Primary Sources

The Internet provides teachers and students an opportunity to access primary sources that they normally would not be able to see. There is a wealth of original documents including letters, pictures, diaries, journals, etc. Use the The Historian's Sources Lesson Overview, Using Primary Sources in the Classroom, or Using Primary Sources on the Web to introduce students to primary sources.

Use this worksheet as you review the sites.

Abraham Lincoln Papers (6-12)
Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers (3-12)
American Memories Project
American Memories Learning Page
    Lesson Framework (K-12)
    Using Primary Sources in the Classroom (K-12)
    The Historian's Sources Lesson Overview
    Primary Source Research in Elementary School
    Jackie Steals Home (9-12)
    Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself (5-8)
    In Congress Assembled: Continuity and Change in the Governing of the United States (5-12)
    Research Guide (6-12)
    Today in History
    Visions In the Dust: A Child's Perspective of the Dust Bowl (6-8)
    "Women, Their Rights and Nothing Less" (9-12)
American Posters of World War One
American Treasures of the Library of Congress
Archives of the West (6-12)
Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
ArtsEdge
    Trajan’s Rome: The Man, The City, The Empire
At Home in the Heartland Online (3-12)
Balancing Three Branches at Once: Our System of Checks and Balances (3-5)
The Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional? (6-8)
Celebrating Sondheim (4-12)
Civil War Tressures (K-12)
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
The Digital Classroom
    Teaching with Documents Lesson Page
    Exhibit Hall (K-12) - A wealth of pictures.
    History in the Raw - Discusses the importance of using primary sources in education.
    Document Analysis Worksheets
Digital History - Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Research
Digital Imaging Project - Art historical images of sculptures and architecture
Do History
    Using Primary Sources
Documenting the American South (7-12)
Douglass: Archives of American Public Address
The Encyclopaedia Britannica Guide to Black History (6-12)
Eyewitness
Great Speeches
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidental Library and Museum (K-12)
Guides for Using Primary Sources with Students
HarpWeek-Explore History
Historic American Sheet Music (K-12)
History and Politics Out Loud
The History Channel's Classroom Ideas
If a Picture's Worth a Thousand Words... (6-12)
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Someone a Letter (3-5)
Images of African Americans from the 19th Century (K-12)
Images of American Political History
Images of the Southwest
Jamestown Changes (3-5)
Light in the Storm: Civil War Music (3-6)
Lost and Found Sound
Making of America
Marketing Twain (7-12)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Power of Nonviolence
NASA Image Exchange
New Deal
Of Human Bondage (6-12)
Primary Source
Primary Sources on the Web
Primary Sources on the Web #2
Projects using Primary Sources
Repositories of Primary Sources
Salem Witch Trials (6-12)
Slave Narratives: Constructing U.S. History Through Analyzing Primary Sources (3-5)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Straight to the Source (6-12)
Time Photo Essays
Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century
Turn-of-the-Century Child: Examine their Faces (4-8)
USDA Historical Pictures
US National Archives and Records Administration
Virtual Jamestown (3-12)
Web de Anza (3-12)
What Was Columbus Thinking? (3-5)
With Miles to Go Before I Sleep...