The Library of Congress
Lessons by Title —  A-G    H-P   R-Z
Title Grades Description Themes, Topics, Disciplines or Eras

History Firsthand

 

4-8 Elementary students use immigration as a theme to begin understanding primary sources.
Primary Sources
The Huexotzinco Codex 6-8

Students analyze a set of pictograph documents created by native peoples of Puebla, Mexico in 1521.  Students take on the role of historians, study the documents, and create a scenario to explain what these documents were for, who created them, and why.

Three Worlds Meet, Beginnings to 1620

Images of Our People 5-12 To gain an understanding and appreciation of the history of the western United States, students investigate the region's cultures and identify the contributions each make to the whole.
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945
Postwar United States, 1945-1968

Immigration Through Oral History

 

11 Students engage in visual and information literacy exercises to gain an understanding of how to identify and interpret primary historical sources, specifically oral histories.
Progressive Era to new Era, 1900-1929

Immigration/Migration

 

11 Students compare the immigration/migration experiences of their families to those of people living through the Great Depression using interviews with parents, and historical photographs, films, and documents.
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

In Congress Assembled

 

6-12 Students examine continuity and change in the governing of the United States. Students look at the Constitution and link early legislative debates to issues of today.
Civics and Government
The New Nation, 1783-1815

Indian Boarding Schools: Civilizing the Native Spirit

 

6-9 Students explore the forced acculturation of American Indians through government-run boarding schools.
Civics and Government
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

Jackie Steals Home

 

9-12 Students engage in close reading of two documents relating to Jackie Robinson's breaking of the racial barrier in professional baseball, which leads to a deeper exploration of racism in the United States, both in and out of sports.
Postwar United States, 1945-1968

Jacob Have I Loved

 

6-8 Students use visual images as an introduction to Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, a novel about jealousy set on an island in the Chesapeake Bay in the early 1940s.
Literature/Poetry
Journeys West    4-8 Students access primary sources to develop an understanding of westward expansion and use this understanding to complete an interdisciplinary WebQuest. The New Nation, 1783-1815
National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

Ladies, Contraband, and Spies: Women in the Civil War

10-11 Students look at a series of document galleries to see the perspectives of slave women, plantation mistresses, female spies, and Union women during the Civil War. Ultimately, students understand the human consequences of this war for women.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Linking the Past to the Present: The Legacy of French Canadian Immigrants in New England
9-12 Students will investigate primary sources from the American Memory collections to learn about French Canadian immigrants and their contributions in New England. Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

Links to the Past

 

6-12 Students create scripts, published on the Web, depicting the motivations, expectations, fears, and realizations of immigrants who settled California between 1849 and 1900. The finished scripts include links to illustrative written materials, images, and sound files.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900

Living History Project

 

6-8 Students conducting interviews, based on a theme, with people in the community, collecting their life histories. The oral histories collected become part of an archival collection, which tells the stories of individuals in the community during the mid-twentieth century.
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Mapping My Spot in History 6-8 Students create their towns history for coming generations and place themselves on the map in a literal as well as figurative sense, by producing portions of an updated version of an early twentieth century panoramic map from the American Memory collections.
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal: An Educational Voyage 4-8 Students join Marco Paul on his educational voyage in the 1840s, experiencing the Erie Canal and "lessons in life" firsthand. This lesson supplements the reading of Jacob Abbott's book, Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal.
Literature/Poetry
National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

Mathew Brady Bunch

 

6-12 Students become reporters, analyzing a Civil War photograph, and writing a newspaper article based on their chosen photograph. They then publish their articles on the Internet.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

The Minerva Mosaic of the Library of Congress: Taking a Closer Look

 

4-8 Students take a close look at the historic Minerva mosaic from the Great Hall of the Library of Congress and discover what it can tell them about the Library's mission. They will perform a basic primary source analysis and discuss the mosaic's symbolism.
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Murder and Mayhem - The Great Gatsby: Facts behind the Fiction 11 Students create newspapers, recording significant events and attitudes of the 1920s related to The Great Gatsby, utilizing primary source materials from several American Memory collections.
Literature/Poetry
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Nature's Fury 5-8 Students examine accounts by Americans from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of their life changing experiences with nature Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

New Deal: North Carolina

 

8 Students create imaginary Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviews that demonstrate students' interpretation of the question, "Was the New Deal North Carolina's 'Reconstruction'?" Students use this "interview" to write a WPA report on resident who lived during the Reconstruction and Depression.

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

 

Nothing to Fear

 

5-8 Students learn what the World War II experience was like for the thousands of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast.
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945
Our Changing Voices 9-12 Through dialogue, documentation, research, and interviews, students understand their role in society, bringing together all people to create a new sense of community.
Civics and Government
Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Great Depression/World War II, 1929-1945

Photojournalism

 

5-8 Students explore how and why war has been photographed and also see the bias within the recording/reporting of war.

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

Political Cartoons: Finding Point of View

 

9-12 Analyzing political cartoons can provide a glimpse into key moments of U.S. political history.  In this activity, students will closely examine political cartoons about the Stamp Act and explore the point of view of their creators.

The American Revolution, 1763-1783

Port of Entry

 

6-12 Students assume the role of historical detective and travel back in time to the turn of the century. As historical detectives, they search for clues about immigrant life in the United States.
Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929
Lessons by Title — A-G  H-P  R-Z

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Last updated 12/12/2008