Understand a variety of informational texts, which include primary sources (e.g., autobiographical sketches, letters, diaries, Internet sites). 0501.6.8

Links verified on 9/11/2014

1. Ain't I a Woman? - by Sojourner Truth at the 1851 Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio - this is the text of her speech
2. American Slave Narratives - From 1936 to 1938, over 2,300 former slaves from across the American South were interviewed by writers and journalists under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration. These former slaves, most born in the last years of the slave regime or during the Civil War, provided first-hand accounts of their experiences on plantations, in cities, and on small farms.
3. Characteristics of primary and secondary sources - lesson and exercise [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
4. The Civil War - The Valley of the Shadow - The Valley of the Shadow Project takes two communities, one Northern and one Southern, through the experience of the American Civil War. The project is a hypermedia archive of thousands of sources for the period before, during, and after the Civil War.
5. Document Analysis Worksheets - You may find these worksheets useful as you introduce students to various documents
6. Historical and Cultural Context - Use your sleuthing skills to figure out when and where an historical event took place by examining some primary sources and using an educated guess to pinpoint them on a map and timeline
7. How do we know what we know? - analyzing primary sources - lesson plan; analyze a picture of a Powhatan object shown on the John Smith map in order to learn more about Powhatan Indian life [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
8. Identifying and Using Primary and Secondary Sources - a Wikipedia entry
9. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself - Harriet Jacobs - You can find the entire text of the book online. In addition you can find links to images related to her book itself, and images related to slave life during her time.
10. Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project - This site contains secondary documents written about Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as primary documents written during King's life.
11. Primary and Secondary Sources - Primary sources such as letters, diaries, photographs, maps and artifacts provide students with authentic materials from the past. By looking closely for details, students can draw conclusions about the items and formulate their own hypotheses about the time period(s) during which they were created [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
12. Primary and Secondary Sources: What's the difference, Anyways (sic) ??? - prepared by the Merrimack Middle School Library, Merrimack, NH
13. Primary Source Documents - over two dozen links to primary source documents on the web
14. Primary Sources on the Web - list of web sites containing primary source materials
15. Primary Source & Archived Collections Projects - projects use ‘real-time’ data from government and commercial databases
16. Primary vs. Secondary Sources - Discover the identifying characteristics and advantages of primary and secondary (and also tertiary) sources with this guide.
17. Primary vs. Secondary Sources: A Comparison - use this form as a review - Examine a historical event by looking at both a primary and a secondary source related to it. Record the information you find in each below. [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
18. Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources - lesson plan
19. Using primary sources in your research - tutorial with quiz [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]

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