Primary Source Archives
- The National Archives Experience- This website offers a wide array of political cartoons from American history. The cartoons themselves vary by a wide margin, but are very useful for this unit on the 1920's, given the degree of political history from this era. Particularly, for lessons on the presidents, Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding, and Herbert Hoover.
- Blackpast.org - This website offers an online reference guide to African American history. It offers quick ways to search for primary documents and additional information by person, even, or by region. It is particularly useful for this unit in regards to it primary documents from the Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, there are documents from the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), as well as, important court cases from the period of U.S. History.
- Digital Vaults- With this website, students can keep a running list of primary sources they have seen. The pathways challenge is an great interactive way to search clues to find relationships between photographs, documents, and other sources. Students can collect multiple primary sources to create their own collections that can be stored for easy access later on. Here you can also utilize primary sources to create a poster or movie.
- Boston Public Library- This site offers useful primary sources for students that can be used in addition to the sources provided by the teacher on the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Specifically, there are records from the Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee, which was set up to help free the men during their trial. It documents the committee's propaganda campaign, the defense attorney's investigation, and post-trial proceedings. The site also includes the correspondence of Sacco and Vanzetti themselves.
- Prohibition and Volstead Act- This website is for the Minnesota History Center, Gale Family Library. It offers unique primary documents regarding events around the passage of the Volstead Act and the 18th amendment. There are government records regarding prohibition enforcement, temperance lectures, and even personal papers of Andrew J. Volstead. Additionally there are newspaper articles and various images which can be useful as well. This site also has links to other relevant primary documents from the 1920's.
Archives.org- This website provides document analysis worksheets for various types of primary sources. Students can use these worksheets to make primary source analysis much easier by helping them with what to look for. The worksheets can be used for written documents, photographs, cartoons, posters, maps, movies, and even sound recordings. This site also includes lesson plan ideas, and a resources section to access additional primary sources.
Emerging America- This site presents inquiry-based instructional tools, using primary sources from the Library of Congress. Here you can browse lesson plans that demonstrate use of primary sources. Their instructions for primary source analysis is broken down with a user-friendly, step-by-step process which is great for students new to this. There are also resources for engaging diverse learners with history.
Emerging America- This site presents inquiry-based instructional tools, using primary sources from the Library of Congress. Here you can browse lesson plans that demonstrate use of primary sources. Their instructions for primary source analysis is broken down with a user-friendly, step-by-step process which is great for students new to this. There are also resources for engaging diverse learners with history.