Primary Sources, apps, and more ...

Recently, we have had classes in the library who were looking for primary sources, particularly related to waves of immigration.  We also had several classes who are writing letters from the time of the Civil War.  They, too, used primary sources and found documents compiled by Gilder-Lehrman to be especially helpful.  In working with these classes, I came across several useful resources to share.  One is the Blog from the National Archives which includes information on their catalog, transcription, and Docs Teach, an online tool for teaching with documents.

 

Another is an app which is listed as one of 10 best apps from SLJ for 2015.  Described as "mining resources from a range of cultural institutions, The New Immigrants NYC 1880–1924 (Vangard Direct, Gr 4 Up) presents a curated collection of 100-plus primary and secondary sources, from historical essays and oral histories to archival photos and video clips related to the second wave of U.S. immigration."  This was designed with an intended audience of New York City classrooms, but the varied primary sources will certainly be of interest to those studying this topic from an historical perspective and in relation to the present day's on-going national conversation.  

Here are two additional app lists which may be of interest to you, originally brought to my attention by Nicole Hennig:  

• 20 Top apps for Design and Visual Story Telling in 2015. Make color palettes, fonts, mood boards, posters, animation, and more. 
• 25 BEST apps for teaching students how to present, create and code. Apps recommended by teachers, for teachers. Ted-ED, Haiku Deck, Animoto, and more. This one was originally published on TedEd.

If you have more ideas to share on apps or primary sources, please let us know.