Citizen Historian: Submitting Sources from Local Archives

Teacher Preparation:
Taking students into an archive to conduct original research requires planning. Here are some steps to help get you started.

1. Find a Local Archive
   You can begin your search by looking at the following directories: http://www.archives.gov/locations/ and https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/. If you can’t find a local archive through those sources, try using Google search terms like “archives,” “historical society” or “public library” “near me”.
2. Find a Contact at the Archive
   Once you have found your archive, look at a staff list (if it is available) to find an education specialist or outreach archivist. People in these positions tend to be more familiar with working with students then your typical archivist might be. If the archive doesn’t have an educational specialist or community outreach person, try contacting the head archivist or director.
   Once you have made contact, tell them about the Remembering Lincoln project. We have created a form letter to help you get the conversation started--please email rememberinglincoln@fords.org for the letter. Some institutions like the National Archives, DC Public Libraries, and Wisconsin Historical Society have fantastic programs that introduce students to the archival process.
   Also be sure to ask the following questions to help you find out if the archive is a good fit for your students. Sometimes you can find this information on their website without contacting a staff member.
   • Do you have items dated between April 15, 1865 and June 1, 1866?
   • What is your capacity? (If an archive has a small capacity, you can still send conduct this project. See if there is a local museum or historic site near the archive. If so, arrange for half of your kids to go to the archive and the other half to go to the museum. Then have the students switch. You could arrange two visits and have half of the students go on one day and the other on the second day. Additionally, you also could have the students go on their own as an extension activity.)
   • What are the rules to your archive?
   • Do you have experience working with students?
   • Since our students are under 18, do you need any parent signatures?
   • Can students take pictures or scan items to submit to the Remembering Lincoln website?
   • Will students need money to make copies?
3. Prep your Students
   Make sure you review any rules and expectations with your students before you go to the archive. It could also help to have students view the following videos to give them an idea of what archives are like: Researching at the National Archives: https://youtu.be/5HNYhMlXYhU and Microfilm: https://youtu.be/mRuT7TEs2O4
4. Go to the Archives!

Lesson Activity One: Introduction to Remembering Lincoln
Begin class by showing students the Remembering Lincoln website. You help them become familiar with the search by giving them mini-quests, such as:

• Find a source from the Confederate states.
• Find a source from a woman.
• Find a source from Lincoln's funeral train.

Ask students why people would want to collect responses to Lincoln’s assassination. Also ask them why Lincoln’s assassination matters today. Explain to students that they will be adding to the collection. This is also a good time to review the rules of the archive your students are going to visit. Pass out the Archive Notes sheet and have students brainstorm together some good key concepts to help guide their search in the archives. It can be helpful to have students focus on different key concepts so that students aren’t finding the same items. You can also review the different items students might find through the Archive Items sheet.

Lesson Activity Two: Archives
Students should work with each other and the archivists to find an item related to the Lincoln assassination. Once they find an artifact, students should fill out their Archive Notes sheet and take a high quality image of their item.

Lesson Activity Three: Primary Source Analysis and Submission
Students should analyze the item that they have chosen. We recommend using either the Library of Congress Primary Analysis Tool: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/guides.html or the National Archives Document Analysis Worksheets: https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/
Next students should upload it to the Remembering Lincoln site through Google Forms: http://goo.gl/forms/SEbfTf80OuWLt2Yz1 They should use the Submission Guidelines to help them through this process. Neither students nor teachers will have access to their responses after they submit. It might be helpful to have students copy and paste the information in a Google doc that they can share with the teacher.

Lesson Activity Four: Summary of Learning
Give each student or a small group of students a letter in the alphabet. They are to create a phrase related to what they learned from this project starting with that letter. Starting with A, students share their phrases with the class. They also can write down their phrases on a strip of paper and then a chart can be constructed to hang in the classroom.

Assessment:
Pair students in class, have each pair interview each other. They should ask each other about their source and what they learned from the process. The interviewer writes up a paragraph based on their partner’s responses. The focus on the paragraph should be “What (Insert Name) learned…” Each student should take time being the interviewer and interviewee.
Extension: If students enjoyed submitting original sources to Remembering Lincoln, they can also submit to U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s similar project to find how U.S. local newspapers reported the Holocaust. Find out more information here: https://newspapers.ushmm.org/