Primary Sources Activity 4:

Gathering Primary Sources

We all generate a lot of things that could be important someday--whether to historians, our descendents, or to us. These items are being collected and preserved by more and more people. This is evidenced by the increased interest in scrapbooking. Many people are even creating virtual scrapbooks.

• Activity A: Small group and whole group discussions
  
  • What are the advantages of digitizing our primary sources?
  • What are the disadvantages?
  • Make a list of the primary sources you have generated in the last month.
  • Which of these primary sources do you think it is important to keep. Why did you choose these items?
  • Which items can you definitely throw away? Why did you choose these items?
  • Can you think of some examples of individuals who should throw very little away?
    
  
  
• Activity B: Gathering and working with primary sources.
  
  • We will use technology tools such as scanners, digital cameras, and video editing software to digitize your primary source.
• Use digitized primary source to create a digital scrapbook page that can be framed or placed in a scrapbook in addition to being saved digitally.