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This is a guest post from David Christopher, Chief, Information and Records Division, U.S. Copyright Office.

When I was young — and I’m not that old — the term “copyright” and its curious symbol, ©, seemed a quaint holdover from a bygone era. It was for me a fuzzy legal term that book publishers thought highly enough of to place on the verso of the title page of every book I ever picked up, but it certainly had no real impact on me or my life.

Boy, have things changed. The Internet, coupled with smart phones, tablets and all of the other wonderful gadgets we use to create, share and enjoy creative works, gives each of us the power to engage in infringing activities, whether knowingly or not, literally on a global scale. Copyright is indeed a hot topic these days (note the reaction to the proposed SOPA/PIPA anti-piracy legislation in online media) and, if anything, copyright matters will only increase in the public consciousness in the years to come.

Given the increased relevance of copyright in the digital age, the U.S. Copyright Office, located here at the Library of Congress, recognizes the need to engage more proactively in public education and outreach.  Last October, Maria A. Pallante, Register of Copyrights and Director of the Copyright Office, released a list of Priorities and Special Projects that the Copyright Office will engage in over the 2011-2013 period. Notable among the special projects, we are currently in the early stages of developing a business plan for a robust copyright education and outreach program.

The goal of this effort is to implement a series of new education projects tailored to a variety of audiences including librarians, teachers, artists, copyright practitioners, and the general public. While we already offer online educational resources designed for teachers and students like Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright and the professional development modules Copyright and Primary Sources and Understanding Copyright, we want to offer more.

Look for additional news from the Copyright Office, including guest posts on this blog, announcing program developments and initiatives in the coming months. In the meantime, please contact us with questions or suggested copyright-related topics of particular interest to teachers through our Contact Us page.

George Washington and his Family

This post is co-authored by Cheryl Lederle and Danna Bell-Russel.

President’s Day? Presidents Day? Or Presidents’ Day?

Officially, it’s none of the above. By law, February 22 is called George Washington’s Birthday, but many now use the day to honor or commemorate all U.S. presidents. One easy way to help your students explore the legacy of three great presidents is by using a primary source set from the Library of Congress, Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln: Three Great Presidents.

Thomas Jefferson

As most readers of this blog know, primary source sets provide access to a collection of primary source items that are easy to download and print. They also include a teacher’s guide with background information and suggestions on ways to help teachers use these resources to encourage engagement and critical thinking and content understanding. This particular primary source set includes items suitable for teaching younger students.

In addition to the “Suggestions for Teachers” included with the primary source set, you could ask students to:

Abraham Lincoln and his Family

• Use the analysis tool to guide a closer look at one of the portraits. What do they think was the purpose of the portrait? What point of view was the painter trying to portray?
• Compare images of presidents from the past and present to see how presidents have been depicted in history and how that has changed over time.
• Create a description of what it means to look like or to be a leader.  Do the images within the collection of portraits or in the primary source set show the presidents looking like a leader? Why or why not?

Looking for other images of presidents? Library experts have assembled a collection of presidential portraits that teachers can use to supplement the images in the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln Primary Source Set.

What activities will you and your students do to study the lives of America’s presidents?

Introducing Teachers to Our Resources

In the first Teaching with the Library of Congress blog post, Stephen Wesson noted that, “This will be a place where Library staff can informally present teaching strategies, highlights from the collections, and the latest on new programs and teaching resources. At the same time, we hope it will be a forum where teachers share experiences, exchange ideas, provide feedback on what the Library has to offer, and take the conversation on teaching with primary sources into new territory.”

The blog and its readers did that and more.  Readers responded with great enthusiasm, and passed along or re-posted their favorite blog entries. Some comments started conversations among the Library’s staff, and those conversations led to new blog posts and deeper conversations with you, our readers. We have been overwhelmed by the responses to our posts and humbled by your compliments.

We wanted to revisit staff favorites, posts that received the most comments, and some that were highlighted by teachers who work with the Library. Here’s the list, in no particular order. We hope you’ll let us know some of your favorites.

The Wright Brothers’ Crumpled Glider

Guest written by Johnathan Abreu, this entry encouraged students to explore what inventors do to find success and how to persevere in spite of difficult odds.

