How to use this repository
Teaching Labor's Story
Purpose
Teaching Labor’s Story is a repository of primary sources with supporting teaching guides (textual, visual, audio). Resources in the Teaching Labor’s Story repository are designed to be readily incorporated into the existing curriculum and thus allow experts and non-experts alike to re-infuse labor’s story into the historical narrative. Each primary source is linked to one of ten commonly taught eras in American/United States history. TLS sources are selected to reveal significant perspectives on essential historical questions, and each source is accompanied by a guide that includes an informative contextualizing essay, glossary, discussion questions, curricular connections, and additional sources.
Organization
The repository is divided into ten historical eras, aligned with commonly used chronological divisions in American/U.S. history texts and courses. Click on a Historical Era to discover primary sources that tell labor’s story during that historical era.
Content of Each Entry
Each entry begins with a very brief headnote, followed by the Primary Source. Primary Sources are no longer than two pages; sources longer than two pages are carefully excerpted to retain the content and meaning of the full source. All sources are original text (not simplified or reworded).
There is a linked Teaching Guide for each primary source. The teaching guides, written by professional historians, explain who created or wrote the primary source and the intended audience (sourcing the source); how the primary source is connected to major themes in the historical era (historical context); what to look for in a close reading of the primary source (meaning and significance of the primary source); definitions of potentially unfamiliar words (glossary); discussion questions; additional resources; connections to curricular standards.
Additional Features
A separate Glossary of Terms link and thematic tags offer additional ways to access these resources.
Scholarly Quality
Each TLS entry is written by a professional historian. All entries pass a double-blind peer review before publication.