The place to go for Primary Sources
Community Review for Library of Congress
My Take
While I love this site and the resources that the website provides, it can be hard to find the information that you are looking for. There is A LOT of information to sift through in order to find what you are looking for. I have used this website multiple times for myself and with my kids. I really like the collections that they highlight and the amount of information that goes with a lot of their primary sources. To use this website effectively you need a lot of time for lesson prep. The kids and I have gotten lost a couple of times in all of the information. While it may take some time to get comfortable with the website, it is a great resource that I will use again and again!
How I Use It
I have used this website in a couple different ways. The website offers a couple of videos that explain what the Library of Congress is and what purpose it serves, as well as videos about primary source documents and how to analyze them. I have shown some of these videos to the students to introduce them to the idea of primary VS secondary sources. I have also used this website to have the students look at different documents online. The students have used this website to complete research assignments. I have used this website to print out color copies of the writing on cuniform tablets when we were researching the evolution of writing. The students were able to get a better understanding of "clay tablets" and see how they were made. It was a really neat way to have the students think about the idea of the written word.