Top Ten Tips for Facilitating an Effective Primary Source Analysis

Stacie Moats’ list of tips on how to facilitate a primary source analysis was extremely popular with the teacher-mentors.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving Truce

This post showed how a political cartoon can be used with students of various grade levels.

Occupying the Bonus Army Protests

Though Danna Bell-Russel’s reflections on the Bonus Army received no comments through the blog, it was extremely popular on Facebook with 48 likes and 34 shares. Social media to the rescue!

Dealing with Difficult Subjects in Primary Sources

A favorite of the staff and blog readers, this post spawned a follow-up entry featuring reader comments.

Farm Security Administration Photographs: Harvest Time

Anne Savage offered suggestions on how to develop classroom activities incorporating images of harvest time around the United States.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Stephen Wesson’s question about why there was a suddenly flurry of interest in the lesson on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird had the largest number of comments of any entry on this blog.

What Makes a Primary Source

Cheryl Lederle wrote about how one might define a primary source and the importance of considering “the time under study.”

What is the Library of Congress

Many blog readers were interested in learning more about the Library of Congress and making comments on how they use the Library’s online resources

Selecting Primary Sources: Knowing Your Students

Former Library of Congress Teacher in Residence Sara Suiter discussed how to select primary sources that are appropriate for your students.

Have we missed any of your favorites? Do you have any early nominees for 2012? Please let us know in the comments.

Apply to participate in a Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute at the Library of Congress if you want:

• A week to learn effective strategies to incorporate primary sources into your teaching;
• A week to develop a lesson plan using primary sources from the Library of Congress;
• An opportunity to interact with teachers from around the country and exchange ideas;
• To meet the Teaching with Primary Sources blog team.

The five-day institutes will provide educators with tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into classroom teaching. The teacher institutes are free but participants must pay for travel to Washington, D.C., and for lodging and food while attending the institute.

In addition, interested participants may earn three graduate credits from George Mason University for completing all Summer Teacher Institute and post Institute requirements (additional fees are required to obtain graduate credit).

Interested? Institute dates are listed below. Note that two of the institutes will highlight specific topics. The remaining dates are not topic driven.

• May 21-25, 2012
• June 11-15, 2012
• July 9-13, 2012 (World Cultures Focus)
• July 16-20, 2012 (Civil War Focus)
• August 6-10, 2012

The deadline to send in applications is February 17, 2012. Additional information and the application form can be found here!

This post is co-authored by Earnestine Sweeting and Danna Bell-Russel.

Since the early 1900s, February has been dedicated to raising awareness of the contributions made by African Americans. One way to introduce African American History Month is by facilitating a discussion about the ways in which African American achievement has been recognized in the nation’s past. This unique lithograph, created in 1881 during Reconstruction, is titled Heroes of the Colored Race and shows images of Frederick Douglass and former senators Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels. In addition, it depicts scenes from African American life as well as some other noted Americans. An article from the Cleveland Gazette from October 1884 identifies many of the people and events shown.

Heroes of The Colored Race

Students may benefit from focusing on the individual images in the lithograph. Print a large version of the image, cut it into pieces and hand each student or pair of students a piece of the image to study. Have them record their observations, reflections and questions on the primary source analysis tool. Then have students put their pieces together and see what they gain from seeing the entire image. Select questions from the Teacher’s Guide: Analyzing Photographs and Prints to guide and deepen student thinking and analysis.

Teachers can have students:

• Explain why they think this particular image was created and why the events documented on this image were selected to be included.
• Describe the characteristics of the people represented as heroes.  Explain why one or more of the people shown in this image might have been considered heroes in 1884.
• Make recommendations about historical figures they would add or remove from this lithograph.  Make sure students use historically based evidence to defend their answers.
• Create a collection of heroes for African American History Month. What images would they use? Who would be the heroes shown? Why did students make the choices they made?

Additional Information:

• The Civil Rights Themed Resources page provides links to a variety of resources, including primary source sets on Jim Crow and the NAACP.
• Visit the African American History portal for links to resources from the Library and other federal cultural institutions that document the life and history of the African American community.

What teaching activities do you use to engage students during African American history month?

Check out two new lesson plans from the Library of Congress.

The Alaska Purchase: Debating the Sale from Russian and U.S. Perspectives supports student use of primary sources from Russia and the U.S. to examine the respective Russian and American rationales for agreeing to the sale.

