Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Woman Whom Justice Brewer Would Make Mayor

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Woman Whom Justice Brewer Would Make Mayor

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page but before reading the article, what do you learn about the featured woman and Justice Brewer just from reading the headline and the photo captions? Make a list of as many facts as you can. Then provide an educated guess as to why this was a news…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Diagramming the Federal Government

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Diagramming the Federal Government

Zoom into a detailed view of this diagram. Read the text and carefully review the data. Create a bulleted list of the information you learned from the diagram. What does the text in the third column say is the purpose of this diagram? Do you think the diagram fulfills this purpose? Why or why not?…

Solar System Displayed

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Solar System Displayed

This map was published in 1789. Zoom into the map online or using this map document (.pdf) and review “A Table of the Diameters, Periods & of the several Planets in the Solar System”. Compare the information in that table to the data scientists have today. Make a new table with the same column headers and fill it in…

Learning from the Source: Technology Time Travel

Learning from the Source: Technology Time Travel

Become a time traveling sleuth with historical newspapers to discover how the hot new technology at the turn of the 20th century evolved. Work in groups to analyze the primary sources and, together, uncover the evolution of radio technology. Next, investigate other primary and secondary sources to compare and contrast radio’s evolution to another technology…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: How the Sun Spots Control Our Weather

Guided Primary Source Analysis: How the Sun Spots Control Our Weather

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page from 1912. Look at the images carefully and only read the headline and image captions. Outline the assertions—facts or beliefs—that are suggested. Now read the first paragraph of the article. Describe your reaction to this text. Then relate how the descriptions of weather events compare to what…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does the Camera Ever Lie?

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Does the Camera Ever Lie?

Zoom into a more detailed image of this newspaper page from 1901. Read only the headline and image captions. Then carefully review the images and make an educated guess about what the article will discuss. Now read the article. How does it answer the question posed in the title? What evidence is provided to support this…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Strong-Weak Government

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Strong-Weak Government

Zoom into a more detailed image of this cartoon. Using only the details from the cartoon, what main point do you think the cartoonist was trying to make. For help reading cartoons, review It’s No Laughing Matter. Then review the cartoon’s source record and this definition of carpetbagger. What insights into this cartoon does this new information provide you…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Carpet-bagger

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Carpet-bagger

Read this brief description of carpetbaggers and scalawags from History.com. Next review this Encyclopedia of Virginia entry on Benjamin F. Butler, being sure to read at least the introductory paragraph as well as the first paragraph under the New Orleans header. Now look closely at the cover of this sheet music. Describe the perspective of carpetbaggers that you think…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Kenya 12-69

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Kenya 12-69

Imagine you are from another planet and have been charged with reporting back to your commander on this country called Kenya on the continent of Africa. Zoom into this composite map and investigate the information presented. Create an outline of your findings. Compare the information in this composite map with one of the maps linked to below, noting similarities…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Chinese Citizenship in Hawaii

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Chinese Citizenship in Hawaii

This 1906 newspaper article quotes a 1904 magazine editorial, which sums up the “widely prevailing sentiment against the Chinese immigrant laborer in the United States.” Make a list of the arguments for the “defense of our political antagonism to the Chinaman”. The first page of the newspaper article responds to three arguments. Choose one and summarize the comparisons…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Dedication by Robert Frost

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Dedication by Robert Frost

Above is the first page of Robert Frost’s poem “Dedication” with his handwritten edits. First read the final version of this poem. How does this poem make you feel? Why do you think Frost might have written this poem? Who do you think was the audience for the poem? Include specific examples from the poem in…