flooding

Collections Spotlight: Floods & Landslides

Floods Flood images Flood maps Oral histories related to floods Flood sheet music Swept by Mighty Waters c. 1913 Books, reports and other texts related to floods U.S. historical newspaper coverage: flood disasters Johnstown Flood (1899): Topics in Chronicling America select articles & timeline Galveston Flood of 1900: Topics in Chronicling America select articles & timeline…

Stone fence in Litchfield, Connecticut

Learning from the Source: Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

Overview By pairing primary sources with poetry, students consider the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors” in the context of their own lives as well as in a local, national or global context. Lesson Steps Display the primary source image and analyze it together as a class using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis…

LoC-Halloween-Frida-Kahlo

Primary Source Spotlight: Día de Muertos/Day of the Dead

Día de Muertos & Halloween Research Guide Hallowe’en and Dia de Muertos primary source set 2010 Dia de los Muertos Parade Flickr photo album | Note: Walker’s Point, a neighborhood in Milwaukee, WI, hosts the largest Dia de los Muertos celebration in the state; the local art center invites community members to create ofrendas and…

Clara Barton

Today in History: Clara Barton & the Red Cross

Today in History–May 21–TPS-Barat features Clarissa “Clara” Barton, who founded the Red Cross on this date in 1881. A former teacher, Barton was working in the U.S. patent office at the start of the Civil War. Despite having little nursing training, Barton administered aid to soldiers at several battlefields. After the war she established the…

Photograph of the Declaration of Independence

Learning from the Source: The Declaration, Her Declaration, Your Declaration

Discuss the Declaration of Independence. Why was it written? What meaning did it have in 1776? What meaning does it have today? Read the Declaration of Independence and highlight words and phrases that stand out to you. Read over the words and phrases you highlighted. In what ways does the language you selected help to…

Individual influence

Timely Connections: Individual Influence

The article, In a Lost Essay, a Glimpse of an Elusive Poet and Slave (The New York Times Sept. 25, 2017), tells the intriguing story of the discovery of a primary source text by Jonathan Senchyne, an assistant professor of book history at the University of Wisconsin. The essay, “Individual Influence” by North Carolina slave and poet George…

Snow maiden

Primary Source Spotlight: Snow

Snow images Snowflake images Most Beautiful of All Snow Mountains New-York Tribune December 23, 1917 Snow-related films Snow-related song recordings Snow sheet music Snowflake sheet music Picnic in the Snow lyrics Snow, by David Berman Poem 039, Poetry 180 A Christmas snowflake; a rhyme for children Snow-related books Classic books online Snowflakes research guide Is it true that no…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Banks of the Yellow Sea

Guided Primary Source Analysis: The Banks of the Yellow Sea

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,…

Primary Source Learning: Crowdsourced Poetry

Primary Source Learning: Crowdsourced Poetry

Looking for a way to integrate more poetry into your curriculum during national poetry month in April? Take a look at the project of U.S. Poet LaureateJuan Felipe Herrera. La Casa de Colores, specifically La Familia, is a crowdsourced epic poem project that began in September 15, 2015 and will span the length of Herrera’s Laureateship. The current segment is…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Woman and Child

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Woman and Child

Describe how this illustration makes you feel. What details in the drawing contribute to this feeling? Write a description of this scene or write a poem to accompany the illustration. Now read the poem that this drawing illustrated. Describe how this poem compares with what you wrote. What other observations, reflections or questions does this source…

Learning from the Source: The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Learning from the Source: The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Lesson objective In this primary source lesson students will gain a better understanding of the meaning and tone of “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by completing a scaffolded close reading of the poem using multiple source types (written text, spoken word, music, photos, illustrations and maps) while developing personal, lasting connections to literature by creating their own related…