Teaching with Primary Sources

Hemispheres is pleased to be the recipient of a grant from the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources Western Region Center to promote the use of primary sources to teach world studies! Breathe realism and immediacy into learning by harnessing primary sources—the raw materials of history—in your classroom. Housed, protected and now digitized by the Library of Congress by the millions, such primary sources are available and free to anyone:

What was once the sole domain of top scholars and archivist is accessible to teachers at all levels. White gloves, special permission and a trip to Washington, D.C., not required.

Primary sources catapult students into high-level thinking and help teachers meet the demands of standards-based education in new and creative ways. The virtual doors to the Library of Congress are open. Let us show you what’s possible so that you can do great things for yourself, your peers and the students in your life.

How can you access these right now?  We've prepared some Annotated Resource Sets for you to use in your classroom:

Cartography of the Americas (1500-1650)
After the first Europeans arrived in the Americas, explorers set out on voyages to learn more about the region while mapmakers depicted what they found. Early maps reveal limited knowledge of the region, which expanded over the course of the following centuries. Comparing early maps to contemporary maps of the Americas will reveal the process of discovery in which Europeans were engaged, as well as the geographic features that they observed during their travels. Early maps reveal which countries dominated mapmaking, as well as which countries were interested in various parts of the Americas.

Colonial Attitudes Toward 19th century Southwest Asia and North Africa in Photographs
Beginning with France’s short-lived occupation of Egypt (1798-1801), European powers began to re-discover the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Rich Arab and Ottoman families could occasionally afford to hire a photographer for important family events and portraits, but early Christian and Jewish pioneers frequently documented life in the region, often for the purpose of fundraising back home. Photographs of the region by Ottoman and Arab photographers frequently depict the region as modern; photos by European and American photographers tend to emphasize tradition, backwardness, and underdevelopment. This ARS will provide examples of each and ask students to consider the aspects of selected photos that demonstrate these characteristics, and to consider the reasons why each group of photographers might choose to depict the region in a particular way.

Diversity and Cultural Traditions in Latin America
Much like the United States, the countries of Latin America reflect a mixture of various peoples and cultures. Latin America is not a single, monolithic culture; each country in the region has its own history and cultural roots. Indigenous, European, and African influences-among others-have blended to form unique nations that maintain some traditions among small groups and incorporate other traditions into their national identity. Music, dance, and festivals offer an entrypoint into each country's history and diversity.

Ethnographic Landscape of Siberia
As Russian explorers and settlers expanded east across the Ural mountains and into Siberia, they encountered many ethnic nationalities with their own languages, cultures and traditions.  For most of these nationalities, their lives would change drastically after the arrival of Russian settlers and during the Soviet period of expanding cities and industrialization.  A few were able to maintain some of their cultural heritage and way of life.  In this unit, students will explore photographs of several native cultures and discuss similarities and differences, compare the impact of non-native expansion for native Siberian and native American cultures, and discuss how native cultures have maintained or lost their traditions as they came into contact with outside western cultures and populations.

European Political Cartoons
Political cartoons, also known as editorial cartoons, have been used for centuries as a means of expressing points of view on various political, economic, or social issues. These cartoons are so effective because even those with limited reading skills are often able to understand the idea that is being communicated through the use of symbols, caricatures, and exaggeration. Understanding how to analyze political cartoons offers new insight into the thoughts and ideas surrounding a particular event or time period.

Women in India: The Colonial Period to the Present
This resource set examines women’s roles in India from the colonial period to the present.  It examines perceptions about women from a western perspective and encourages students to try to examine the accuracy of these perceptions in order to get to how Indian women themselves experienced their roles within the context of colonialism and other forms of social struggles.