Primary Sources and So Much More 

Greetings this Monday morning. It’s March—the month of Spring Breaks—and teachers could not be looking forward to anything more after some long months to start the year. May your breaks be restful and productive for YOU, and may you find time to rejuvenate to make it all the way to the end of the school year. So, what would help you make it to the end? How about a new resource to play around with and introduce students to along the way?

While putting together this blog post, it dawned on me that one of the most obvious connections to the work that follows is the Marchetti/O’Dell text Beyond Literary Analysis (2018), Heinemann. You will see what I mean in just a minute, but for now, here are primary sources.

I’ve had the distinct privilege to work with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for the past three months on a project to show English teachers how to use primary sources in ELA/reading classes. We built a database and launched it last month. If you are an NCTE member, you received an email about these two resources. One is a copublished book with the Library of Congress (LoC) and the other is this database. The book itself is a WEALTH of knowledge about different ways primary sources can be used in classrooms of all ages. This book “is a collection of teaching ideas and assignments that details ways in which ELA teachers have taught their students to critically examine Library sources” (NCTE, 2025). Spend time in the pages FOR FREE and delve into the ideas these professionals share about the varied and engaging ways they have used primary sources. It is a FREE resource on the NCTE website and it titled Working with Primary Sources in the English Language Arts Classroom.

Teaching Ideas

The searchable database NCTE released for teachers has over 160 primary source strategies linked to Library primary sources. This Primary Source Strategy Database—think of it as over 160 ways to engage students in the history of a companion text before introducing them to a connected text. This is the Marchetti/O’Dell connection-texts are everywhere! They aren’t just articles and books, hey are maps, photographs, music reviews, blog posts, and the LoC website is filled with them! And these primary sources create a myriad of opportunities for different kinds of analysis.

Want to teach Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and need a way to make the Victorian period come alive for students? Look no farther than A Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle authored by Mandy Knoll. She used this focus in all her strategies and tied each one to Dickens’ novel. Do you have an informational text about the unearthing of atrocities conducted at Native American schools in the early 20^th century across both Canada and the United States? Sheena Zadai took some time to give context to The Carlisle Indian School (photo) in her strategy, and her teaching points are spot on to work through this difficult topic. Holly Spinelli worked her magic through many resources of marginalized communities, and particularly her strategy on the AIDS Quilt on Display in Washington, DC, reminds teachers of ways to support and highlight vulnerable populations in our communities. Each strategy is filled not only with teaching ideas and links to support background but also with resources for teachers about the context of the primary source and how to address any challenges along the way. There are alternative/complementary resources tagged from the Library to use to deepen and expand the lesson.

This database is a timely release from NCTE, and I wanted to take this opportunity to share it with you for quite a few reasons.

1. Primary Sources Matter: They matter because they are the fabric of a time period and they are the raw materials of history, and the Library has hundreds of thousands of them in their digital collection. No card needed, no login needed, just free digital resources ot use in your classrooms.
2. Added Resources for Teachers: The database has resources by type, by grade level, by topic, and adding new resources to your repertoire is always a win/win. I learned so much from reading all the strategy work teachers put together. Just reading through titles that are of interest for you could spark lesson ideas. And the great piece is that we have already done a lot of the initial thinking and planning for you.
3. A Myriad of Styles: There were 28 teachers on this project, and we each had our own style in writing and compiling information. Each of us tied our work to our own state standards (TEKS for Texas, SOL for Virginia, CCSS for many teachers). We share so many standards across states, and while the wording may be tied to a standard you may not have, I bet you have a partner standard that closely matches the work we did.
4. A Introduction to the Library of Congress: I think most of us know there is a Library of congress, but did you know what a wealth of resources are there for you?
   • Teaching anything with Civil Rights? There is a resource guide with curated primary sources to help guide that topic to success.
   • Need a sports collection? The library features a resource guide called Baseball Across a Changing Nation.
   • Want to know if your state has featured primary sources? This page lists collections alphabetically, and I’m betting they don’t stop with Alabama and Alaska.

Maybe you know of this site already, and maybe this is a new introduction. Regardless, I hope you try out not only the LoC site but also the NCTE resources. Analysis opportunities are all around us. Take the opportunity to find new ways to engage students in the past with primary sources and with the modern day connections you are making in your classes.

Let me know if you try this new tool! I’d love to hear your takeaways and applications in your own classrooms.

Kelly E. Tumy is a former president of TCTELA, one of five editors of the journal English in Texas and the current production editor for NCTE‘s English Journal. She was a 20-year high school English teacher, 8 year district coordinator, and a 6 year county-wide curriculum director. You can find out more about Kelly here or connect with her on Instagram @kellyreads_tx.

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