NIARI Curriculum Project

INTRODUCING PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ACTIVITY

MAIN QUESTION: What is a primary document? (Most adults don't have a clue)

ACTIVITY (after adequate time to ponder main question)

Look through your purse, wallet, bookbag, etc. for documents relating to self. Select one item. (ex.- photos, letters, newsclippings, Social Security card, driver's license, etc.)

Analyze documents - What type of document is it? What is the date? Who created it? How does it relate to its owner (its purpose)?

Considering it as a historical document:

What does this document say about whoever created it?
What does it say about the person that saved it?
What does it say about life in the US?
What questions does it raise?

Extending activity:

Have students go home and find documents that could have a value in understanding the
history of their family or community.
Have students bring in copies of these documents.
Make a display with interpretive comments by students.

Adapted from "Introducing Documents: Worksheet I" - p. 75 of Encounters: Models for an Integrated Approach to Early Washington Territorial and State History by Llyn DeDanaan, Evergreen State College, 2000