"Teaching with Colorado's Heritage"
Module 4: Locating primary source materials to use with students

Library special collections, archives, local historic associations, museums, etc. are repositiories of primary source materials.

Activity
Research the local institutions near your school and find out what type of collections they house, this might be anything from the papers of a prominent person in the community to an exhibit of fossils from the area. How might you use these collections within a lesson or activity with your students? Which of these collections are accessible to the public?. Determine if you can set up a time to visit . Also, inquire if there is a museum educator available to visit your class and discuss the local collections. How might your students benefit from visiting a place such as an archive and viewing actual primary source materials?

Many collections of primary source materials have been digitized and are now available on the internet in on-line databases and virtual exhibits. The benefits of digital primary source materials include increased accessibility of special collections and preservation of fragile materials. Your students can now see petroglyphs from Mesa Verde without leaving the classroom. What are other benefits and drawbacks of using digital primary source materials with students?Are there any drawbacks?

Activity
Read through the descriptions of on-line databases of primary source materials, below. Where would you go to find images of the Golden Gate Bridge? Of your community? Now visit at least three of the sites and try to locate images that interest you. In the next few modules you will be undergoing extensive searching activities to help you in your search.

• Heritage West- Thousands of images representing Colorado's cultural, scientific and historic heritage from cultural heritage institutions all over Colordado.
• Library of Congress American Memory- American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.
• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)- the cornerstone documents of our government, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights, as well as the 100 milestone documents of American history.
• Yale Avalon Project- Documents in law, history and diplomacy.
• Making of America- Primary source books and journal articles in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction, including the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.
• Library of Congress Global Gateway - Bilingual, multimedia digital libraries resulting from collaborative efforts with other countries.
• New York Public Library Digital Library- Special collections including published works of African American Writers of the 19th century, maps of the mid-Atlantic region to 1850, Surveyors of the American West, and more
• Explore Art- the Image Gallery of the Getty Museum
• Special Collections, Virginia Tech- This repository of primary and secondary resources contains a wealth of materials documenting19th- and 20th-century American history and culture, including the American Civil War, Appalachian History, Archive of American Aerospace Exploration, and more.
• HABS/HAER- The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) collections include measured and interpretive drawings, large-format black and white and color photographs, written historical and descriptive data, and original field notes of more than 37,000 recorded historic structures and sites, from Native American cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde to space-age technology at Cape Canaveral.