Sources in US History Online

1. Sources in US History Online History at your Students’ Fingertips!

2. What are Primary Sources & why are they important to High School Libraries? • What are primary sources? • Books/Monographs, Newspapers, Government Reports, Unpublished Manuscripts &Private” papers of key individuals • Sermons, speeches and public proclamations • Provides the “evidence” to history and culture • History in the First Person– as viewed by those who lived it • Illuminates underrepresented populations, themes and events • Captures period, place, community and mindset • The un-interpreted past: history the official record, left out • A private view of history – tells how people feel, shows multiple points of view • Primary Sources – Perfect for High Schools • Creates a genuine primary source document environment • Encourages students to develop their own ideas and opinions about history • Brings history to life in a way textbooks cannot • Perfect for AP courses, preparing students for research in a university setting • Ideal for Homework/Curriculum development • Increased requirement for “research paper”, furthers creativity and originality • Allows teachers to use other kinds of resources for teaching

3. Available Now! Slavery in America Civil War in America American Revolution Sources in U.S. History Online These “History Topics” are current now!

4. What is Sources in U.S. History Online? • A new approach to serving students’ and teachers’ interest areas: • Topically focused, digital primary source collections • Designed for students and teachers in high schools and community colleges • Devoted to topics in American Studies • History, Social Studies, Government, African Americans, Religion, Literature, Patriotism, Battles, Civil Rights, Family • Affordable, user-friendly, visually attractive • Makes Gale’s most prestigious assets accessible to broader audience • Enhances value of library’s reference and periodical investments • Each contains approx 75,000-95,000 pages from ~500 works • Adapted to make research easy for non-researchers: • Thematic outlines • Contextual Essays • Subject Indexing • Pre-Configured Searches

5. Full text Search Basic Search Advanced Search Proximity Search Fuzzy Search Browse Authors Titles Subjects Core features Hit Term highlighting Scale pages Bookmarks E Table of Contents Print & Email Usage Report Help Screens Full power – but right-sized for your library

6. Improved User Interface • Less like work, more like play!: feels like a web site vs. database • Easy navigation between documents and the information related to that document • Several ways to access documents: through the key subjects, through browse, or through traditional searches • Excellent feedback from high school and undergraduate instructors & students

7. Screen split into 3 ‘activity focused’ areas Document Pane Task Pane Photographs promote ‘instant interest’ Navigation Pane

8. Enhanced Context: Spotlight Essays Helps teach the research process From visual… …to essay ….to sample searches

9. Enhanced Context • Table of contents • Created by leading scholars • Links to essays • Essays link to specific documents in collection • Context enhances: • students’ understanding • documents relevance • Usage and usefulness

10. Improved Navigation • Subject indexing helps suggest & build ‘automatic’ searches • Visual Navigation bar brings subject to life

11. Slavery - the defining issue in American history • Highly regional: • From slave states in south… • To industrial north • To abolition centers • Highly personal • 4 million slaves in 1860 are the ‘family history of 36 million African Americans today’* • Highly current: • Over 28 million people in slavery today** • Race relations at the heart of current debates • Essential to curriculum in U.S. History and AP courses *US Census Report **National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

12. Introduction:Vernon Burton (U of Illinois) I The Transatlantic Slave Trade The Slave Trade Slavery in the Caribbean II Antebellum Plantation Life Free Blacks Legal Aspects Other Manifestations of Slavery Slave Narratives Frederick Douglas Insurrections III Build up to War Abolition Colonization Proslavery Arguments Antislavery Arguments Slavery’s Expansion Fugitive Slaves The Opening Violence IV War Abraham Lincoln The Civil War Emancipation Black Soldiers V Slavery in Arts and Literature Uncle Tom’s Cabin Other Fiction Poems, Songs and Plays Outline and Essays—Slavery in America

13. Document types: Personal narratives Pamphlets Political Addresses & speeches Monographs Sermons Plays, songs, poetic and fictional works published between the 17th and late 19th centuries. More than 500 documents for 75,000 pages Sources come from Sabin American and the Anti-Slavery collection at Oberlin College Types of works

14. Sample Searches • Searches are taken from AP syllabi: Search: Missouri Compromise = 81 results Search: Wilmot Proviso = 32 results Search: Fugitive Slave Laws = 113 results Search: Underground Railroads = 39 results Search: Dred Scott = 50 results • Not overwhelming for the average user and student- perfect for assignments. Brings students out of the spoon-fed environment, enabling them to form their own ideas and opinions. • Titles hand selected by scholars for relevance.

15. The Civil War • More than 400 documents for 80,000 pages • Sources come from Sabin Americana and other Gale Digital Collections • Editor: Professor Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School • The Most researched and written-about topic in US History • Monuments and Battlefields in almost every state

16. I Armies and Combatants Conscription Law Battles Armies Soldiers Black Troops Navy and Naval Operations II Art of Warfare Tactics and Military Training Military Technology III Leadership Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) George B. McClellan (1826-1885) Philip Sheridan (1831-1888) George B. McClellan (1826-1885) William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891 Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) Thomas ‘Stonewall” Jackson (1824-1863) IV Beyond the Battlefield Prisoners and Jailed Civilians Medical Spies Sanitary Commission Religion Soldiers’ Obituaries V Government and Foreign Policy Law Foreign Relations British View of the War Secession Emancipation VI Home Front Election of 1860 Election of 1864 Civilian Life Sermons of the War Outline and Essays—Civil War VII Literary Genres Histories and Chronologies Reminiscences Post 1880 Children’s Histories and Biographies

17. Sample Searches—Civil War • Experience of soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg (1-3 July1863) • Standard searches: • Search: Gettysburg = 119 results • Search: killed at Gettysburg = 14 results • Search: killed n7 Gettysburg = 17 results • Diplomatic crisis: The Trent Affair • Search: Trent affair = 18 results • Leadership: Confederate field commander Stonewall Jackson • Search "Stonewall Jackson" = 77 results; • Search Stonewall Jackson + Manassas = 51 results • Search Stonewall Jackson + Chancellorsville = 33 results

18. The American Revolution • Nearly 500 documents or 93,000 pages • Sources come from Sabin Americana and other Gale Digital Collections • Editor: Professor Katherine A. Hermés at Central Connecticut State University.

19. I Leadership British Military Leaders American Military Leaders British Politicians American Politicians II Military Affairs Land Campaigns and Battles Naval Campaigns and Battles Soldiers III Political Debate Taxation Empire The Right to Rebel Loyalism Seeking Peace IV Government Colonial Policy The Continental Congress State Governments Foreign Affairs V Society and Culture Economy Religion Slavery and Race Indian Relations Women Arts and Ideas VI Histories and Reference Works Legislative Documents and Journals Collected Writings of Major Figures Contemporary Reference Works History Biography VII Letters and Memoirs Military Memoirs and Narratives Civilian Memoirs and Narratives Personal and Official Correspondences Outline and Essays—American Revolution

20. Sample Searches—Civil War • Search: George Washington = 71 results • Search: militia = 245 results • Search: Boston Massacre = 15 results • Search: taxation = 204 results Search: Yorktown = 80 results Search: Loyalist = 48 results Search: Bunker Hill = 99 results Search: Patriot = 183 results