Eastern Illinois University Homepage

Themed Resources

• Library of Congress Online Resources for Educators (pdf)
• Abraham Lincoln
• Art of War:
  WWI and WWII Posters
• Cartoon Analysis
• Childhood Lost:Child Labor During Industrial Revolution
• Coles County: Taught with Primary Sources
• Corp of Discovery:
  Revealing the American West
• Illinois: Taught with Primary Sources
• Presidential Campaigns: Packaging the Presidents
• Underground Railroad:
  A Path to Freedom
• Verse and Chorus
• WWII
• NEW Top Topics

Special Projects

• Constant Motion:
  The Job of Railway Post Office Clerks
• September 11
• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Tools 
• Constitution Day
• Teaching with Lincoln
• Lincoln Assassination CSI Activity
• Veterans Day
• Patriotic Songs
• Library of Congress Site Update "Cheat Sheet" (pdf)

Professional Development

• Summer Institute
• TPS in Action
  (onsite workshop series)
• Customized Teaching with Primary Sources InstitutesTBA

Additional LInks

• EIUTPS Google Search Tool
• National TPS Site
• Library of Congress
• loc.gov Teacher PageAbraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Where can you find a corset for 49 cents
and a 3/4 length mink coat for $110?

Looking at newspapers in Chronicling America often leads to fun discoveries.  While the articles are helpful, the advertisements offer a fun look into life at a  particular time and place.  The ad above is from the Minneapolis Journal, September 4, 1905 by the Evans, Johnson, Sloane Company and offers a sale "that has never had an equal". The interactive features of Chronicling America will let you zoom into a specific paragraph to read text or print the image.  

What is Teaching with Primary Sources?

The The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Founded in 1800, the Library seeks to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, which bring to bear the world’s knowledge in almost all of the world’s languages and America’s private sector intellectual and cultural creativity in almost all formats. The Library seeks to spark the public’s imagination and celebrate human achievement through its programs and exhibits.

In doing so, the Library helps foster the informed and involved citizenry upon which American democracy depends. Today, the Library serves the public, scholars, Members of Congress and their staff—all of whom seek information, understanding and inspiration. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s award-winning Web site www.loc.gov.

The mission of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program is to: build awareness of the Library’s educational initiatives; provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the Library’s resources; and offer access to and promote sustained use of the Library’s educational resources.

The Library achieves this mission through collaborations between the Library and the K-12 educational community across the United States. The program contributes to the quality of education by helping teachers use the Library’s digitized primary sources to engage students, develop their critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.  Learn more about the Library’s TPS program and other resources available to teachers at www.loc.gov/teachers.

Members of the TPS Educational Consortium assist in the design of the TPS program and offer TPS professional development on an ongoing basis, year round. Visit www.loc.gov/teachers/tps to view a list of current Consortium members and their respective states.

Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress, the Teaching with Primary Sources program at Eastern Illinois University has been actively collaborating with Central Illinois K-12 educators since the program inception in January 2004.  We are proud to support the goals and mission of the national TPS program through workshops and presentations at no cost. TPS was brought to the EIU campus thanks to the efforts of Senator Dick Durbin.

Resource Spotlight

• 

  The Source -Taxes It is that time of year again, time to file your taxes. Find out how taxes began in the United States, what they are used for, and even some humor to help you as the deadline gets near.  
   

• NEW!! Top Topics - We often research topics for presentations and hate to waste those folders of bookmarks on our computers, so we are sharing them with you! This is an eclectic, no-frills collection of topics and links. 

• Podcast - The March 31 edition ofTechTalk4Teachersshares conversation between Cindy and Tom about new and old as we discuss the Titanic and Civil War.  We talk about new research and information being discovered like the recent identification of a soldier in a civil war photograph and James Cameron's research on the ocean floor.  Check it out!
  http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/

News, Announcements and Opportunities:

• Apply Now!  TPS EIU 2012 Summer Institutes!  It All Begins with One: Teaching the Impact of Individuals with Primary Sources. Click here for details!  The deadline to apply is April 13th!

• Refresher Course Are you are interested in a "refresher" course to review the benefits of teaching with primary sources and explore updates to the Library of Congress website?  Are you a new teacher that is eager to learn about new tools and resources for your classroom? Do you have a specific theme or topic that you want to focus upon and develop curriculum?  Contact us! For information visit TPS in Action at EIU or contact Cindy at cwrich@eiu.edu or 581-7857.

• Classroom Activities We continue to add teacher created TPS EIU Classroom Activities online. Elementary, middle and high school plans are available in html and pdf format. Check back often for new activities. 

We welcome your comments and ideas about our site. Please email us if you would like to see something new or have an idea for a theme.