A Russian Settlement in Alaska: A Community at the Meeting of Frontiers invites students to explore Novo-Arkhangel’sk, which today is called Sitka, during the time that it was the administrative center for Russian possessions in North America.

Both lesson plans use primary sources from the Meeting of Frontiers, a bilingual, multimedia English-Russian digital library that tells the story of the American exploration and settlement of the West, the parallel exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-American frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Let us know in the comments how you teach about places where the history of the United States overlaps that of other countries.

Dr. King, shortly before his trip to Norway to receive the Nobel Prize

Half a century ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave motion to a powerful, peaceful movement – and his words remain deeply moving today.

Here, from the Library’s photographic collections, is a photo of Dr. King shortly before he traveled with members of his family to Oslo, Norway, where in December of 1964 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the struggle for African-Americans’ civil rights.

You can find the text of his stirring acceptance speech here.

On Monday, Americans will observe Martin Luther King Day. Consider his words: “Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts … right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant … I still believe that We Shall overcome!”

Consider his words–and be moved.

We were thrilled to see the wonderful responses from the blog post on teaching difficult subjects. A huge thank you to all of those who commented, made teaching suggestions and linked to this post.

The comments underscored the importance of facilitating discussions on difficult issues with students. One commenter, a professor who teaches Introduction to Constitutional Principles to a primarily African-American student body, noted that some discussions can get difficult in a hurry. But he also stated that teachers must get aggressive with the material and challenge students to assess and analyze the changes between the time under study and the current day. Another reader noted that teachers need to promote critical thinking around primary sources, no matter how difficult the primary source.

We noticed that the large majority of readers’ comments focused on the need to make sure that students consider what

Dred Scott

events were taking place at the time when a primary source was created. The professor emphasized that when teaching cases such as Dred Scott v. Sanford, he asks students to analyze the historical context as well as the issues of the case. He also urges students to consider what such contextual information may tell them about the American experience.

Other comments noted the importance of being aware of the age and maturity level of your students. This is vitally important as some students may not yet be able to grasp the issues under study or make the connection between historic and current events.

Here are some teaching suggestions:

One way to explore difficult subjects is to use alternative resources such as music to provide commentary on the events of the day. In the November/December 2011 issue of Social Education, my colleague and fellow “Teaching with the Library of Congress” blogger Stacie Moats and former Music Division staff member Stephanie Poxon wrote an article on teaching about difficult subjects. Their article, “‘I Didn’t Raise My Boy to

I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier

Be a Soldier:’ Ideas and Strategies for Using Music from the National Jukebox to Teach Difficult Topics in History,” provides ideas and resources for incorporating sheet music and sound recordings to encourage student inquiry.

A reader-generated suggestion was to have students review newspapers from Chronicling America: Historical Newspapers to discover the language used at the time. This activity can help students understand attitudes toward specific groups at the time the newspaper was published.

One other commenter noted that the suggestions made in the previous blog post can be extended to current day issues and materials. These activities can help students learn how to analyze materials from any and all sources.

Finally, one blog reader noted that both students and society at large will benefit from being challenged to think critically about difficult topics.

How do you respond to colleagues or others who advise teachers to avoid using primary sources that address difficult topics in the classroom?

What if after 235 years all that was left to tell the story of your life was a single scrap of paper?  That is exactly what happened to a woman named Martha Morris who lived in New York during the Revolutionary War.

Martha Morris to George Washington, October 19, 1776

When George Washington was general of the Continental Army during the Revolution he kept his household receipts so that Congress could reimburse him after the war.  Today there are hundreds of these in the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress.  Among them is this one, for laundry.  It is dated October 19, 1776, and on the top it says: ‘Cloas washed By Marth[a] the Negor wench.”  At the bottom is her full name, which appears to be Martha Morris.

We know what George Washington was doing in New York in 1776.  He and his troops arrived in the city in April to protect it from the British ships gathering in the harbor.  After a series of disastrous losses, the Americans were defeated.  In October, Washington left Manhattan. The British marched in, and for the next seven years they occupied New York City.

But what about Martha Morris?  The receipt offers a few tantalizing facts about her life:  she was an African-American woman, worked as a laundress, was probably young and poor (what is a “wench”?), and probably lived on Manhattan Island.

