Grades 3-6. Introduces students to archives, primary sources, and secondary sources. This flexible unit includes nine lessons in which students document their own learning experiences by creating, describing, and organizing primary sources. Each student’s personal papers are aggregated into a class archive that is then described in a mock finding aid.

Archival Education
Learning About and Creating Student Archives
November 1, 2021
By: Marissa Vassari
Tags

Education Program Manager, Rockefeller Archive Center
Explore Further

Environment
Global Engagement
Science & Innovation
The Birth of International Agricultural Research Institutes in the Mid-20th Century
Rockefeller Foundation agriculture programs begun in Mexico achieved global reach through four major research institutes. Building them was the result of partnership.

Race & Social Justice
“Without Distinction of Race, Sex, or Creed”: The General Education Board, 1903-1964
In the early 20th century, the General Education Board was devoted to the cause of improving education throughout the United States, without distinction of race, sex, or creed.

Issues in Philanthropy
Science & Innovation
Social Sciences
The Rockefeller Foundation’s Role in Creating the Atomic Bomb
In the aftermath, Foundation staff struggled to rectify their organization’s involvement with this weapon of mass destruction.

Issues in Philanthropy
Success and Failure in Community-Based Healthcare: The East Harlem Health Center
An innovative nursing program gathered crucial data and brought healthcare to needy families, but ultimately lost its way.

Archival Education
From Dream to Reality: Building the Hale Telescope Primary Source STEAM Workshop
Grades 8-12. This project describes to students the great hurdle in the Hale Telescope’s construction: successfully transporting the 40-ton, 200-inch mirror and its packing materials from upstate New York to the top of Palomar Mountain in southern California. Documents include shipping manifests, conversations regarding the movement of the mirror, and photographic documentation of the mirror’s…