Of
course, I love book stores, new or used.
Barnes & Noble, and other chains, often have great “Bargain Book”
aisles in which I can spend lots of time, often finding great materials that I
can use in my history classroom. It was
there that I was introduced to various historical collections created by
Chronicle Books. Their products are also available in many museum gift shops
and online. Chronicle publishes creative journals, notecards and stationery, and
books. They also published boxed
collections of reproductions of primary documents relating to particular
topics. Unfortunately, it seems that
these items may not be available through the website anymore, but they may be
found elsewhere.
The
boxes themselves are beautifully designed, conversation starters on a table or
shelf. The Ellis Island box for
example is made to resemble a piece of luggage, and the Titanic box is
designed to look like a steamer trunk, complete with a lift-out inner
tray. Inside each box is a treasure
trove of primary documents, carefully archived and explained in the
accompanying booklet, in order to present a detailed view of the topic. In Ellis Island, for example, you find
reproductions of postcards, shipping line advertisements, letters from and to
immigrants, letters of naturalization, photographs, inspection cards, etc. In Titanic, there are copies of menus,
postcards, ship diagrams, and other documents.
Each document is transcribed and described in the accompanying manual.
For
classroom use, I usually laminate the documents for durability. Then, students can practice interpreting the
primary sources. In reading the
documents, students learn important critical reading and interpretation skills,
and they gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the time. Students might be asked to arrange or
group the documents in order to create a particular project or address a
particular question. Documents can be
distributed to students who are assigned to create a character or situation
based on their assigned document, or the students might be required to use the
assigned document as a starting point for a research project. The accurate reproduction details provide a
high level of verisimilitude, making students think and feel like
historians. I also use the documents for
bulletin board displays and teaching trunks.
Beyond the classroom, they provide hours of entertainment for history
buffs.If you can find these great resources, I hope you check them out. If you know of other similar products, please comment below.