The receipt suggests even more questions than answers:  What did laundry work entail? Did she write this bill herself, demonstrating that she was literate?  How much did she charge for washing clothes and “Shirts for his [Excellency] General Washington”?  Why did she use English pounds (₤), shillings (sh), and pence (d)?  Do the receipt’s phonetic spellings preserve the sound of her speech? Was she free or enslaved?

Teaching Ideas

You might use the receipt to launch students into research and to construct a narrative:

Your students can use the receipt to write a biography of Martha Morris.  Encourage them to list additional questions that they have about her. Then, working alone or in small groups, students might research to locate information to form answers and construct a biography.

Students may compare the wartime experiences of Martha Morris to those of George Washington. Ask students to research where George Washington was on October 19 and to construct a timeline of events in the days immediately before and after that date. How does learning what George Washington was doing affect their understanding of Martha Morris’ life?

Students may locate another receipt in the George Washington Papers and apply similar processes of thinking, questioning, and researching.

For more resources for teachers from the Library’s manuscript collections, visit this page.

Although we will never know as much about Martha Morris as we do about George Washington, her receipt can help your students imagine what life was like for a woman who saw the American Revolution with her own eyes.

What other everyday primary sources could students work with using these sorts of questions?

Note: In the information about this receipt on the Library’s Web site, it is sometimes described as being from “Matthew Morris”. The receipt is in fact from Martha Morris.

In 2007, Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, announced the creation of a new position, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.  Dr. Billington stated that the ambassador will be an award-winning author or illustrator whose position will acknowledge—at the national level—the importance of exceptional authors and illustrators in creating the readers of tomorrow. The Librarian appoints each Ambassador for a two-year term to travel around the country promoting the importance of fiction and nonfiction in the lives of young people.

Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers, the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature has written over 100 books including “Sunrise Over Fallujah,” “Fallen Angels,” “Monster,” “Somewhere in the Darkness” and “Harlem.” Myers has received two Newbery Honor Awards and five Coretta Scott King Awards. He is the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award (for excellence in young adult literature, given by the American Library Association) as well as the first recipient of Kent State University’s Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2009 Myers delivered the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, a distinction reserved for an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of children’s literature. The ceremony honoring Mr. Myers will be held at 11am on Tuesday, January 10th in room LJ 119 in the Library’s Jefferson Building.

The theme for his term is “Reading is Not Optional.”

The first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature was Jon Scieszka.  The author of several bestselling children’s titles, including “The Stinky Cheese Man,” which won a Caldecott Honor medal, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” and the “Time Warp Trio,” Scieszka focused on getting parents and children to read together during his term. He also helped launch “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure,” a chapter book featuring the work of a number of noted writers and illustrators at the 2009 National Book Festival.

Appointed in 2010, Katherine Patterson served as the second National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. A two-time winner of the Newbery Medal (“Bridge to Terabithia” and “Jacob Have I Loved”) and the National Book Award (“The Great Gilly Hopkins” and “The Master Puppeteer) she worked to encouraged reading as a way to enrich one’s life and to better understand one’s family, community and the world around them.

Learn more about Walter Dean Myers and see some of his webcasts from the National Book Festival on the read.gov website.  The press release announcing Myers appointment is available on the Library’s website.

Do you agree with Walter Dean Myers…Is reading NOT optional?

Did you find an image from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog at the Library of Congress that you’d like to share with your social media connections? Have you refined a search in Chronicling America:  Historic Newspapers that would be perfect for your class project? Do you enjoy reading the various blogs by expert Library staff but forget to check them regularly?

The Library of Congress is working to make it easier for you to keep up with what’s new at the Library and to share your favorites with others. At the top of many pages of the Library’s Web site is a toolbar allowing you to share links through sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, or to email, print or save the file. Look for the icons labeled Print, Subscribe or Share/Save.

Share and save toolbar

“Print” generates a printable page without the sidebars from the Web page. “Subscribe” opens a page where you can sign up to have updates about Library programs, events or blogs sent to you via RSS feed or e-mail. “Share/Save” offers a selection of social media tools as well as an e-mail feature or a permanent link to save in your browser or to embed in your own blog or Web site.

