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The Tenement Museum website provides engaging and entertaining ways to introduce young students to primary sources.

The Tenement Museum website provides engaging

The “Elementary School Lesson” found under “Primary Source Activities” uses a family photo, a postcard, a report card, and a passport to examine the life of Victoria Confino, an immigrant girl at the turn of the 20th century.

Because these sources are mostly visual, they allow easier access for young students and English language learners than text-dense sources.

    The lesson provides useful guiding questions for the teacher:
  • when helping students examine the documents.
  • After students have discussed the sources,
  • they are asked to write a paragraph about Victoria’s life.

Maine Memory Network

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Photo, Percival Procter Baxter, Age 10, 1886
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This site has two primary goals: to serve as a resource center for Maine history, and to assist classroom teachers as they teach American and Maine history. The site provides a search engine for its 5,700 primary sources (photographs, artwork, and documents), while the 34 online exhibits cover subjects including the 20th Maine regiment in the Civil War, Irish immigration, and Maine during the Revolutionary War.

Particularly interesting is My Album, where visitors can select, save, and arrange photographs and add text. Albums can be viewed in a slideshow or shared with other visitors through email or by storing them in a publicly accessible folder (users must register and give personal information to use this feature).

In addition to the nine lesson plans for teachers, there is a Community Gallery, where visitors can view 15 exhibits created by elementary, middle, and high school students posted for public viewing.

Maps
Official Documents
Paintings and Prints
Photographs
Maine
Images
Colonization & Settlement, 1585-1763
Civil War & Reconstruction, 1850-1877
Emergence of Modern US, 1890-1930
Great Depression & WWII, 1929-1945
Postwar US, 1945-Early 1970s
Contemporary US, 1968-Present
New England

Adopted by the Shawnee

Description

From the Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present Podcasts website—

"Runaway slave Elizabeth found freedom, family, and equality when she was adopted into the Shawnee tribe. After ten years, she returned to slavery. Hope Smith shares the heartbreaking story behind this selfless act."

Fire in a Crowded Century

Description

From the Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present Podcasts website—

"Old-fashioned fire engines had to do much the same jobs as today’s, but they relied on classic physics and plenty of manpower. Curator Erik Goldstein describes the fire engine at the center of a new exhibit at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg."

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