This Emily Dickinson poem was set to music by composer Ernst Bacon. Take a closer look at this sheet music and read the lyrics. What feeling does this poem give you? What specific word choices influence how you feel? What kind of music do you think would go with these words (happy, upbeat, sad, mournful, lively, slow,…
Today in History–July 22–the Library of Congress features artist Alexander Calder, born on this date in 1898 in Pennsylvania. Calder’s mother was a painter and his father was a sculptor but Alexander began his career as a mechanical engineer. That early career choice served him well as an artist later when creating his first motor-driven sculptures, later…
Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream Image Sequencing Activity
What feeling do you get from looking at this painting? What details or techniques do you think are responsible for that feeling? What does the artwork seem to suggest about the C&O Canal? Use details from the painting to support your conclusion. Compare and contrast this painting with photographs of the C&O canal. What similarities…
Today in History–July 27–the Library of Congress features avant-garde writer Gertrude Stein, who died on this day in 1947. Stein was also an astute collector of fine art and well known for entertaining the artists she favored. Find out more by visiting the Today in History. For more insight into her character, take a look at the resources below Gertrude Stein portraits…
Political cartoons, many of which contain both an image and text, are great primary sources to use with students to help them recognize and understand symbolism, perspective, and bias as well as put people, events, issues, and ideas into historical context. The analysis of political cartoons, like other primary source images, Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS). They…
They say pictures are worth a thousand words. Primary source images, whether they are photographs or prints, provide windows into unique perspectives of people, places, and events. The analysis of primary source images helps scaffold and differentiate learning and aligns closely to the Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS). The Library of Congress is a treasure…