The share tools can be used with both colleagues and students:

• Save class time by sharing search results that target the exact topic you want to study with your students.  The toolbar is available for individual primary sources as well as search results in both Chronicling America and the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, for example.
• The share/save option allows you to collaborate efficiently with colleagues. Pass along a lesson plan, analysis tool or teacher’s guide, or send the search results for classroom materials that meet your state standards.

How have you used the toolbar in your planning or teaching? If you haven’t, you could start by sharing this blog post.

This post comes to us from the 2011-2012 Library of Congress Teacher in Residence, Earnestine Sweeting.

How often do you have the opportunity to chat with specialists who provide free access to digitized primary sources and provide information on how to make these primary sources a central part of your classroom activities?

Library of Congress staff members working with teachers at a conference

Every year the Library’s education specialists bring Library of Congress resources to conferences in major cities across the United States. We look forward to meeting educators like you and providing suggestions on teaching with the Library’s digitized primary source collections.

Stop by our booth in the exhibit hall for a one-to-one demonstration of the Library’s online resources for teachers.  We can answer your questions and show you some of our new materials.

Check the conference program for scheduled presentations and workshops, which provide instructional strategies for teachers and ready-to-present professional development resources for administrators, coaches, and other educational professionals.

We’ll have more conference information later in the year, but here’s our line-up through June:

Are you planning to attend a conference this year?  We look forward to seeing you!

A new year traditionally brings the promise of new opportunity, with many people making resolutions to change for the better. People also often reflect on the past year as they await the new one.

The New Boy, January 1, 1905

This cartoon, published as the front cover of the magazine Puck, draws on the many metaphors about the New Year offering a clean start. A young boy in uniform and cap is sweeping an office clean of papers. Although many of the specific images in the cartoon may be unfamiliar to students, the labels on most of them offer a clear starting point for researching the context and the details the artist included.

Students might begin with a careful study of the drawing, noting as many details as possible, including the caption and other labels as well as the visual components. One approach is to divide the cartoon into quadrants and examine each section separately, recording details in the “Observe” column of the primary source analysis tool. Students might work with a partner or compare notes to ensure a thorough examination of the cartoon. Guide students to careful observations by asking questions selected from the Teacher’s Guide Analyzing Political Cartoons.

During the observation, students might automatically begin reflecting on what they see and interpreting the cartoon. Direct them to record those ideas in the “Reflect” column of the primary source analysis tool. Again, select questions from the Teacher’s Guide Analyzing Political Cartoons to encourage students to generate and test hypotheses about the cartoon. They may record questions as they arise in the “Question” column on the primary source analysis tool.

Teaching Ideas

To extend the learning, teachers may have students:

• Complete one of the follow-up activities from the Teacher’s Guide Analyzing Political Cartoons.
• Research historic newspapers in Chronicling America to see what information is available about the people or events named in the cartoon.
• Extend the research by browsing all front pages from January 1, 1905 in Chronicling America.
• Consider the past year. If students were to plan a cartoon with the caption “The New Boy, January 1, 2012,” what would they include in the image? Why?

Additional Resources

Visit the Library of Congress Teachers page to find a primary source set containing more political cartoons.

Primary Source Set: Political Cartoons in U.S. History

Search this blog for more ideas about teaching with political cartoons, including Political Cartoons: Seriously Funny and Theodore Roosevelt’s Thanksgiving Truce: A Political Cartoon.

Let us know in the comments how you have used political cartoons to connect to past events.

The closing days of the year are always exciting here at the Library of Congress, because the Librarian of Congress names the 25 films that are this year’s selections to the National Film Registry, which designates films that are to be preserved for posterity due to their cultural, aesthetic and historical value.

But keep in mind, it’s part of a larger preservation story that takes place every day at the Library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va., a state-of-the-art facility where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection (6 million items, and counting) of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.

This year’s picks, the culmination of a process advised by the National Film Preservation Board with extensive public input, include “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Bambi” (1942), “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), “Stand and Deliver” (1988), “The Lost Weekend” (1945) “Porgy and Bess” (1959) and “Norma Rae” (1979). There are many other less well-known films on this year’s list, but all are fascinating in one way or another – for example the home movies of Fayard and Harold Nicholas, famed dancers in the 1930s and 1940s.  While documenting their stage life, they captured rare footage now unable to be found anywhere else – scenes from the interior of the Cotton Club, for example.

