Resources for Teaching with Primary Sources

TPS Collective

The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Collective is a collaboration of archives, libraries, and museum professionals who teach basic research methodologies using primary sources. The site is packed with lesson plans, assessment tools, information on new technologies, and "sandboxes" for collaborative interaction. The TPS Collective bases all its work on the Society of American Archivists' Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy.

History Hub (National Archives and Records Administration)

History Hub is a crowdsourcing platform. It is a place to ask questions, share information, work together, and find people based on their experience and interests. Experts from the National Archives as well as other experts, history enthusiasts, and citizen archivists are available to help with your research. History Hub offers tools like discussion boards, blogs, and community pages to bring together experts and researchers interested in American history. Think of it as a one-stop shop for crowdsourcing information related to your research subject.

History Matters (Center for History and New Media)

Designed for high school and college teachers and students of U.S. history survey courses, this site serves as a gateway to web resources and offers unique teaching materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence. The site emphasizes materials that focus on the lives of ordinary Americans and actively involve students in analyzing and interpreting evidence.

Teaching with Primary Sources (Library of Congress)

This site offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching.

America in Class (National Humanities Center)

This site provides primary and secondary resources, webinars, and lessons for history and literature teachers. The site is designed to promote the analytical skills called for in the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history and social studies.

History Lessons (Stanford History Education Group)

Excellent site that provides easy to use lesson plans and assessment tools.

Teaching with Primary Sources Bibliography

This is an excellent and up-to-date bibliography of some of the most important articles and books on teaching with primary sources. The site is maintained by the Teaching with Primary Sources Collective, a collaborative site created by archivists and librarians. It's a great site to exchange ideas and learn from other practitioners.