Presents a lesson plan which shows how to integrate primary source material gathered during a field trip to a local historical society into a history or social studies class. Includes primary source material from an 1825 diary and a list of discussion questions. (JDH)

This article describes the modern-day equivalent prices of items Captain John Smith required for colonists traveling from England to Virginia in 1624. Includes information on wages and cost of living in 1624 and today in the United States. Concludes that the colonists paid a high price for traveling to the New World. (JDH)

In this activity high school students read and discuss a letter written by a fugitive slave in England asking Britons not to be misled by a statement made by a clergyman claiming that the American federal government was not responsible for slavery, that it was the individual states that were at fault. (RM)

Describes a living history museum called Old Sturbridge Village, located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Includes samples of student's work, a description of the three-week teacher inservice program on social history, and original source material on the day-to-day lives of the Pliny Freeman family during the late 1700s and early 1800s. (JDH)

Illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of oral histories through an oral history assignment that helps students understand the impact of the Vietnam War on the "Vietnam generation." Suggests introductory materials and lists exemplar interview questions for students to use in interviewing soldiers who were on active duty and those who…

Provides a strategy to enhance student understanding of the ambience of a decade by having them research the relationship between events of the 1970s; society's attitudes; and the country's mood in general. Student groups prepare and present research papers, which are used as discussion topics. (LS)