SAA Dictionary: archival silence
n. a gap in the historical record resulting from the unintentional or purposeful absence or distortion of documentation
Primary Sources
TeachArchives.org
Based on an award-winning project at Brooklyn Historical Society, TeachArchives.org shares our teaching philosophy and findings with a global audience of instructors, administrators, librarians, archivists, and museum educators. Use this site to teach students ranging from middle school to graduate school.
Ethically Teaching Primary Sources that Reflect Histories of Violence, Hate, and Oppression
Because teaching with primary sources that reflect difficult and violent histories can be demanding for both students and instructors, we take a more holistic approach to ethically teaching primary sources. The suggestions are student-centered and include a reflection component for special collections and archival instructors. Do consider the preparation time required and intellectual/emotional labor, as well as the breadth of your holdings, and then select the suggestions that suit your individual needs and instruction session best.
Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy
One page version of the SAA Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy
Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy | Society of American Archivists
These guidelines articulate the range of knowledge, skills, and abilities required to effectively use primary sources. While the primary audience for this document is librarians, archivists, teaching faculty, and others working with college and university students, the guidelines have been written to be sufficiently flexible for use in K-12 and in general public settings as well. The guidelines articulate crucial skills for navigating the complexity of primary sources and codify best practices for utilizing these materials.
Teaching with Primary Sources Collective
The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Collective is an online hub that brings together resources, professional development and support for those who teach with primary sources, including librarians, archivists, teachers, cultural heritage professionals, and anyone who has an interest in using primary sources in an educational setting. (primary audience is university level)
Digital Public Library of America
DPLA works with a national network of partners to make millions of materials from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions across the country available to all in a one-stop discovery experience.
Flickr: The Commons
Since launching in 2008 with the Library of Congress, the Flickr Commons has been sharing hidden treasures from the world’s photography archives, with over 100 members.
Internet Archive: Free Movies, Music, Books & Wayback Machine
Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 150 billion archived web pages. The Internet Archive was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. The Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and is working to provide specialized services relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities.
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project, digital archive of video oral histories of Japanese-Americans incarcerated or interned during World War II
National Archives Experience
The New York State Digital Collections
The Digital Collections provide a gateway to a variety of rich primary source materials held by the State Archives, State Library, and State Museum. Through the collection, you can access photographs, textual materials, artifacts, government documents, manuscripts, and other materials.
Volunteer Voices
Volunteer Voices is a statewide digitization program that provides online access to sources that document Tennessee’s rich history and culture. This program involves the collaborative efforts of Tennessee archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and schools. The initial Volunteer Voices digitization project, “The Growth of Democracy in Tennessee,” will build a collection of 10,000 historically significant photographs, letters, artifacts, and other items from across the state. This project is funded by a three-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.