T EACHING
P RIMARY S OURCES —MTSU
N EWSLETTER : A PRIL 2015
V OLUME 7, I SSUE 4
WITH
WELCOME!
Teaching with Primary Sources—Middle Tennessee State University, administered by the
Center for Historic Preservation, engages learners of all ages in using primary sources to
explore major issues and questions in many different disciplines.
Contact: Stacey Graham or Kira Duke at (615) 898-2947 or www.mtsu.edu/tps
N EWS
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TPS-MTSU graduate research assistant Ethan Morris has created a new lesson plan,
“Songs of the Labor Movement,” which analyzes two specific songs (one by Pete
Seeger, one by Paul Robeson), then puts them into context against the larger background of the labor and civil rights movements. Includes PowerPoint, informational
worksheets, student worksheets, and answer keys.
2015 marks the last year of our Civil War Summer Institutes related to the Sesquicentennial commemoration. This year our theme is “Reconstruction,” and we’ll be
based in Greeneville, TN, where we’ll visit the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
and other places associated with the Reconstruction story. Spots are already filling up
fast, so please email your interest to Kira soon!
“A WESOME ” S OURCE
OF THE MONTH :
T HEME :
THE
E NVIRONMENT
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April
22, 1970, and is still going strong today (see
this blog and this blog). To coincide with
Earth Day, we are focusing on various environmental themes this month. Our lesson
ideas on human intervention, earthquakes,
animal habitats at zoos and aquariums, and
the role of U.S. presidents in conservation
will appeal to teachers in Science and Social
Studies, from grades 2 through 12.
[Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley, California]..
[1906]
How did Theodore Roosevelt’s outdoorsy
interests in hunting and hiking have an impact
on national policies towards wildlife and public parks?
U PCOMING E VENTS :
 April 30 (Knoxville) —
“Reconstruction Tennessee”
Workshop in partnership with
the Tennessee State Library and
Archives as part of the Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial
Signature Event in Knoxville,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST. To
register, email Kelly Wilkerson.
 June 16-17 (Knoxville) —
“Exploring the History of Labor
in the United States” at the East
Tennessee History Center from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST. Attendance required for both days.
To register, email Lisa Oakley.
 June 23-25 (Greeneville) —
Civil War Summer Institute:
Reconstruction. For more information and a complete agenda, click here. To register,
email Kira Duke.
 July 13-15 (Cookeville) —
World War I Summer Institute
in partnership with the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Registration information and a
complete agenda will be released in the coming weeks.
The history of the environmental movement
in the U.S. is one area of science-history
intersection in which the Library of Congress excels, with online collections and a
themed resource set for teachers to use.
Check out the “Important Links” box on p. 2
for more resources!
The national parks preserve wild life
[between 1936 and 1939]
Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does
not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.
N EWSLETTER : A PRIL 2015
P AGE 2
L ESSON I DEA – H UMAN I NTERVENTION
As shown in the image to the left, logging has been going on
in the United States for centuries. How are the logs used, and
how does this affect the environment? When you mow your
lawn or grow a vegetable garden in your backyard, is that
changing the environment in which we live? Is it harming it?
What about when you plant a tree for Earth Day? While it
might be too difficult or unrealistic to perfectly preserve a
landscape, there are things that we as humans can avoid doing
for the sake of our environment.
A log train in the virgin timbers.
Three to six logs usually constitute a
carload, sometimes a single log.
Washington [1935-1942]
Have your students brainstorm about other activities we do
that affect the landscape. Distribute
markers and large
pieces of paper or poster board. In pairs, instruct each
group of students to create an “Advantages and Disadvantages” chart for these activities. Encourage your students to illustrate their work or print off images from the
computer lab at your school. Each pair of students
should then present their work to the rest of the class.
What do all of the presentations have in common?
This lesson idea meets Tennessee state standards for
grades 9-12 Environmental Science (3260.2.8).
Spring planting in a project garden.
Coffee County, Alabama [1939]
L ESSON I DEA – E ARTHQUAKES
Important Links:
 Nature and the
Environment (themed
resource)
 Everyday Mysteries

The Debate Over
North Shore Road
(lesson activity)

Plant Travel: Studying
the World Through
Ecosystems (lesson
plan; elementary level
also available)

The Evolution of the
Conservation Movement
(collection)

Conservation and
Environment maps
American Environmental
Photographs, 1891-1936
(collection)


