Art as a Primary Source


         


Photographers, film makers, illustrators & painters are always leaving history lessons inside their art. Their work is packed with clues about the past. Explore some digitized documents from the Library of Congress -- what do they tell you about life in New York over 100 years ago?

Films

Prints

Ads
Fall and Winter 


Primary sources are first-hand accounts
of events in history as witnessed by the creator.


Use the Analysis Tool to help record your observations, reflections & questions.

Our brains learn better & remember more 
when we're forced to figure out answers for ourselves.
" Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand."
                                                                                - Chinese proverb

 

12 comments:

  1. RACHEL ELLARIE DREW5/04/2011

    Rachel Ellarie and Drew

    While we were watching the Street Scene video we observed.

    OBSERVATIONS

    *the clothes
    *the way people sell things back then
    * the food is on wheels!

    We thought that this was a great way to learn about the past and how they did things differently from today. We learned that when you see a painting from the past you can get a lesson out of it and learn history.

    We wonder if the food ever gets stolen because its outside. We also wonder if bugs get into the food. One more thing that we wonder is why did people wear fancy clothes while just going grocery shopping. We really enjoyed learning about history through art and hope to do it again!

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  2. George, Ava and Ben5/04/2011

    Today in art class Ben, Ava and George are learning how American life was back then.We are learning by looking at photos, videos and drawings from the past.We think this is a good way to learn because we have learned how people dressed, bought stuff, and lived back then. One question we have is why did people sell food outside? We learned a lot and had a blast from the past!

    ReplyDelete
  3. In the print illustration I noticed that the people in the picture are dressed differently than the present for example all the men were wearing top hats and tuxedos and the women are wearing long dress robes. And I also noticed that the picture is black and white.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5/04/2011

    Molly and Daniel
    In art class today we learned that you can learn about history through art. We studied clothing that woman wore in 1915 and 1916. We both observed that woman dress very fancy to non-fancy acations, they wore lots of accories for example...... scarfs, hats and coats, last but not least they wore their dresses below their knees. A reflect that can occer to this is, they look like people in the city a long time ago. Our question was...... since they wore lots of dresses was it hard to afford so many dresses? Thats what we did in art today.

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  5. Alex, Caitlin,Conner And Matt5/04/2011

    We noticed that in Ellis Island there are many big boats that would dock there. They carried emigrants and their cargo. We also noticed many crowds at the docks.


    - Alex, Caitlin,Conner and Matt

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  6. Anonymous5/04/2011

    Marble Shooter

    It was made for boys in 1876 to shoot marbles with a rifle like accuracy.But we still wonder how it was made. Why was it made?


    By Judy,Ethan and Zach

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gabby and jake5/04/2011

    Gabby and Jake,
    We watched the Street Scene and wondered:
    If the food got dirty
    If people stole the food
    If the food was fresh
    How much the food cost
    And why people dressed so fancy to just go to the market
    We enjoyed learning about social studies in art!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rachel Ellarie and Drew5/11/2011

    Rachel Ellarie and Drew

    While we were watching the Ellis Island video we notice these observations:

    *the way the people dressed
    *the old fashion boat.
    *How many people wanted to live in America.

    We also had a connection which was in the beginning of the video it mentioned Immigrants which we are learning about in class. A few questions we had were, do the passengers ever get sea sick on the boat? We had that question because all the people on the boat looked so used to it because they have been on the boat so long. Another question we had was why did people dress so fancy? Also what were some of the reasons people wanted to come to America? We learned a new lesson through art. We had a lot of fun!

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  9. Gabby and jake5/11/2011

    Gabby and Jake,
    COOl!!!We looked at picture called Fall and winter, which was illistrations of clothing in the 1900's. We can tell that clothes back then were a lot more fancy then they are now, we think that because, they were wearing dresses, big fancy hats, fur scarfs, long necklaces, and high heels. Our opinion about this is that we like the fashion now better because when you leave the house we would not want to put on a suit or, a dress just to go to the market.We think that people in the future will think we look funny, we think this because its probably not going to dress the same as us today. We enjoyed working with social studies in art!!!!!!!

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  10. Anonymous5/11/2011

    Zach, Ethan

    Street Scene

    We watched the Street Scene and wondered what would happen if the food got dirty or if it got stolen. Also, we wondered how much the food cost back then. We also wondered why the video was black and white? We figured it out when we disgust it. We also wonder what happens if bugs get into the food? We thought that this was a great way to learn about the past and how they did things differently from today.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ava Molly Daniel5/11/2011

    WOW!!!!!!!!! Do you know how woman dressed a long time ago? Well its very different from how we dress now! The woman wore fancy dresses to non fancy occasions. The woman also wore lots of accessories. We wonder why they wear dresses so often? We also wonder if the dresses are expensive? We had a blast learning about the past!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ben and George5/11/2011

    Have you ever wondered what life was like in American history. Well today in class we are learning about what life was like in American history. One ad stood out in my mind. It was about a marble shooter. I bet if I was alive back then I would've played with it 24-7. I like this way to learn because you learn about America's history by looking at it.

    ReplyDelete