Also on this year’s list is the 1921 full-length silent Charlie Chaplin classic, “The Kid,” featuring a child star named Jackie Coogan later known to television audiences as Uncle Fester in TV’s “The Addams Family.”

There were 2,228 films nominated to the registry this year; if you want to nominate some, you are welcome to voice your opinions at the website of the National Film Preservation Board.

And heads up! This is important!

On Thursday, Dec. 29 at 10 p.m. on PBS stations’ show “Independent Lens” (check local listings) an excellent documentary about the National Film Preservation Board and the registry will be aired.  Titled “These Amazing Shadows,” the film by Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton tells how the NFPB is saving these wonderful artworks from extinction.

If you love movies, you won’t want to miss “These Amazing Shadows.”

New Year’s Eve is a time of celebration, often including music. One festive tradition is the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” at midnight, although many of us either hum along or make up our own words since we don’t know the lyrics. It’s one of more than 300 Scottish songs that the poet Robert Burns is credited with preserving, a blend of Scots and English, old and new.

In the spirit of “Auld Lang Syne,” I searched two of the Library’s online collections, Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, and, America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets, for examples of old American songs relating to the New Year. After winter break, try welcoming 2012 and introducing (or reminding!) students of key language arts concepts using one or more of my New Year’s themed song selections. Or, search the Library’s online collections for your own favorites relating to other themes of interest.

Select questions from the Teacher’s Guide to Analyzing Sheet Music and Song Sheets to facilitate class discussions, and encourage students to document their analysis process using the Primary Source Analysis Tool. Afterwards, try one or more of the language-arts activities described below:

• Scan the lyrics of a song entitled, “The old year. 1877. The new year. 1878.” You’ll notice the use of metaphors such as, “Just like a bride, all dressed in white,” to represent 1878, the new year. What modern metaphors might students use for 2012?

• Read all three verses of “The Old year dies to-night.” What allegory does the lyricist use throughout the song? Have students brainstorm new song lyrics featuring the opposite allegory—the birth of a new year.

• After analyzing the cover illustration, title, lyrics and music of “Good bye old year,” ask students to compare and contrast the song’s overall tone to that of “Where do the old years go.” Challenge students to write a creative short story about this time period of American Industrialization using one or both of these songs to set the scene.

How might you use historic song sheets or sheet music with a focus on language arts?

Here at the Library of Congress, we take in more than 10,000 items a working day – books, films, music, photographs.  Many are the basic stuff of everyday research; some are rare items, especially beautiful, unusual or unique; and some are major treasures of the world, to be held and preserved for the knowledge and benefit of future generations.

On October 23, 1991, we let one of those Really Big Treasures slip from our grasp – and were happy to do that, because we were sending it home in loving hands.

On that date, Vaclav Havel, then-president of Czechoslovakia (who died earlier this week) visited the U.S. Capitol to receive the 1918 first draft of the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence, in the handwriting of the man who might be termed the Czech Thomas Jefferson — Thomas G. Masaryk, the first president of the Czechoslovak federation created at the close of World War I.  In a ceremony attended by the bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, Havel was given the document to repatriate to his country.

It had been given to the Library of Congress to keep safe in 1951 after Czechoslovakia came under Communist rule, by Masaryk’s former private secretary, Jaroslav Cisar.  At that time, Cisar stated that “it would, in proper time, be transferred to its final resting place in the Archives of the National Museum in Prague.”

But in 1980, Cisar wrote to the Library and made an outright gift of the document, despairing of seeing his nation return to its earlier form of governance: “My hopes of seeing Masaryk’s name restored to its rightful place in the official accounts of the foundation of the first formative era of our new state have, alas, proved to be overoptimistic,” he said.

Cisar said he felt the document would be safer at the Library of Congress.  And so it was, until the day came — following the bloodless 1989 “Velvet Revolution” that brought playwright and anti-Communist Havel to his nation’s executive mansion – when it could return home safely. Havel served as president of the republic of Czechoslovakia for 2-1/2 years, and later served two terms as president of the Czech Republic that followed.

Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, noted that “This document … rightfully belongs to the people who have, after so many years, realized Thomas Masaryk’s ambitions.”

Then-House Speaker Thomas Foley noted, “Once the Library of Congress takes possession of a document, it seldom, if ever, gives it up … This is a major exception and only presented because it is a foundation document of a nation.”

Havel said the care it had received at the Library of Congress “is better than it would have gotten on some shelf of the Communist Party.”

“This deed is part of history,” Havel said as he received the document, which he termed “the birth certificate of our nation … I cannot but be deeply moved.”

Here’s a webcast of a human-rights lecture Havel delivered in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium on May 24, 2005, titled “The Emperor Has No Clothes,” when he was the holder of the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the Library’s John W. Kluge Center.  You can also view a discussion Havel led at the Kluge Center on Feb. 20, 2007, titled “Dissidents and Freedom.”

Architecture offers a unique entry point for better understanding a historical era. Early in my career as a museum educator, I worked with professional architects and engineers to teach middle and high school students. From these experts, I learned valuable techniques for analyzing architectural drawings and photographs.

Recently, the Picture This: Library of Congress Prints and Photos blog highlighted the addition of 400,000 new digitized records to the Historic American Buildings Survey/ Historic American Engineering Record/ Historic American Landscapes Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection.

Browsing this incredible online resource reminded me of how closely architecture and history are intertwined. Here are a few strategies for teaching with architectural drawings and photographs using examples from the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection:

Challenge students to hypothesize about a structure’s function based on its aesthetics. Students often observe aesthetic elements, such as patterns or shapes, without considering function. They may not think of design as problem solving. Encourage them to examine a structure’s form or aesthetics for clues about its intended use or functional requirements: for whom was the structure designed and to address what needs? What can we infer about the time period of its design or construction?

For example, if students observe the pattern of triangles that make up a truss bridge, prompt them to reflect upon why the designer/s chose the triangle (the strongest shape) for this structure. What type of bridge traffic—pedestrians, horses and wagons, cars, or trains—would require a heavy load-bearing design? What other factors may have influenced the bridge’s design (budget, location, available materials, structural technology)?

Use multiple architectural documents to help students visualize a structure, whenever possible. Envisioning a three-dimensional structure by observing a two-dimensional architectural drawing or photograph is not easy. Architects often create various drawings of the same structure to meet their different needs as well as the needs of clients and builders. Have students analyze a structure using at least two architectural drawings showing different perspectives or a drawing and a photograph.

For example, if students work in pairs or groups to analyze a selection of architectural drawings and photographs of a one-room school house, they may initially have difficulty interpreting their assigned document. Their observations will fit together like pieces to a puzzle later, however, when all of the documents are analyzed collectively.

Encourage students to learn about architectural terms and symbols by creating their own survey. When analyzing architectural drawings, students will quickly encounter terminology and graphic representations common to the profession that are not generally used. Rather than providing a list of terms with definitions prior to an architectural analysis activity, ask students to track their questions about any terms or symbols discovered during analysis for further investigation. 

For example, if students view architectural drawings from a survey of a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, they may notice graphic depictions indicating scale or labels indicating the type of drawing–floor plan, front or side elevation, section, detail, etc. Help students identify, define and then apply new terms and symbols by creating their own architectural survey (a collection of photographs and architectural drawings) to document a historic local building, perhaps their school.

What other strategies do you recommend to help students learn about the past using architectural drawings and photographs?

View of Bonus Army Camp

The year 2011 saw protests in various countries such as Egypt, Syria, Libya as well as the millions participating in the various “Occupy” protests in the United States. Some students may think protests are a new phenomenon, but people have protested over and over again for their rights. Americans protested against England for denying them the right to representation. There were protests for and against slavery during the Civil War. Workers fought for safe working conditions, living wages and the right to representations by unions. Disenfranchised groups have fought for various rights of citizens, including their rights to vote and to own property.

Some students may know about the Bonus Army protests of 1932. Nearly 20,000 World War I veterans from across the country marched on the United States Capitol in June 1932 to request early payment of cash bonuses due to them in 1945. Their camp on the Mall was dispersed by troops commanded by General Douglas MacArthur and Major Dwight Eisenhower on July 28, resulting in injury and arrest for a number of the protesters.

