1. What are historical records?

Historical records are the raw materials of history. The words "historical records" make many people think of the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, or a letter from Theodore Roosevelt. Certainly these are important historical records, but they are not the only valuable ones.

There are many other kinds of information created by groups, individuals and organizations that have enduring value. They may include written documents such as wills, tax assessment records, letters, military service records, birth records. Visual resources such as photographs, maps, posters, films, architectural drawings. With growing use of the computer, they might be automated databases of marriages, crime statistics, computerized maps.

Historical records can be 300 years old or created today. All historical records contain useful information about people, places, events, subjects --information that people need or can use in accomplishing their daily activities.

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2. Why do teachers use historical records?
They:

• provide teachers a way to introduce students of the present to people of the past.
  
• give teachers a way to include a laboratory experience in their discipline.
  
• provide teachers a resource to encourage conceptual learning and higher order thinking skills in students.
  
• help teachers meet important educational objectives as good teaching tools.
  
• are fun for teachers because each year students:
  • bring new perspectives,
  • raise unanticipated and fascinating questions, and
  • respond differently to the same records used the previous year.
    

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3. Where can teachers find historical records?

• In New York, there are approximately 2,500 historical records repositories and 4,400 local governments (counties, towns, cities, villages, fire districts, school districts) which are sources of historical records.
  
  
  • Personal Historical Records: driver's licenses, birth certificates, social security cards, tax returns, photographs, report cards, drawings, postcards, scrapbooks, diaries, political paraphernalia.
    
  • Schools: old attendance records, school rules, photographs, blueprints, yearbooks, literary magazines, school newspapers, videotaped performances, award certificates, board of education meeting minutes.
    
  • Communities: local libraries, historical societies, universities, museums, churches, businesses, local governments, state agencies, local chambers of commerce, charitable organizations, unions, veteran groups.
    

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4. How do historical records enhance learning and skill development?

• Teaching with historical records is a pedagogically sound method to advance cognitive and affective learning and build skills.
• By clustering interpretive and analytical activities around historical records, teachers discover that they have not added to their already full curriculum, but simply enhanced it.
  

Example: If the Civil War is a curriculum component, activities using a letter, broadside, muster roll, photograph, piece of sheet music, or discharge paper, will advance students’ knowledge of the Civil War while developing critical thinking skills.

• When using historical records, students learn to:
  • interpret, clarify, analyze, evaluate
  • recognize point of view and bias
  • identify contradictions
  • determine what is accepted as fact and what is rejected as fiction or unsubstantiated in a historical record
  • draw conclusions
    
  • analyze raw data showing cause and effect
    
  • weigh generalizations and historical theories presented in textbooks, reference materials and television programs while recognizing their limitations
    
  • recognize potential for multiple interpretations
    
  • recognize their own frames of reference and contemporary viewpoints which color their interpretations
    
  • develop confidence in their ability to acquire knowledge

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5. How do historical records fit into the classroom?

 

Historical Records:

• are interdisciplinary and can be used effectively in history and across the curriculum
  
• can be used to enhance skill development and teach core subjects:
  • as a motivational exercise at beginning of lesson
    
  • an evaluative exercise at beginning or end of lesson
    
  • dropped into lesson to make a point clear
    
  • the focus of entire lesson or unit
    
• provide vital, engaging way to integrate learning-centered activities
• provide ideal vehicle for encouraging community collaborations and parental participation
  
• from student’s own community, can make State and national history more understandable and illustrate impact of state and national events on real people
  
• are stimulating for teachers, educationally sound for students and support national and State education goals.
  

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6. How do teachers find historical records for classroom use?

 

1. Decide where in the curriculum historical records can be used:

• identify places where local or regional examples complement existing lessons
  
• create list of research subjects

2. Identify repositories. For assistance, contact:

• reference staff of a local library and check the Historic Documents Inventory (HDI Guides) which are organized by county. HDI Guides may be accessed via interlibrary loan or Internet at the New York State Archives’ web site [search on Excelsior]
  
• county or local historical societies
  
• municipal historians
  
• regional archives
  
• museums
  
• universities
  
  

3. Contact repositories:

• Contact the repositories that may have needed records.
  
• Identify, for repository staff, major themes emphasized in the classroom.
  
• Ask:
  
  • When is the repository open to the public?
    
  • Are there finding aids, catalogs, or indexes to the records? Is it possible to obtain copies of finding aids in advance of the visit?
    
  • Are copying facilities available? If so, what fees are charged?
    
    

4. Work with reference staff to identify records that might be useful:

• Make it clear to reference staff that a specific item is not necessary, but records representing certain themes or subjects are most useful.
  
