Teaching with Primary Sources - Teacher Resources

Roaring Twenties Redux: A Survey of the Arts of the 1920's

By acting as historians or “history detectives” and analyzing and engaging with primary sources from 100 years ago, students can both relate to and learn from the past, preparing them to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. This guide features primary sources focused on Art Deco Architecture, Dance, Poetry, Film and Fashion from 1920’s America and connects to history, social science, literacy and more.

Amplifying Our Voices Through Music

This guide is designed to inspire educators to create dynamic classroom experiences that engage students and invites them to think about the world in new ways through the lens of music.

Igniting Inquiry: Using Compelling Arts-based Primary Sources to Inspire Student Writing Across Disciplines

This guide centers on using arts-based primary sources from the Library of Congress's digital collection to spark student writing. The prompts and downloadable classroom projects included within this guide are suitable for use in classrooms across subject areas, disciplines, and levels.

Cross-Pollination: Botanical Illustrations

This guide focuses on the ways in which K-12 educators can use botanical illustrations from the Library of Congress's digital collection to promote a meaningful understanding of the natural world.

The City as a Primary Source: Connecting Historical Primary Sources and the City

Cities contain innumerable primary source materials that can be employed to investigate history, culture, and identity in the classroom. This guide examines the city of Philadelphia — its layout and geography, architecture, and the art it inspires — as a primary source, using resources from the Library of Congress.

A is for Everything: How Typography Shapes our Language and Culture

How do type and design shape language and visual culture? This guide traces the histories, connections, meanings, and narratives of our diverse cultural experiences, using type specimens and ephemera from the Library of Congress digital collections. This guide is suitable for use in classrooms across subject areas, from art and design to social studies, science and technology.

Pictures Worth Reading: A Teacher's Guide to Comics

This guide offers an overview of how to incorporate comics and graphic novels into the K-12 classroom, using resources from the Library of Congress. The guide includes historical context and visual storytelling techniques to better understand this art form. This content connects to history, social science, literacy and more.

STEM to STEAM Teacher Resource Guide

The Power of the Poster: Connecting WPA Posters from the Library of Congress to Local Collections

Look Back, See Further: Studying photographs and drawing connections between primary sources from the Library of Congress and local collections.

TPS Teachers Network

The TPS Teachers Network brings together teachers with a shared interest in improving instructional practice and impacting student learning through Library of Congress primary sources. The network provides tools to connect, communicate, and collaborate with peers and primary source experts online by employing social media tools and activities such as posting, commenting, discussion forums, and media and bookmark sharing, all in a private network. The vision for the TPS Teachers Network social media platform is to engage teachers in a conversation with and among peers, experts, and Library staff and enable connections in an intuitive, easy to use, uncluttered, and friendly social media environment. The network intends to create a personalized experience in which teachers can curate their own primary source content and discover relevant strategies for their own teaching goals within a respectful, protected, professional space.