Teachers can have students:

Veterans march to Washington

• Study the broadside Veterans march to Washington to arrive at opening of Congress, December 5th, 1932 to learn the protesters’ response to being forcibly dispersed.
• Compare the Bonus Army protests of 1932 with the “Occupy” protests that began in September 2011. What are similar and different in these protests?
• Imagine that they are preparing to organize a protest. What strategies can they learn from previous protests?
• Identify the reasons for each protest. What goals did the protesters have in each situation? How successful were the protests in resolving the concerns of the marchers?

Additional information:

This webcast features authors Paul Dickson and Thomas Allen talking about their book The Bonus Army: An American Epic.

This American Treasures exhibit entry for the Bonus Army has images and historical context.

Search the collection of photographs from Theodor Horydczak for more photographs of the bonus marchers and their encampment.

What can your students learn from studying protest movements?

To say that a violin made by master luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644 – Dec. 18, 1737) is priceless is an understatement. His are some of the finest stringed instruments ever made, often selling for several million dollars – that is, when they are lucky enough to be found and put on the market. Of the estimated 1,000 violins Stradivari made, there are only about 650 still in existence. The Library has three of them (and a few violas and violoncellos he also made).

Violin by Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1704, "Betts" / Michael Zirkle

People have been copying these and other Stradavari instruments almost ever since they were first produced. And, while owning an original may be unattainable, thanks to some cool science, getting your hands on a pretty spot-on copy could be well within reach.

Minnesota radiologist Steven Sirr, along with violin makers John Waddle and Steve Rossow, have conceived a way to replicate a Stradivarius through CT scans. Using computed tomography (CT) imaging and advanced manufacturing techniques, they recently built a reproduction of one of the Library’s Strad violins – the “Betts,” dated 1704. Their goal was to “understand how the violin works” and to make reproductions available to “young musicians who can’t afford an original.”

Metallic aura scan of "Betts" violin / Steven Sirr

More than 1,000 CT scan images of the “Betts” were produced and then converted to a program that instructs a machine to replicate those elements. Then, Waddle and Rossow finished, assembled and varnished the replica by hand. What resulted was an instrument with a sound quality very similar to an original Strad, according to Sirr, who is also an amateur violinist.

Scan of front detail of "Betts" violin / Steven Sirr

This isn’t the first time Library strings, including the “Betts,” have been scanned. Through a project with the Smithsonian Institution, Bruno Frohlich, a research anthropologist with the Museum of Natural History, has scanned nearly 50 violins and other stringed instruments – by Stradivari, his peers and today’s artisans – to study their anatomy of design and hopefully uncover that elusive sound secret.

Looking for Library of Congress materials that are appropriate for elementary students? In America’s Story from America’s Library (“America’s Library”) you’ll find lively stories from America’s past written at an upper elementary reading level, each of which features primary sources from the Library’s online collections.

Stories are organized into five categories: “Meet Amazing Americans” (biographical entries), “Jump Back in Time” (time periods and events), “Explore the States,” “Join America at Play,” and “See, Hear and Sing” (movies, voices and music).  For an example of what you and your students will find, look at this entry on Thomas Jefferson.

I love to tell teachers about America’s Library because younger students can use it independently; older English language learners can engage with the content; and each primary source is “wrapped” in historical context and includes a citation that even the youngest students can copy and paste into a report. It’s never too early to begin providing proper citations.

Browse America’s Library to discover the wide variety of primary sources appropriate for your classroom. If you’re looking for a way to introduce a specific event or time period in American history, go to Jump Back in Time for a list of stories from a particular era.  Here are some additional ideas:

• Have students select an entry from Meet Amazing Americans to find primary sources and historical accounts pertaining to important figures from U.S. history.
• As an “early bird” activity or class starter, have a pair of students go to Jump Back in Time to find out what happened on this day in history and select a primary source to display on a whiteboard or large screen.  As a class, generate speculations or questions about the item before reading the story.  Alternately, have students learn what happened on their birthday.
• Have students design a quilt, as suggested in Join America at Play.
• Visit Explore the States as you begin a unit of study on your state.
• Have students search for select people and events.

For more ideas for the elementary classroom, check out the article “Primary Sources and Elementary Students.”

How might you use America’s Library in your classroom or library?