Interactive guides help students understand primary sources

We’ve published two new interactive guides that walk students through the process of thinking like a historian.  Each guide models an approach to a primary source through commentary by historian Dr. Kathryn Walbert.  The guides step through layers of questions, beginning with the most basic details of the documents’ creation and culminating in questions that invite higher-level thinking and analysis.

“Reading primary sources: Slave narratives” presents the narrative of Abner Jordan, who was born into slavery at Stagville Plantation in Durham County, NC.

“Reading primary sources: Letters” presents two letters written by John Adams to his wife Abigail on the eve of the new nation’s birth.

The guides are part of a series exploring historical sources, which also includes “Reading primary sources: Newspaper editorials” and “Reading primary sources: Newspaper advertisements.”