Pages from the scrapbooks of the activists who fought for women’s suffrage. A political cartoon from the pen of Benjamin Franklin. Photos by Ansel Adams of Japanese Americans living in World War II relocation camps.
The Library of Congress is putting all of these historical documents, along with many more, in the hands of students and teachers through its three newest free, interactive ebooks for tablets.
The Library of Congress Student Discovery Sets bring together historical artifacts and one-of-a-kind documents on a wide range of topics, from history and science to literature. Interactive tools let students zoom in for close examination, draw to highlight interesting details and make notes about what they discover.
The Library’s latest Student Discovery Sets are available now for the iPad and can be downloaded free of charge on iBooks. These sets cover Women’s Suffrage, Japanese American Internment, and Political Cartoons and Public Debates. They join nine previously published sets on the U.S. Constitution, Symbols of the United States, Immigration, the Dust Bowl, the Harlem Renaissance, Understanding the Cosmos, the Industrial Revolution, Jim Crow and Segregation, and Children’s Lives at the Turn of the 20th Century.
Through a set of interactive tools, learners can zoom in on faces of suffragists picketing the White House, circle details of lively 19th-century political cartoons, and listen to stories of Japanese American combat veterans.
The objects in the Student Discovery Sets are primary sources—items created by eyewitnesses to history. From Galileo’s drawings of the moon to Zora Neale Hurston’s plays to Thomas Edison’s films, these maps, songs, posters, pieces of sheet music and iconic images immerse students in history, culture and science and give them the power to explore.
The sets are designed for students, providing easy access to open-ended exploration. A teacher’s guide for each set—with background information, teaching ideas` and additional resources are also available.
Direct to LC’s Student Discovery Sets
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