Collections Spotlight: Tornadoes

Collections Spotlight: Tornadoes

Tornado images Tornado scenes in St. Louis 1896 Insurance map illustrating scope of damage by tornado in Gainesville, Georgia Tornado sheet music U.S. historical newspaper coverage related to tornadoes Books America’s Greatest Flood and Tornado Calamity c. 1913 The Great Tornado of 1821 in New Hampshire A Modern Herculaneum: Story of the New Richmond Tornado…

Teaching Now: Separating Myths from History

Teaching Now: Separating Myths from History

This unit plan and teaching guide was developed by Dr. John Bickford, Professor of Social Studies/History Education at Eastern Illinois University and Editor-in-Chief of The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies, in collaboration with Citizen U. It presents a lesson plan with teaching notes targeted to early and upper elementary students. TEACHER BACKGROUND Children—and…

Primary Source Learning: The Wampanoag, the Plimoth Colonists & the First Thanksgiving

Primary Source Learning: The Wampanoag, the Plimoth Colonists & the First Thanksgiving

This primary source set is targeted to elementary students and includes background information and thinking prompts. It was curated mainly by Dr. John Bickford, Professor of Social Studies/History Education at Eastern Illinois University and Editor-in-Chief of The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies, with the goal of helping students separate Thanksgiving myths from history. This…

TPS Spotlight: Collaborative for Educational Services

TPS Spotlight: Collaborative for Educational Services

Since 2010, the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program, Emerging America, at the Collaborative for Educational Services has offered free and low cost workshops and support to K-12 teachers throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and nationally via online courses on a variety of topics, including Disability History. Participants learn to work with…

Today in History: Halifax Explosion

Today in History: Halifax Explosion

Today in History–December 6–TPS-Barat features the Halifax explosion, which occurred on this day in 1917. The largest man-made explosion in history, killed nearly 2,000, injured around 9,000, and left approximately 6,000 people homeless. It’s a story of local devastation but also of multinational cooperation. Click the primary sources and other resources below to learn more….

Primary Source Spotlight: Dorothea Dix

Primary Source Spotlight: Dorothea Dix

Dorothea L. Dix (1802-1887) was an actively engaged citizen who tirelessly advocated for help for the less fortunate, particularly the mentally ill. Use the resources below to learn more. Dorothea Lynde Dix portrait Dorothea Lynde Dix to Abraham Lincoln, Monday, June 17, 1861 (transcription) To the Legislature of Massachusetts [protesting against the confinement of insane…

Literature Links: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Literature Links: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Theodor Geisel—a.k.a. Dr. Seuss—was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was the first of many children’s books that he wrote and illustrated. Geisel supposedly received 27 rejections before the book was published by Vanguard Press in 1937 thanks, as the story goes, to a chance run-in with and…

Today in History: Henry Cabot Lodge

Today in History: Henry Cabot Lodge

Today in History–May 12–the Library of Congress features politician and historian Henry Cabot Lodge, born on this day in 1850. Lodge was a long-standing member of Congress, serving the state of Massachusetts as a U.S. representative from 1887 to 1893 and a U.S. senator from 1893 to 1924. This Republican statesman is perhaps best known for his staunch argument against U.S….

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Massachusetts Did It

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Massachusetts Did It

What is the definition of radicalism? Do you agree with the cartoonist’s choice to represent radicalism with a snake? Why or why not? Read the notes for this political cartoon. Do you think the elephant was a good choice to represent the G.O.P, or Republican party during this time period? Why or why not? Use…

State Spotlight: Massachusetts

State Spotlight: Massachusetts

Massachusetts primary source set with Teacher’s Guide Massachusetts maps Pictorial Americana: Selected images of Massachusetts More Massachusetts images The Mohawk Trail Region primary source set Photographs of the sea floor of western Massachusetts Bay July 1999 Films and event recordings related to Massachusetts Massachusetts oral histories Massachusetts song recordings Massachusetts sheet music Song sheets related to Massachusetts Massachusetts books &…