Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History Archives | Gale Blog: Library & Educator News

New Content Added to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History

January 14, 2020January 24, 2020

| By Gale Staff | Newly added to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History: 75 primary sources with curriculum correlations for easy integration into the classroom. Content has been added across the eras, but especially boosts coverage of images related to African American history, Native American history, entertainers and writers, art and architecture, and leisure … Read more

New Content Added to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History

March 11, 2019March 12, 2019

| By Gale Staff | Newly added to Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History: 75 primary sources (52 text items and 23 images) with curriculum correlations for easy integration into the classroom workflow. Content has been added across the eras, but especially boosts coverage of classic American literature, literary figures, and political figures. Among the … Read more

Two Minutes with Carrie Kotcho,
A. James Clark Director of Education & Outreach, Smithsonian National Museum of American History

January 18, 2018January 23, 2018

Increased classroom engagement. Motivation to learn. Improved critical thinking skills. Hear Carrie C. Kotcho, A. James Clark Director of Education & Outreach, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, explain how primary source materials accomplish all this and more. In addition, you’ll be able to explore how Smithsonian Primary Sources In U.S. History puts these hand-curated … Read more

New Curriculum Correlations in Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History

April 11, 2017April 11, 2017

Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History now connects literary concepts to primary sources located in the product. Detailed curriculum correlations align the primary source to national social science and literary standards for easy-to-see application across subjects. Primary source materials greatly enrich learning for high school students by helping them develop critical thinking skills, pursue independent … Read more

A Remarkable Review for Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History

March 21, 2017March 24, 2017

History is not just a list of dates and events. But history taught well is vibrant, relevant, and engaging. And nothing brings history to life like primary sources that give students a close-up look at history as it unfolded.

Gale and Smithsonian have partnered to deliver an online resource that includes unique and seminal primary sources, including documents, maps, historical objects, and other materials from the museums and archives from the collections of the Smithsonian and from Gale’s leading digital collections: Smithsonian Primary Sources in U.S. History.

Designed for use by both teachers and librarians, this resource from Gale supports core and Advanced Placement U.S. history programs. Primary source images are hand-curated by scholars at the Smithsonian – experts who have a unique knowledge of U.S. history as seen through the Smithsonian’s valuable collections and shaped for the school curriculum by an advisory board of teachers.

See how a reviewer feels about the collection of Primary Sources:

Hidden No Longer

January 13, 2017

By Debra Kirby

Sometimes it takes a critically acclaimed movie to shine a light on extraordinary achievements. This has proved to be especially true when the subjects of those achievements are women or members of minorities. The movie Hidden Figures, based on a book of the same name, has recently generated interest in three African American women who played important roles in the U.S. Apollo Space Program. As is often the case, once you start digging into the details around historic events or people, you discover many related interesting facts and stories. When your sources include Gale databases you can spend hours exploring and learning.

Here are some of the facts I found when I began my journey to learn more about Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—the fascinating women whose stories are told in Hidden Figures.

Katherine Johnson began her career as a “human computer” at the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), NASA’s predecessor. Before the age of electronic computers, NACA employed hundreds of women mathematicians as human computers. Men with similar qualifications were classified as professionals; women were sub-professionals. Black mathematicians were segregated in their own office and loaned out to various divisions as needed. (Read more about Johnson in Biography In Context.)