Social Studies/History Teacher Workshop for Using Chronicling America in the Classroom

Vermont Digital Newspaper Project

Part of the National Digital Newspaper Program

Digitizing historic Vermont newspapers between 1836-1922

Vermont Content Online: • 59 Vermont titles • 260,000 pages• Every county

represented (except Grand Isle)

Online tool to search historic newspapers from across the country.

8 million pages from 1836-1922 available to search by text.

You can search, save, download, print, and clip articles for free.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

Historical perspectives on international, national and local themes, events, and topics.

News as it happened, as it was perceived. Culture and times!

Content-specific vocabulary & nonfiction, primary source reading experience.(Great for the Common Core!)

Easy to use! Brings a historical primary source to the modern audience with modern tools.

Essex County Herald., February 05, 1915, Image 5

• Offered through the National Endowment for the Humanities

• Nation-level prize in Junior and Senior divisions

• Awarded to an outstanding entry in any category that utilizes Chronicling America newspaper resources

Last Year’s Winners

Edsitement! edsitement.neh.gov Another

great website for teachers!

library.uvm.edu/vtnp

Vermont-specific Content:

Vermont Digital Newspaper Project Website:

library.uvm.edu/vtnp

Chronicling America:

Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

or

ChroniclingAmerica.com

We have an interactive Google

Map!

Vermont Digital Newspaper Project

Website

Educator Resource Page:

library.uvm.edu/vtnp/

• Downloadable lessons and activities.

• Links to other resources and lessons from other states.

• General Tutorial section

flickr.com/vtdp

pinterest.com/vtdnp

library.uvm.edu/vtnp

facebook.com/vtdnp

slideshare.net

Interactive map with newspaper mastheads!

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

Or search: “Chronicling

America”

Keyword searches Simple search Advanced search

All Digitized Newspapers

100 years ago Recommended Topics

Likely students will need to use only the simple search.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

We’ll learn two ways:

Simple Search

Advanced Search

Important: The search technology searches the newspaper text, so think

about historical language!

Pick a state or search all states.

Pick a year range or specific year.

Remember, years are between 1836-1922.

Enter a search word(s) here.

The Search Pages tool will scan the newspaper text to

find results.

1. Scroll down to find Vermont

2. Keep the year

range as it is

3. Type in a word of your choice. 4. Click on Go.

c

45,506 results!!

“Library” highlighted in

red on the newspaper

page.

The search tool searches the text to find the word/phrase you entered. In this case, “library.”

Click on these two buttons to zoom in and out. Or, scroll with your mouse or fingers.

Click on this to go to full screen.

This shows which page of the newspaper is shown. Shown here is page 3. Use the arrows to go from page to page.

Use these arrows to browse surrounding newspaper issues.

1. Zoom in to something you are interested in clipping.

2. Click on the scissor tool. 3. You can then print or save the image.

The red box shows

what will be clipped.

Hold down Ctrl to select

multiple states or newspapers!

James P. Taylor (1872-1949)

Founder of Green Mountain Club (1909)

Long Trail built between 1910-1930, oldest long-distance walking trail in the country.

Could do a project on Taylor or the Green Mountain Club

The Bennington Evening Banner., July 30, 1914,

Page 5

“In Vermont we are attempting to make the Green Mountains play a larger part in the life of the people by beginning a trail along the

Green Mountain Range.”

Try a simple search first, with keywords.

Could limit to Vermont, years 1900-1922.

Search words to try in combination, proximity, or as phrases:

Taylor, Long Trail, Green Mountain Club, J.P. Taylor, James Taylor.

1. Have students browse the news papers from across the country.

Possible directions to take the activity:

What was happening in the news?

Look for cultural trends.

How did the news differ from state to state?

State-specific news: what was happening in Vermont?

Common Core:

English Craft and Structure

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as

they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social

science.

1. Have students type in historic vocabulary words in the search box.

2. Results are highlighted in red. Students should try to determine the meaning of the word based on its context.

3. It may take more than one result to figure the meaning out!

4. Have students defend their meaning of the word by citing evidence in the text.

Words to try:

Abolition

Dry goods

Freight

Foundry

Icehouse

Moving Picture

Phonograph

Proprietor

Velocipede

Stage coach

Suffrage

Tavern

Teamster

Telegraph

Temperance

Vaudeville

• John Brown’s ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry, VA, took place on October 16-18, 1859.

• Brown and 20 others captured the armory with the intention to arm nearby slaves and begin an insurgency that would end slavery in the south.

• Brown and his men were cornered in the armory by militia and US Marines.

• Brown was soon defeated. Among the dead were two of Brown’s sons. John Brown was hanged in Virginia on December 2, 1859.

1. Have students enter the words “John Brown Harpers Ferry” in the search box, limiting the years between 1859 and 1861 (more/less years, depending on the spectrum). Students can also search by a specific state.

2. Students could divide up into North & South (or particular states) and argue perspectives found in the newspapers, or individually find and analyze examples of differing perspectives found in the papers.

Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), Oct. 20, 1859

Richmond, VA, Daily Dispatch response to the raid:

Burlington free press., February 10, 1860

Burlington, Vt., Burlington Free Press response:

• Local historic buildings

• Famous people

• Events

• Technology

• Culture

• Differing perspectives

Could be a good place for students to start.

Important National Events, People, Inventions, Cultural Trends

Includes: Important Dates

Suggested Search Terms

Sample Articles

Vermont-specific Topics in the works!

http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/

Hartness (1861-1934) was an inventor, astronomer, aviator, and VT Governor (1921-1923)

Built the first municipal landing

field in Vermont (1919)

Started first Vermont flight school in 1921.

President of the Aero Club of Vermont (1916).

Keywords: Hartness, aviation, James Hartness, aero, Governor Hartness.

Barre’s granite industry brought in Italian stone-cutters at the turn of the twentieth century.

Barre became a center of labor radicalism, anarchist ferment.

Luigi Galleani, one of the most notable anarchists, lived in Barrefrom 1903-1911.

Newspapers: Cronaca Sovversiva(Italian)

MLA:

Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Article Title." Newspaper Title Date of Publication: Pages. Name of Database. Web. Date of access.

Example:

"The Pioneer Shops." Burlington Weekly Free Press 9 April 1869: 1. Chronicling America. Web. 20 November 2014.

At the bottom of every newspaper page (great for keeping track of pages!):

This PowerPoint will be posted on our website and

available for download.

Contact us:

library.uvm.edu/vtnp

Erenst Anip, Project Librarian: [email protected]

Karyn Norwood, Digital Support: [email protected]

Phone: 802-656-0819