  

5. Review finding aids:

• Locating historical records is quite different from finding a book in a library:
  • Records are generally kept in a locked storage area and not available for researchers to retrieve or browse through on their own.
  • Historical records are kept together in the way they were created by a person or organization; they are not generally treated as individual items.
  • It is helpful to look over the finding aid to determine if there are specific parts of the records that would be useful, or if the whole group of records needs to be reviewed.
    
    

6. Handle historical records carefully:

• Historical records are one-of-a-kind items which require special conditions for research and handling.
• Most repositories inform researchers of special rules for using their resources.
  

 

7. Identify teachable and useable records:

• Is the record readable? Will a transcription be necessary? [sample transcription]
  
• Are the contents of the record appropriate for the classroom?
  
• Is the length of the record appropriate? How much of the record is useable?
  
• What is the level of difficulty of the record? Is it appropriate for the classroom?
  
• What materials or activities will motivate students to use this record?
  
• How does the record relate to content and skills objectives of the curriculum?
  
• Is the historical record interesting and compelling?
  
  

 

8. Questions to ask staff about photocopying:

• Is there a photocopying request form?
  
• What are the copying fees?
  
• Is there a microfilm reader/printer available for use?
  
• Does repository allow photographing of documents? Is there a photo stand available for use by researchers?
  
• Are scanners and other technological equipment permitted or is this service provided for you?
  
  NOTE: Once the copy of the document is in hand, make a complete citation of the location of the original on the back of the copy.
  
  

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7. How do teachers bring historical records into the classroom?

 

There are a number of ways for teachers to bring historical records to their students:

• Teachers may decide to conduct historical record searches themselves.
• Some historical organizations have educational outreach programs and staff who are willing to make a presentation on site.
• Published documentary teaching materials help by saving time and making a wider variety of historical record facsimiles available to teachers.
• Contact regional historical organizations for information about their publications.
• Search the Internet for appropriate web sites. Many sites contain scanned copies of historical records and educational activities. [Try starting with New York State Archives, National Archives and Library of Congress.]

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8. Historical Records in the Classroom

 

Adapt records to the class and curriculum, not the other way around:

 

Tips:

• Take care of original copies of historical records:
  • set aside a master copy
  • generate classroom copies from the master
  • organize master copies in folders or binders for safekeeping
• The way a historical record is presented to students may vary. They can be:
  
  • enlarged to be legible or for detail to emerge
    
  • projected as a slide or transparency
    
  • scanned onto electronic media, making them accessible on computers
• The same historical record may serve many age levels, many instructional units, many different abilities.
• Pull what is useful. This might include one image from a photograph or one sentence from a written historical record.
  

Considerations:

• Handwritten historical records can be difficult to read and require close attention.
  
• Terminology used in older records can prove difficult because of changes in word use and lack of standardized spelling.
• Whenever possible students should work with historical records because it is important for students to master the skill of interpreting information from them.
  
• Students need to consider the type of record they are looking at, who created it, when and for what purpose. [The worksheet Introduction to Historical Records is useful for getting students to really look at and think about historical records.]
• Encourage students to perform research in repositories to give them valuable, practical experience they can use in their adult lives such as:
  
  • preparing taxes
    
  • performance of duties of an executor
  • satisfying questions about the property on which they live

Lesson Evaluation Techniques and Suggestions:

Historical records lend themselves to evaluation, both on the outset of a unit of study, when they may help a teacher determine what students have already mastered, and at the end of a unit, as a culminating activity.

• Target the skills and content of historical records lessons were designed to impart.
  
• Have students demonstrate understanding by means of essay questions and research papers.
  
• Other evaluation suggestions:
  
  • short answer questions
    
  • portfolios
    
  • journals
    
  • projects such as exhibits, audio and video productions
    
  • multimedia productions
    
  • web sites
    
  • performances
    
  • posters
    
  • murals
    
  • model building
    
  • illustrated time lines
    
  • poetry
    
  • creative writing
  • role playing games
    
    

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9. Document-Based Questions (DBQs)

Document-based questions are for all students, from elementary school through high school. They prepare students to compare and contrast particular issues by:

• considering multiple perspectives
• reconciling differing positions
• evaluating the strength of particular arguments
• providing authentic opportunities at a high level of thinking
• developing skills

Traditional document-based questions require students to interpret historical records and express their understanding effectively through well-written essays.

Additional uses for DBQs:

• K-3 teachers can assess their pupils’ abilities to draw information from a photograph or written record on a worksheet or through class discussion.
• 4-6 teachers can present a group of historical records to a class with questions designed to introduce a unit of study.
  
• Middle and high school teachers can hand out a single document and ask students to relate it to their previous night’s reading assignment.
• Take-home document-based evaluation allows students and teachers to break away from the usual essay format in favor of a lengthier, more developed piece of writing, based on a wider array of research.
• Document-based questions can also be part of a more involved performance task, which may include the production of work other than essays and may include a display of student work and discussion of student analysis and evaluation of the document(s).
  
  

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