Primary Source Workshops
Where students become history detectives!
Using artifact analysis guided questions, students work in teams or as a class analyzing groups of primary source documents and other artifacts to develop their historical thinking skills.
Grades 4-7
Primary Source Workshop: History Detectives Program
For students in grades 4-7, we emphasize what primary sources are and teach students how to develop their historical thinking skills through their analysis. Themes include “Whaling” or “Life in a Seaport Town.”
Grades 8-12
Primary Source Workshop 1: The Curator’s Challenge
In this workshop, students work in teams to design an exhibit using historical objects. Students develop their historical thinking skills as they make decisions about what objects to include in the exhibit and what stories they tell. Each team presents their exhibit at the end of the program. Themes include “Whaling” and/or “The Charles W. Morgan,” “Collections Sampler: Objects from General Maritime History,” “The Changing Perceptions of Whales” and “Immigration: The Voyage to America.”
Primary Source Workshop 2: Arctic Mystery
Students become historian detectives as they unravel the clues found on two Museum objects. Collections staff will guide students through the workshop, encouraging participants to think like historians, read closely, source materials and weigh the evidence presented. This workshop serves as an introduction to the inquiry process and other methods historians use to understand primary sources.