Featured Source: Christmas Children’s Section

Featured Source: Christmas Children’s Section

The San Francisco Call. (San Francisco [Calif.]), 20 Dec. 1903. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. Articles (Click the page image above to zoom in and then use the page arrow buttons to read the articles in this section or click the links below.) Boy’s Christmas Aboard a Whaler The Heart of a Child…

Featured Source: It’s Leap Year, Boys!

Featured Source: It’s Leap Year, Boys!

The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.), 01 Jan. 1916. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. Articles Liner Persia Is Sunk off Crete; Life Loss May be Three Hundred Prosperity for the Nation; Victory for the Party in 1916, Says Hatfield Enthusiastic Reception in Fairmont for the New Year Stewart Vincent Killed on…

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: 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: Origin of April Fool’s Day

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Origin of April Fool’s Day

For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then make a list of the countries mentioned that celebrate April Fool’s Day and information about how they celebrate the day. Explain which story you found funniest or most interesting. Create an April Fool’s Day poem using information from the article and your own experiences. For elementary & middle school students Read this newspaper article, then…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Science & the Suffragettes

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Science & the Suffragettes

Zoom into the top half of this newspaper page that contains only the article’s headline and subhead and photos and captions. Based on this information, explain the points you think the newspaper article will discuss. Now read the article. What is the main point, or claim, of the article. List the arguments the author makes and…

Round the world with Nellie Bly--The Worlds globe circler

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Round the World with Nellie Bly

Zoom into a more detailed image of this source. Explain what you can determine about Nellie Bly just by looking at this source (be sure to point out the details that support your findings). Read the following articles to learn more about Nellie Bly, Jules Verne and Elizabeth Bisland. Describe what you learned. Nellie Bly from America’s Library “Bly…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Why I Believe in Santa

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Why I Believe in Santa

Click the newspaper above to zoom in to the page. First read the center article, “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” What was the editor’s claim and what arguments did he make to support that claim? Now read what the citizens of Rock Island had to say about Santa Claus and the Christmas spirit….