Background/Context: While much has been written about the history of immigration and naturalization in the United States, few scholars have looked at the history of citizenship education and testing. The small body of literature on the subject has primarily focused on World War I-era Americanization efforts and, as such, has excluded later…

Early in 1933, shortly after the election of President Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. Senate Banking and Currency Committee began receiving hundreds of letters from concerned Americans. They were closely watching the committee's efforts to find and fix the causes of the Great Depression that had consumed the nation for more than three years. This…

The purpose of this study was to follow six middle and high school TAH teachers and study their understanding and manifestations of the aims of the grant. Currently, there are few dissertations about the TAH program and none that address it as a qualitative study. This study focused on the ways that teachers experienced the grant including four…

When Americans from the eastern part of the United States began moving west in large numbers in the mid-nineteenth century, tensions escalated and conflicts erupted between and among settlers, railroad workers, ranchers, the United States military, and numerous Native American tribes. Incorporating balanced consideration of these diverse and…

Every year, thousands of history teachers nationwide stand before their students describing the evils of using an open source encyclopedia for research projects. The teachers warn of lower grades and a general unfulfilled life for any student who uses Wikipedia in a research bibliography. Yet those same students who listen to the fiery words and…

Digital history refers to "the study of the past using a variety of electronically reproduced primary source texts, images, and artifacts as well as the constructed narratives, accounts, or presentations that result from digital historical inquiry." Access to digitized primary sources can promote active instruction in historical thinking. A…

This article explores the politics of literacy in late colonial Sudan. Drawing upon hitherto untapped archival sources in English and Arabic, it focuses on two key questions: What were the purposes and uses of literacy in the eyes of colonial authorities? What means were used to spread literacy skills among Sudanese people? Positioning these…

In an attempt to increase college history majors' ability to analyze primary sources, the author set up a unique research project designed to tap into his students' personal interests, and which would utilize a specific method requiring them to grapple with primary source materials in an unfamiliar, though hopefully more profitable fashion. The…

While historical fiction by Jean Fritz as well as titles like Robert Lawson's "Ben and Me" (1939) or "Mr. Revere and I" (1954) and Esther Forbes's "Johnny Tremain" (1943) are widely known classics that bring this period to life, recent years have yielded a wealth of new offerings--many of which are accessible picture books or read-alouds. These…

What is the value or perceived necessity--for an Indian or for a white man--of changing Northern Cheyenne history? How are a reader's conclusions affected by her perception of the race of the person altering that history? Why is it acceptable to sell but not tell American Indian history? An examination of the visual and discursive rhetoric of "The…

This study discusses the representation of (the) literacy (myth) in popular movies and a teaching and research project on cinematic literacy narratives. It attempts to reveal the existence of a powerful 'Pygmalion template' in contemporary movie culture. Focusing on a discourse or culture clash 'Pygmalion movies' simultaneously contribute to the…

History teachers are faced with an impossible dilemma. Voices from every corner urge them to use primary sources. Sources, teachers are told, are to history what the laboratory is to science: the place where the subject becomes most vital. At the same time, any teacher who has used sources knows the many obstacles. Using sources to make history…

The 2009 database marketplace is bounded by two extremes: massive digitization projects to increase access, and retrenchment owing to budget worries. Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world's libraries and…

To make sure the details of Guantanamo endure, Mark P. Denbeaux and some colleagues are creating a Guantanamo Bay Detention Center archive. It will be a repository of the records and first-person accounts of hundreds of defense lawyers who have worked on detainee cases. With the fate of many detainees still in limbo--the Obama administration is…

This project plays upon technology and an innovative way to research history -- the use of online primary source data that highlight the history of women in volunteer and reform organizations, education, the arts, the workplace, and private lives. Using an archival database from the Lycoming County Women's History collection, this curriculum…