Teaching with

Primary Sources
Primary
Sources
The raw materials of history
Original documents and objects that
were created at the time under study
Different from Secondary Sources -
accounts that retell, analyze, or
interpret events, usually at a distance
of time or place
-Library of Congress 2
 Why teach using Primary
Sources?
⊹ Helps students relate in a personal way to events of the past and promotes a
deeper understanding of history as a series of human events

⊹ Gives students a sense of what it was like to be alive during a long-past era

⊹ Prompts curiosity and improves critical thinking and analysis skills

⊹ Exposes students to multiple perspectives on significant issues of the past and

present

⊹ Students move from concrete observations and facts to questioning and making
inferences about the materials

⊹ Engages students in asking questions, evaluating information, making inferences,

and developing reasoned explanations and interpretations of events and issues

-Library of Congress 3
Turn and
Talk
How do we currently use primary
sources in our classroom instruction?

4
Planning for
Instruction
Library of Congress Resources:
● Primary Source Analysis Tool
● Guiding questions from the
teacher's guide - support
students in analyzing the
primary sources
Engaging with Primary
Sources
Observe
Have students
identify and note
details
What do you notice first?
Find something small but
interesting.
What do you notice that you
didn’t expect?
What do you notice that you
can’t explain?
What do you notice now that
you didn’t earlier?
Reflect Question
Encourage students Have students ask
to generate and test questions to lead to
hypotheses about the more observations
source and reflections
Where do you think this came What do you wonder about…
from?
Who?
What do you think was
What?
happening when this was
made? When?
Who do you think was the Where?
audience for this item?
Why?
What can you learn from
How? 6
examining this?
Let’s try it!
Primary Source Analysis Tool
Sources related to Manifest Destiny
Small Group Analysis
How does the idea of Manifest Destiny
shape the meaning of this source?
7
Source Analysis
Analyze your assigned source: LoC source analysis tool
⊹ “Encroachment by White Settlers” (speech) (Black
Hawk, 1832)
⊹ “Memorial and Protest of the Cherokee Nation” (letter
to US Congress) (Cherokee Nation, 1836)
⊹ “Annexation” (magazine article) (John O’Sullivan,
1845)
⊹ “Appeal to the Inhabitants of Cuba” (newspaper article)
(Cora Montgomery, 1848) [pages 3 and 4 of the pdf]
⊹ “American Progress” (painting) (John Gast, 1872) 8
“ Reflective Journaling / Pair-Share (Slide 9)
★ How does my existing curriculum support
students in examining primary sources?
★ Where could I incorporate primary source
analysis in my current curriculum?
★ What tools or materials could I use to
support my students with improving their
critical thinking and analysis skills?

9
Analyzing Primary
Sources
Turn and
Talk
What are the benefits of using Primary
Source documents in our history
instruction??

11
Resources
The Library of Congress
Primary Source Sets
Analysis Tool

Guiding Questions
National Archives
Primary Sources
Sourcing A Document
All Analysis Tools 12
SoAPSETone
Analyze the document, asking this series of questions:
Who is the author of the document? (Speaker)
When was the document developed? (Occasion)
For whom was it developed? (Audience)
Why was it developed? (Purpose)
What is the author’s message? (Subject)
What do you see in the document that supports this message?
(Evidence)
How does the document make you feel? (Tone) 13
Analyze a Photograph
Use the Document Analysis tools from the
National Archives to analyze this
photograph.

● Photograph (analysis in English)

● Fotografia (analysis in Spanish)

14
The Underground Railroa
d and the Black Communi
ty in Boston
 “Zoom” Method of
Analysis
1. A photo is placed into a slideshow
2. All of it is covered, except one small
piece
3. Students are asked to figure out what
the picture is showing as the teacher
gradually uncovers more on each slide
4. Uncovering assumptions / unearthing
the “real” story

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Planning for Boston