A butcher shop window at Thanksgiving time.

Primary Source Learning: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving primary source set with teacher’s guide Primary Source Learning: The Wampanoag, the Plimoth Colonists & the First Thanksgiving Teaching Now: Separating Myths from History Thanksgiving with Richard Blanco’s “América” Thanksgiving Then & Now – an historical newspaper exercise for kindergarten Guided primary source analyses Beyond the Bubble: The First Thanksgiving Teaching with the Library…

The first Thanksgiving 1621

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…

Massasoit and His Warriors

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…

Featured Source: Thanksgiving page Nov. 24, 1916

Featured Source: Thanksgiving page Nov. 24, 1916

The Leavenworth Echo. (Leavenworth, Wash.), 24 Nov. 1916. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. Articles (Click the page image above to zoom in and read the articles or open this .pdf document.) The Nation’s Thanksgiving New York “Kids” on Thanksgiving A Happy Thanksgiving Song of the Glad Folks

Guided Primary Source Analysis: A Preacher Tries Farming

Guided Primary Source Analysis: A Preacher Tries Farming

The page shown above comes from a transcript of a 1930s oral history interview with George Strester who remembers a memorable Thanksgiving time when his father, a preacher, tried farming in Nebraska in 1873. Click the links below to browse through some related images, then read Strester’s whole story. Describe how the images enhanced your understanding…

Primary Source Spotlight: Football

Primary Source Spotlight: Football

This primary source spotlight shines a light on the sport of American football. Spinner Play, lithograph by American artist Benton Spruance – guided primary source analysis activities Football images Football films President Roosevelt at the Army-Navy game 1902 Princeton and Yale football game 1903 Chicago-Michigan football game 1903 Sports Byline USA radio program football audio recordings Jim Brown…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Thanksgiving Shopping Insert

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Thanksgiving Shopping Insert

Zoom into this newspaper page online or download a larger image. Use the shopping insert to help craft a Thanksgiving menu. What would you serve based on the items offered for sale? Look closely at the illustrations surrounding the advertisements. Add speech bubbles to bring the scene depicted at the top of the page to life. Compare and contrast…

Thanksgiving turkey

Today in History: Thanksgiving

Today in History–November 26–the Library of Congress features Thanksgiving, designated by President George Washington on this date in 1789. Seventy-four years later, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation that declared the last Thursday in November national Thanksgiving Day. Learn more about U.S. Thanksgiving traditions by visiting the Today in History section, then click the links below to access more…

The Party Book

Primary Source Spotlight: Holidays

Celebrate U.S. holidays with these primary source collections! And don’t miss these holiday blog posts from Teaching with the Library of Congress. January New Year’s Day January 1 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day third Monday in January January/February Lunar New Years begins with the first new moon of the lunar calendar February Valentine’s Day March St….

A Thanksgiving Truce

Guided Primary Source Analysis: A Thanksgiving Truce

Why do you think the creator titled this cartoon “A Thanksgiving Truce”? Use specific details from the source to support your response. What do you think the bear meant when it said (with deep feeling), “Here’s hoping that when next we meet, we see you first”? What more can you learn by reading the source record?…