US National Archives
Docsteach: Benjamin Franklin: Politician and Diplomat
In this activity, students will review and analyze the founding documents of the United States and understand Benjamin Frankin's contributions and connections to these founding documents. Franklin was the only man to help shape all of...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Assimilation of American Indians
In this activity, students will analyze primary sources to determine the role and activities the federal government undertook in an attempt to 'Americanize' or assimilate Native Americans.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Titanic Disaster: One Survivor's Story
For this activity, middle schoolers will follow the story of one Titanic survivor, Lucy Ridsdale. A fifty year old nurse from Great Britain, Lucy would survive the Titanic disaster aboard lifeboat 13.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Titanic Survivors: One Ship, Two Different Worlds
This short analysis activity asks students to examine two claims filed by survivors of the April 15, 1912 Titanic disaster to understand the vast class differences between a first class passenger and a steerage passenger. Students will...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Inevitable Accident or Wrongful Act: Judging the Titanic Disaster
This activity asks students to analyze evidence presented in the 'In the Matter of the Petition of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, Limited, for Limitation of its Liability as owner of the steamship TITANIC' case that began after...
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Titanic Disaster: Measuring Loss of Life, Property and Injuries
Students will analyze claims filed by survivors, families of victims and owners of cargo of the Titanic disaster. They will examine claims for loss of life, loss of property and injuries that were filed as part of 'In the Matter of the...
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Constitution in Action: Articles V,vi,vii (Lab Team 6)
In this activity students will analyze Senator Lyndon B. Johnson's Oath of Office and identify how the document demonstrates content contained within Article V,VI, or VII of the Constitution in action.
US National Archives
Docs Teach: Analyzing Evidence of the Pearl Harbor Attack
This activity is intended to get students thinking about where information comes from, how it is presented, how its presentation affects understanding, and how information is used. Because the featured document relates to the Japanese...
US National Archives
Docs Teach: Checks and Balances in Action
In this activity, students will analyze documents that span the course of American history to see examples of 'checks and balances' between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in action. Students will then match the...
US National Archives
Docs Teach: Nixon Visits China: The Week That Changed the World
In this activity, students will analyze images from President Nixon's visit to China in 1972 to determine the sequence of events and learn more about American and Chinese cultural differences.
US National Archives
Docs Teach: Search Warrants and the 4th Amendment
In this activity, learners will analyze a search warrant and decide whether or not it fulfills all of the necessary requirements by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
US National Archives
Docs Teach: Separation of Powers or Shared Powers
In this activity, students will analyze documents that illustrate the relationship between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Using the scale in Weighing the Evidence, students will decide whether the United States...
US National Archives
The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults
This interactive website reveals primary sources for the National Archives vaults.
US National Archives
Nara: Panoramic Photography Exhibit
View 21 panoramic photos from the National Archives collection that feature images of natural disaster sites, major construction projects, military units, and the like.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Teaching With Documents
Site from National Archives provides copies of primary documents that can be used while presenting various topics in U.S. history.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Beyond the Playing Field: Jackie Robinson
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides several primary source documents pertaining to Jackie Robinson's period of civil rights advocacy, as well as corresponding lesson plans.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Third League in Professional Baseball
Students will analyze three documents from the court case The Federal League of Baseball Clubs v. The American and National Leagues of Baseball Clubs to gain an understanding of baseball contracts and labor issues in the Progressive Era....
US National Archives
Docsteach: Baseball on the World War I Homefront
Students will begin to learn about the changes that occurred on the American homefront because of World War I by analyzing correspondence from Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt and Boston Red Sox Owner and President...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Baseball: A Morale Booster During Wartime?
Students will learn about the role of baseball on the American homefront during World Wars I and II. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (during World War I) and President (during World War II), commented on the...
US National Archives
National Archives: Watergate and the Constitution
The document shown here deals with a specific question: Should the Watergate Special Prosecutor seek an indictment of the former President?
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Revolution and the New Nation (1754 1820s)
Links to primary source documents from the revolution to the new nation.
US National Archives
Nara: Congress Establishes Thanksgiving
From the National Archives, an essay on the establishment of the American holiday of Thanksgiving as a legal holiday starting with the original proclamation in 1789 celebrating it on different days or months up to the 1941 resolution...
US National Archives
Nara: American Originals: Lewis and Clark Expedition
Explore documents from the Lewis and Clark Expedition: "list of purchases," "receipt for tobacco," "list of Indian presents," and "receipt for wine and kegs." Each document is accompanied by explanation of context and significance.
US National Archives
Nara: Paintings of the American Revolution
The selected pictures listed are among the audiovisual holdings of the National Archives that relate to the American Revolution. They are photographic copies of works of art. The dates and mediums of the originals and the names of the...