Earth Day: Selected
Resources

National Park Service
(Today in History)
An earthquake is caused by the release of energy from the movement of the Earth’s tectonics plates. The seismic energy released
can cause the ground to shake, ground displacement, landslides, tsunamis (when the earthquake happens in the sea bed), and volcanic activity. When an earthquake happens closer to the Earth’s surface, structural damage can be more significant. Earthquakes
happen all the time, but vary in intensity. We often don’t feel weaker ones. The magnitude of an earthquake is measured by
seismometers on the
Richter magnitude
scale.
California is a hotbed
for earthquake activity and one of the
most famous earthRuins of San Francisco from the site of the Mechanics' Pavilion [1906]
quakes to strike the
state happened in San Francisco in 1906. Begin by having students analyze the images of the damage. What stands out in these
images? Then show them the silent film of the damage (14:39). How does the film compare to the images? What new details are
the students able to discern? Next have students read about the earthquake. Based on their observations, what conclusions can be
drawn about this earthquake? Was it a strong earthquake? How pervasive was the damage? How does the damage here compare
with damage from other natural disasters?
Next have students analyze this map of seismic activity in the San Francisco Bay Area. (This map is best viewed online so that
students will be able to zoom in and read the details.) How prevalent are earthquakes in this area? Why do earthquakes happen
here? How do more recent earthquakes compare with the 1906 quake? What other conclusions can they draw from this map?
Are there other regions in the world that have equal or greater amounts of seismic activity?
This lesson idea meets Tennessee state standards for grades 5 and 7 Science (standard 7: The Earth).
N EWSLETTER : A PRIL 2015
P AGE 3
L ESSON I DEA –A NIMAL H ABITATS AT Z OOS AND A QUARIUMS
For many people in the United States, a trip to a zoo or aquarium may be their only opportunity to see live animals from other
parts of the world. When people visit zoos and aquariums, they believe they are seeing animals in something close to their natural habitats. Yet, are zoos and aquariums truthful recreations of animal habitats? If they are now, have they always been?
Show your students a picture of a bear in its natural habitat. Have your students describe both the environment and the way the
bear adapts to the environment. Then, have the students compare the picture of the bear’s natural habitat to a picture of a
bear’s cage at a Chicago zoo in 1901. What are the differences between the two? Why might there be differences? How do
these differences impact the bear? Next, have the students look at a picture of a giraffe in its native habitat. Like they did before, have the students compare the picture of the giraffe’s native environment to a picture of a giraffe's cage in 1934. What
are the differences?
Ask your students what they think of zoos in the first half of the
twentieth century. How well did they recreate animals’ natural
habitats? Have zoos made changes over the years? Have the zoos
that your students have visited done a better job recreating natural
habitats? Why do you think changes have taken place? To give students some visuals, feel free to show them pictures from the Nashville Zoo’s Instagram and the Memphis Zoo’s Animal Exhibits. If
you want additional discussion, feel free to look at a picture of an
aquarium in the nineteenth century and compare it to an aquarium
environment in 2012. How have aquariums changed? Also take a
look at Tennessee Aquarium’s Instagram.
This lesson idea meets Tennessee state standards for grades 2-3 Science (Standard 5; Biodiversity and Change).
The aquarium [n. d.; detail]
L ESSON I DEA – C ONSERVATION AS “P ATRIOTIC D UTY ”
“Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation,” said
Theodore Roosevelt in his “New Nationalism” speech in 1910, while running for a third term as president. (The conservation
movement in America was already well under way.) Many presidents since TR have exercised this “patriotic duty” in order to
protect plants, animals, and landscapes, against the backdrop of the larger movement for environmental conservation in the
United States.
This lesson idea will focus on three episodes that highlight presidential involvement in this movement. You can go through
these one by one as a class, or split your students into three groups, with each group analyzing one of the following:
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Theodore Roosevelt’s stance on conservation in his “New Nationalism” speech. Have students read the two paragraphs
from this speech that directly address conservation, starting here on p. 20. Consider his connection with people like John
Muir, first president of the Sierra Club.
Franklin Roosevelt’s establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934 (the first to use federal funds).
Have students read FDR’s “Address at the Dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park” from September 2, 1940.
Consider FDR’s employment of Civilian Conservation Corps workers within the GSMNP (see here and here).
Richard Nixon’s establishment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, in the wake of the environmentalist movement of
the 1960s. Have students read Section 2 of the ESA, and consider how new legislation was inspired by the celebration of
the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.
Why did each of these presidents say these things? What were the stated reasons, and what was the context in which these decisions were made? How do each of these three episodes relate to one another? What do they say about conservation as being a
“patriotic duty”?
This lesson idea meets Tennessee state standards for grades 9-12 Environmental Science (3260.4.11 ), Ecology (3255.6.3),
and U.S. History and Government (U.S.19, 49 & 102).
N EWSLETTER : A PRIL 2015
M OUNTAINTOP R EMOVAL
Aerial view of Mountaintop Removal, approaching Racine [1995]
Extracting natural resources such as coal and gas from beneath the
surface is fraught with challenges. In parts of Appalachia, mountaintop removal is used as a way to mine coal. Have your students
analyze the image. How does this type of mining impact the environment? How does it affect communities? Have your students
research how mountaintop removal works and its long-term impacts. For older students, you might have them read this Smithsonian article on the issue.
A GRIBUSINESS
Jewett City, Connecticut (vicinity). Estonian poultry man, formerly
a sailor, who got his start in the chicken raising business by a FSA
(Farm Security Administration) loan [1942]
Over the years, small family farms have been replaced by large-scale
suppliers of food. This growth in agribusiness has raised several
questions: How will agribusiness impact small town economies?
Will agribusiness lead to the abuse of animals? Will profit-driven
farmers feed animals steroids to speed up animal growth? Will our
food be fresh? Do we need local family farms to raise fresh foods?
P AGE 4
E ARTH D AY
Girl Scout in canoe, picking trash out of the Potomac River during
Earth Week [1970]
This image shows a girl picking trash out of a river on April 22,
1970, the very first Earth Day. How does your school celebrate
Earth Day? Ask your students if their families recycle at home, and,
if not, why. Then, prompt your students to find ways to make the
classroom more environmentally friendly, whether it’s recycling the
used computer paper or making crafts and storage out of old, unused
plastic bottles and containers.
FIRST NATIONAL PARK
Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park [1898]
The very first national park was created on March 1, 1872, when
President Ulysses Grant signed the bill and thus created a precedent in environmental conservation for the U.S. and the world.
(Read the law here, and search maps of Yellowstone here.) When
your students think of Yellowstone, what images come to mind?
Do they think of geysers? Old Faithful? Sulfurous ponds? That’s
because the park, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is
the most geothermally active and diverse in the world!