Opening the Vault of Presidential Papers

and Primary Sources

Anita TuckerBonnie Vigil

Elizabeth RamosCCSS 2012

If We Must Die• If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursed lot.If we must die, O let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!

•O kinsmen we must meet the common foe!Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!What though before us lies the open grave?Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

•What is the poem talking about?

•What would you want to know about the poem to have a better understanding of it?

The Practice of Historical Thinking – Learning to Read Primary Sources

Ways in which we may already approach primary sources- Example-

APPARTS • Author - Who created the source? What is their point of view?• Place and Time -Where and when was the source produced?• Prior Knowledge - What do you already know that would further

your understanding of this sources?• Audience - For whom was the source created? Does this affect

the reliability of the source?• Reason - Why was this source produced at the time is was

produced?• The Main Idea - What is the source trying to convey• Significance - Why is this source important?(College Board)

Ways in which we may already approach primary sources- Example-SOAPS

1. What type of document is it (newspaper, map, advertisement, letter, telegram, report, journal, photo, film, etc.)?

2. What are some of the unique physical qualities of the document (letterhead, handwritten, seals, notations, stamps, etc.)?

3. What kind of primary source is it ? 4. Who is the Speaker? (what do we know of the speaker strictly form

the document, what do we know from the metadata, what do we know from further research?)

5. What is the Occasion? (Time period, historical significance, other contemporary events)

6. Who is the Audience? (Who was the document designed for in its time?)

7. What is the Purpose of the document? (What did the document do or achieve? Was that its intended purpose?)

8. What is the Subject of the document? (what is the basic story?) 9. What is the Bias you find in the document? (What did the creator leave

out, who did the creator leave out?) 10. What new questions do you have that leads to further research? (Dig

deeper!)

Ways in which we may already approach primary sources-Example-The National Archives Analysis Worksheets

• Written Document• Artifact• Cartoon• Map• Motion Picture• Photograph• Poster• Sound Recordinghttp://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/

Where do we begin (initial)…with the source/sourcing (via VanSledright)

• Identification-What do we know about the source—what is it? How old is it? What else can you see?

• Attribution-why was the primary source created by the author?...in what context?

• Judging perspective—what is the author’s position within this context?

• Reliability-requires an examination of related primary sources…corroborating (not in this activity but essential/ unresolvable )

• (VanSledright, B. (2010).What does it mean to think historically…and how do you teach it. In W. Parker (Ed) Social Studies today: Research & practice, p. 113-120, New York, Rutledge.)

Identification DBQs (document based

questions)

• Identification-What do we know about the source—what is it?

• What is it’s appearance (is it old or marked up or…)

• When was it created?

Attribution DBQs

• Attribution-why was the primary source created by the author?

• In what context was this created?

Judging perspective

DBQs

• Judging perspective—what is the author’s position within this context?

Reading/negotiating through primary sources…via Seixas

• Historical Epistemology – How Do You Know What You Know When Reading a Primary Source

• Historical Significance-why is it historically significant?

• Historical Agency, Empathy, and Moral Judgment -the only way we can see ourselves as a part/participant of history (Seixas,1993)

Historical Epistemology

• How do you know what you know?...this is a two prong questions

• What prior knowledge do you bring—cautiously push some of it aside

• What do you see—comprehend

Historical Epistemology

• What kinds of questions might you ask to address historical epistemology?

• Write your question(s) and then share with group next to you

Historical Significance

• What is important in the past, and why is it important?

• Note that we must explore what makes an event significant and recognize that perspectives may differ.

Historical Significance

• What kinds of questions might you ask to address historical significance?

• Write your question(s) and then share with group next to you

Historical Agency

• Agency implies that people in the pasts faced choices, they made decisions, and the resulting actions had consequences--what options did American policy makers have?

Historical Agency

• What kinds of questions might you ask to address historical agency?

• Write your question(s) and then share with group next to you

Empathy• Empathy understand historical figures

are agents who faced decisions, conflicts, constraints, & hardships under circumstances & with ways of thinking quite different from their own-- how would you feel if you were drafted?

Empathy

• What kinds of questions might you ask to address historical agency?

• Write your question(s) and then share with group next to you

Overall then…systematic

• Sourcing– Identification-– Attribution-– Judging

perspective—

• Significance

• Epistemology

• Agency

• Empathy

• Moral Judgment

FDR: Primary Sources & Classroom Application

• Flee the Dust Bowl Discussion Board

• Great Depression Images Voice Thread

• FDR Great Depression Voice Thread

PPT Courtesy ofCinthia Salinas, University of Texas at AustinRyan Crowley, University of Texas at AustinPresidential Timeline Summer Institute 2011