Comparing Primary Sources from the Industrial Revolution

By reviewing and analyzing these nine selected points from Martin Luther's 95 Theses, your young historians will discern the major tenets of the revolutionary challenge made against the Catholic Church in the seventeenth century. This is...

Scholars study a historical photograph to make predictions of what happened right after the picture was taken. They research a variety of different topics and use primary sources to answer questions about common food, fashion trends, and...

Dwight D. Eisenhower's message to troops for D-Day is iconic. Individuals examine Eisenhower's words and compare that to historians' understanding of the epic events of that day using primary sources, an essay, and a Venn diagram to...

Historians explain what happened during the Holocaust, but only primary sources portray the true horror of places such as Auschwitz. Using accounts from those who survived the camps, as well as a Nazi government official's memoirs, class...

Use the New York Times database of primary sources to teach a unit on the Vietnam War. The resource consists of a variety of primary sources as well as a lesson plan showcasing how to teach a lesson using them. Pupils analyze the sources...

Students explore the Gilded Age. In this Gilded Age lesson, students use primary sources to analyze photographs from this time period in history. Students use National Archive tools to construct the past as historians examining the...

Travel through Europe with ten-year-old Teddy Roosevelt in this writing activity, which uses the picture book My Tour of Europe: by Teddy Roosevelt, by Ellen Jackson. After reading the book, readers compare it to passages from The...

Students explore the usage of primary sources, what they are and how they originate. Artifacts are compared and contrasted as part of this historical inquiry as questions are formulated and conclusions drawn.

Why do we read primary source documents? What can they give us that other writings cannot? Provide your learners with any of the primary sources attached here (there are seven), and have them complete the graphic organizer (which opens...

Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...