Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.
The Library of Congress
- The Learning Page – Her Story
This primary source set includes images, sound files, song sheets, political cartoons and maps and charts to help teach about women's suffrage in America.
National Archives
From Teaching With Documents:
- Petition of Amelia Bloomer Regarding Suffrage in the West
- Little House in the Census - Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
- An Act of Courage, The Arrest Records of Rosa Parks
From Featured Documents:
National Gallery of Art
- Judith Leyster - Who Am I? Self-Portraits in Art and Writing
For a woman living in the seventeenth century, Judith Leyster was remarkable. She was a successful artist, one of the few women who joined the painters' guild in her city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. - Teaching Art Since 1950 (PDF)
-Includes artists Eva Hesse, Susan Rothenberg, Louise Bourgeois, and Elizabeth Murray - Picturing France, 1830–1900 (PDF)
-Includes artists Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt - Painting in the Dutch Golden Age: A Profile of the Seventeenth Century (PDF)
-Includes artist Judith Leyster
For Kids
- Inside Scoop: Georgia O'Keeffe (PDF)
“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.” -Georgia O'Keeffe
American artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) is known for her paintings of flowers, bones, shells, stones, leaves, trees, mountains, and other natural forms. - Inside Scoop: Mary Cassatt (PDF)
“I have had a joy from which no one can rob me —I have been able to touch some people with my art.” -Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt (1844 – 1926) is best known for her portrayals of mothers and children. She became a successful professional artist at a time when it was very difficult for a woman to do so. - Inside Scoop: Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun (PDF)
Vigée-LeBrun was one of late-eighteenth-century France’s most successful portrait painters—often she had a waiting list! Why was she so popular? Because Vigée-LeBrun pleased her clients by making them look attractive, with graceful poses and happy expressions. - Louise Bourgeois, Spider, “Lizzy & Gordon Visit the Sculpture Garden”
Louise Bourgeois created this giant spider sculpture to represent her mother (who died when she was 21). That might seem weird (if you love your mother and are afraid of spiders), but to Louise, a spider represents a powerful, yet delicate protectress. Also, her mother ran a tapestry repair business where she wove fabric like a spider spinning a web.
National Park Service
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