Today in History: Rosie the Riveter Born

Today in History: Rosie the Riveter Born

Today in History–June 25–the Library of Congress features Rosalind P. Walter (née Palmer), later known as Rosie the Riveter, who was born on this day in 1924. Rosalind began working as a riveter on Corsair fighter planes at the Vought Aircraft Company in Stratford, Connecticut at age 19 .  After a newspaper article featuring her work was published, songwriters Redd…

Collections Spotlight: Carol Highsmith

Collections Spotlight: Carol Highsmith

Carol Highsmith is a distinguished and richly-published American photographer who has donated her work to the Library of Congress since 1992. Her growing archive includes tens of thousands of photographs from all U.S. states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, as well as Havana, Cuba. The photos showcase landmark buildings, architectural renovation projects, landscapes, Americans at work…

Primary Source Learning: Women Breaking Barriers

Primary Source Learning: Women Breaking Barriers

Make connections to women’s history by exploring this primary source set put together by TPS Teachers Network Lead Mentor and curriculum specialist Cheryl Davis. Originally created as an Apple eBook, Reminders from the Ceiling Breakers is now a shareable primary source album available from the TPS Teachers Network. The album contains 12 digital postcards created with photographs…

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Office Boy Board Game

Guided Primary Source Analysis: Office Boy Board Game

The curator notes for this source read: Parker Brothers produced the 1889 board game Office Boy during the heyday of Horatio Alger’s popular stories of plucky lads reaching success through hard work and determination. The player can advance from stock boy to sweeping out and on to head of sales, trying to avoid carelessness, which will send…

WPA paintings by children under Federal Art Project, New York

Today in History: Works Progress Administration

Today in History–April 8–the Library of Congress features the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was funded by the the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, approved on this day in 1935. This national works program, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, employed more than 8.5 million people on 1.4 million public projects before it was disbanded in…

Primary Source Learning: Gilded Age Teaching Resources & Strategies

Primary Source Learning: Gilded Age Teaching Resources & Strategies

This morning I saw a tweet mentioning primary sources related to immigration in the Gilded Age and I began to wonder . . . What learning activities related to the Gilded Age could we imagine using Library of Congress primary sources? What other teaching resources and strategies are available on LOC.gov and elsewhere? See the results…

Today in History: Edison Gets Kinetographic Camera Patent

Today in History: Edison Gets Kinetographic Camera Patent

Today in History–August 31–the Library of Congress features the awarding of a federal patent for a kinetographic camera—the forerunner to the motion picture film projector—to Thomas A. Edison on this date in 1897. Find out more by reading the Today in History section and accessing the resources below. Edison’s kinetographic films and parlors Kinetograph historical newspaper coverage Inventing Entertainment: the Motion Pictures and Sound…

Learning from the Source: Media & Migrant Laborer Perspectives

Learning from the Source: Media & Migrant Laborer Perspectives

Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection is an online presentation of a multi-format ethnographic field collection documenting the everyday life of residents of Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in central California in 1940 and 1941. Todd and Sonkin, both of the City College of New York, traveled to Arvin, Bakersfield, El Rio, Firebaugh, Porterville,…

Today in History: Mexican Americans & United Farm Workers of America

Today in History: Mexican Americans & United Farm Workers of America

Today in History–August 22–the Library of Congress features the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), later renamed the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), which was formed on this day in 1966. Under the leadership of founders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, the UFW won many concessions for disenfranchised  Mexican-American farmworkers. Find out more by reading the Today in History section, then clicking the…