Theater in November, 1938. In this account from American Life Histories, 1936-1940, Federal Writer Dorothy West describes an event that happened [there]. What does this event suggest about race relations in the late 1930s?…
Home on the Range (.mp3) Today in History–July 14–the Library of Congress features novelist Owen Wister, born on this day in 1860, whose 1902 novel The Virginian helped create the myth of the American cowboy. Click on the image above to zoom into key scenes from the novel highlighted on this literary map, then visit the Today in History section to learn…