For Educators
What are Primary Sources?
Primary sources are original historical items that have survived from a previous time period. Examples include historical maps, letters, diaries, pictures, paintings, material culture (such as clothing, furniture, toys, etc.), public documents, audio and video (oral histories), historical music scores, etc.
Lesson Plans
Lesson plans are in PDF file format.
- The Struggle for Racial Equality by Alisa Henderson
- A Changing Nation: Victory or Death-Mexican-American War by Nancy Bonds
- What Was on the Menu? - An Elementary Look at Culinary Culture by Jennifer Brandon
- The Great Depression by Brooke Britt
- Writing Using Primary Resources - Reconstruction Era by Leslie Crabtree
- Map Making, Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820) by Rex Crabree
- U.S. Government, Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820) by Beth Deere
- The Cotton Industry in Tennessee by Michael Frazier
- Magna Carta by Patricia Garman
- Women's Voting Rights by Brenda Gibson
- Learning a New Environment by Angie Hamilton
- Hardships of the Civil War by Danae Hertlein
- Tennessee and the 19th Amendment by Kelly Keen
- Airplanes and the Famous Flight of Charles Lindbergh by Diane Knowles
- Prohibition Era Through Its Documents, Day One by Rob Kuban
- Prohibition Era Through Its Documents, Day Two by Josh Landers
- Alpine and the New Deal by Jamie Lane
- WWII / Iraqi War Rationing Campaign by Michael Laviano
- Spanish American War by Barbara Marks
- Civil War, Using Drummer Boy of Shiloh Sheet Music by Susan Price
- On the Trail of Tears by Carol Roberts
- Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. by Patresa Rogers
- The Great Depression, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) by Liz Shugart
- Civil War Bumper Sticker and Public Opinion by Cynthia Slatton
- Appalachian Culture in Tennessee by Joy Wooden
Method Plans
- Social Studies through Art by Tracey Cannon
- "My Heritage" Notebook by Julie Debusk
- The Roaring Twenties by Melanie Douglas
- Tennessee History/Government, Tennessee State Seal by Pam Ervin
- Let Me Tell You About Tennessee by Brent Estes
- ABC's Books by Julie Habenicht
- Discovering Quilts by Asia Kanable
Thematic Collections
East Tennessee Historical Society, Teaching Tennessee History: Lesson Plans for the Classroom
- The War Within A War: The Hidden Stories of the Civil War's Impact on Tennessee (Volume II, 2001 Teachers History Institute)
- Facing Change: The Impact of the New Deal and World War II on East Tennessee (Volume III, 2002 Teachers History Institute)
- Teaching Appalachia: Image and Reality of Appalachian Culture (Volume IV, 2003 Teachers History Institute)
- Cultures in Conflict: The Revolutionary Era and the Cherokee Frontier (Volume V, 2004 Teachers History Institute)
- Making History Personal: Family and Local History in the Classroom (Volume VII, 2006 Teachers History Institute)
- Voices of Opportunity: Industrialization Comes to Tennessee (Volume VIII, 2007 Teachers History Institute)
