Portrait of Frances Perkins in Evening Star Newspaper announcing her as the new Labor Secretary

Primary Source Spotlight: Frances Perkins

Frances Perkins images Frances Perkins historical newspaper coverage Correspondence and other texts related to Frances Perkins Frances Perkins Columbia University Libraries Oral History Research Office Contemporary legislation related to Frances Perkins Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal JSTOR Daily Promoting the General Welfare: Frances Perkins In Custodia Legis Frances Perkins, the Woman Behind FDR…

Two young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps working together on a machine

Collections Spotlight: Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps images Civilian Conservation Corps reports & other texts Olmsted Associates Records related to the Civilian Conservation Corps Civilian Conservation Corps historical newspaper coverage 1933-1942 Modern U.S. legislation related to the Civilian Conservation Corps PBS American Experience: Civilian Conservation Corps Roosevelt’s Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps Digital Public Library of America exhibition…

ivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp NP-5-C, Barracks No. 5

Primary Source Spotlight: Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps image set Civilian Conservation Corps images by state CCC Legacy Civilian Conservation Corps oral history recordings Civilian Conservation Corps historical newspaper articles Reports & other texts related to the Civilian Conservation Corps More Civilian Conservation Corps documents CCC Legacy Federal regulations related to the Civilian Conservation Corps Modern U.S. legislation related to…

Aerial view of U.S. Capitol and crowd on the grounds of the east front of the U.S. Capitol, during the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, March 4, 1933

Teaching Now: Determining the Main Idea of a Text

This is a guest post from Glenn Jensen, a national board certified U.S. and world history teacher at Kennedy High School in Chicago, Illinois. Glenn has developed an exercise that is a great way to begin analyzing primary source texts because it has students focus on what they know, what they can extrapolate from that knowledge,…

New Deal needlework designed and executed by Eleanor B. Roosevelt

Today in History: The New Deal

Today in History–June 16–the Library of Congress features the New Deal. On this date in 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the Public Works Administration. FDR’s New Deal domestic agenda provided jobs through a series of public works programs. In fact, millions of Americans found work through programs such as the Works…

Casablanca Tourist Poster

Today in History: Casablanca, Morocco

Today in History–November 26–the Library of Congress features Casablanca, Morocco’s main port city and the title of a future classic film, which premiered on this day in 1942. Just a few weeks before, the city was bombarded during General Dwight Eisenhower‘s “Operation Torch”. Less than two months later, the city was the site of an Allied…

Working on him

Primary Source Learning: Great Depression & World War II Primary Source Set

Have students use the primary sources in this set to tell a story about the period 1929-1945. At the depths of the great depression, which followed the stock market crash in October 1929, over one-quarter of the American workforce was out of work. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted a variety of “New Deal” programs and told…

WPA paintings by children under Federal Art Project, New York

Today in History: Works Progress Administration

Today in History–April 8–the Library of Congress features the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was funded by the the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved on this day in 1935. This national works program, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, employed more than 8.5 million people on 1.4 million public projects before it was disbanded in…

Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill on portico of Russian Embassy in Teheran

Today in History: Memo from Stalin

Today in History–August 13–the Library of Congress features a memo from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, written on this day in 1942. Stalin drafted the memorandum to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt opposing their decision not to invade Western Europe.  Find out more by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access resources…

Today in History: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Today in History: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Today in History–January 20–the Library of Congress features Franklin Delano Roosevelt, inaugurated as U.S. President in January on this day in 1937. This was the first inauguration held in January but FDR’s second of four inaugurations, his first was held on March 4, 1933. Find out more about the longest serving president in our nation’s history by visiting the Today…