Teaching with Primary Sources at Maryland Humanities

Maryland Humanities is proud to produce educational content for K-12 educators through funding from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program. The mission of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program is to: build awareness of the Library’s educational initiatives; provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the Library’s resources; and offer access to and promote sustained use of the Library’s educational resources. The Library achieves this mission through collaborations between the Library and the K‐12 educational community across the United States. The program contributes to the quality of education by helping teachers use the Library’s digitized primary sources to engage students, develop their critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.

Learn more about the Library’s TPS program and other resources available to teachers at www.loc.gov/teachers.

Teaching with Primary Sources: Inquiry Kits

A partnership between Maryland Humanities, Maryland Public Television, and the Maryland State Department of Education, funded by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, the American History, World History, and Government collections of inquiry kits allow students to select a research topic of interest and evaluate themed primary sources from the Library of Congress. From early cultures to the modern-day role of the United States, the inquiry kits examine social studies/history themes and align with Maryland curriculum units.  Inquiry Kits are great for use in classroom activities, or as starter kits for History Day projects!

Thinkport Inquiry Kits Teacher Tutorial

Thinkport Inquiry Kits for History Day Students

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Professional Development Opportunities

Maryland Humanities staff members are available to provide free professional development and student outreach related to Teaching with Primary Sources and Teaching with Primary Sources Inquiry Kits, in addition to providing Maryland History Day support.

Sign up for Professional Development
Sign up for Student Outreach

Meet the people who make this project possible!

Stephanie Boyle, Program Officer, Maryland Humanities

Lia Atanat, TPS Coordinator, Maryland Humanities

Karla Thompson, TPS Coordinator, Maryland Public Television

Leah Renzi, MSDE Coordinator of Social Studies

Teacher Researchers: Tom Crise, Anne Cook, Ann Morgan, Leah Olsen, Nancy Perlman, Randy Martinson, Jessica Western

Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.