Teaching with Primary Sources
After participating in a model photograph analysis, participants independently practice analyzing
a photograph. The group will discuss ways to use photograph analysis in instruction.
Goal
Analyzing primary sources
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Objectives
Observe a primary source analysis
Analyze a primary source
Develop instructional strategies to help students examine and analyze primary sources
Resources Included in This Activity
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/tribes.html
Teacher’s Guide to Analyzing
Photographs and Prints
Primary Source Analysis Tool
Why Use Primary Sources
How to Use Primary Sources
How does where we live influence how we live
Analyzing family photos
Print one copy per participant of the items below. Keep documents separate.
 Teachers guide to analyzing photographs and prints
 Primary Source Analysis Tool
 Copies of Chief Running Wolf and party of Blackfoot Indians
 Bibliogical record for black foot
 Copy of Esquimaux Group
 Copy of bibliographic information on group
Print one copy of each of item below. Keep bibliographic records separate from the primary
sources.
I-ah-to-tonoh or little woman Mountrain and son A-Last-Sauked or looking away
off.http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c22131
Cooking Acorns-Upper lake Pomohttp://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91726226/
Gathering tules - Lake Pomo (The North American Indian; v.14)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp14010
Family group - Noatak (The North American Indian; v.20)
http://memory.loc.gov/award/iencurt/cp20/cp20030r.jpg
Boys in kayak - Nunivak (The North American
Indian;http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp20003
Bridal group (The North American Indian; v.10)
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp10033
Whaler - Makah (The North American Indian; v.11)
King Island homes (The North American Indian;
v.20)http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp20015
A Klamath (The North American Indian; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp13006
Wishham girl (The North American Indian; v.08)http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp08023
Bull Chief - Apsaroke (The North American Indian;
v.04)http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04017
Winter - Apsaroke (The North American Indian;
v.04)http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04016
On the Little Bighorn - Apsaroke (The North American Indian;
v.04)http://memory.loc.gov/award/iencurt/cp04/cp04004r.jpg
Wichita grass-house (The North American Indian;
v.19)http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp19003
Tobadzischini—Navaho
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001695855/
Yebichai sweat—Navaho
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003652733/
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3a40000/3a47000/3a47100/3a47117_150px.jpg
Procedure:
1. Distribute a copy of “Esquimaux” Group to each participant.
2.
Model primary source analysis of “Espuimaux” referring to the Teachers Guide to
Analyzing Photographs and Prints as needed. Do not distribute this sheet yet. Fill out the
Primary Source Analysis Tool with the help of the participants displaying using a doc
camera.
 In the observe column, record details that you see
 In the reflect column compare your prior knowledge to the clues in the images
and then record your hypotheses about what you see. Differentiate between
comments that are observations and those that are reflections based on
observations. Ex- I see a group of Indian children and adults posing for a picture.
OR I see a family of Indians posing for a family picture.
 Use the question column to capture questions you may have as you observe and
consider what you know about the items. Aim to generate open ended questions
that will prompt further investigation and inquiry.
3. Share the bibliographic data with participants. Discuss what new insights, if any, the
information adds. What questions it answers, what questions remain.
4. Distribute a Primary Source Analysis tool to each participant. Ask participants to form
groups of four or five, select one photo to examine and discuss , recording thoughts on
the Primary Source Analysis Tool.
5. After each group has completed its analysis have participants discuss their analysis with
another group.
6. Inform them that the pictures they were looking at are part of a collection that is based on
a unifying theme. Ask them if they can identify the theme (Native American families).
Distribute the bibliographic information for the picture. Discuss what new insights, if any
the information adds, what questions it answers, what questions remain.
7. Each group will post its photo on the board for others to see. (each photo should represent
a group form a different geographical region)
8. Distribute a primary source picture to each member of the group and have them use the
primary source tool to analyze their picture before the bib. Info. After they have
completed the analysis, have them look at the bib info and see if it offers any more
information.
9. Ask the group to pool the photos and sort them into different categories. These pictures
show dwellings, clothing and cultural characteristics of the tribes. After the group
discusses the picture, each participant can put their picture up beside the family group
photo that can be indentified with the family. Participants can quickly explain to the
group why they believe that their pictures should belong to that family group picture.
10. Facilitate a discussion about ways primary sources engage students and help them to
develop critical thinking skills.
Assessment: What did you learn from this activity? Compare what you learned from
examining a set of photos to what you learned from examining a single photo.
King Island homes (The North American Indian; v.20http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/D?curt:7:./temp/~ammem_nqTx:
I-ah-to-tonah, or Little Woman Mountain, and son A-last-Sauked, or Looking-away-off
Digital ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c22131 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c22131
Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-122131 (b&w film copy neg.)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Gathering tules - Lake Pomo (The North American Indian; v.14)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: The round-stem tule, Scirpus lacustris, was used principally
for thatching houses, for making mats by stringing them laterally on parallel cords, and, securely
lashed together in long bundles, in the construction of serviceable and quickly made canoes.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002722488/
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
Original photogravure produced in Cambridge, Mass. by Suffolk Engraving Co.,
c1928.
Original source: The Alaskan Eskimo. The Nunivak. The Eskimo of Hooper Bay. The
Eskimo of King Island. The Eskimo of Little Diomede Island. The Eskimo of Cape
Prince of Wales. The Kotzebue Eskimo. The Noatak. The Kobuk. The Selawik
[portfolio] ; plate no. 717
 Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1930.
Boys in kaiak - Nunivak (The North American Indian; v.20)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: Eskimo boys are trained in manly pursuits from their earliest
years and are honored with feasts on taking their first game.
Whaler - Makah (The North American Indian; v.11) Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: Note the great size of the harpoon-shaft. Indian whalers
implanted the harpoon-point by thrusting, not by hurling, the weapon.
. Curtis, 1916.
Bridal group (The North American Indian; v.10)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: The bride stands in the middle between two dancers
hired for the occasion. Her father is at the left, and the bridegroom's father at the right
behind a man who presides over the box-drum. Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1915.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp10033
King Island homes (The North American Indian; v.20)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
NOTES
1 photogravure : brown ink ; 35 x 44 cm.
Original photogravure produced in Cambridge, Mass. by Suffolk Engraving Co., c1928.
Original source: The Alaskan Eskimo. The Nunivak. The Eskimo of Hooper Bay. The Eskimo
of King Island. The Eskimo of Little Diomede Island. The Eskimo of Cape Prince of Wales. The
Kotzebue Eskimo. The Noatak. The Kobuk. The Selawik [portfolio] ; plate no. 702
Seattle : S.E. Curtis, 1930.
REPOSITORY
Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp20015
A Klamath (The North American Indian; v.13)
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: The entire costume here depicted is alien to the
primitive Klamath. The feather head-dress and fringed shirt and leggings of deerskin
were adopted by this tribe within the historical period, along with other phases of the
Plains culture, which extended its influence to the Klamath country by way of
Columbia river and the plains of central Oregon.
Original source: The Hupa. The Yurok. The Karok. The Wiyot. The Tolowa and
Tututni. The Shasta. The Achomawi. The Klamath [portfolio] ; plate no. 441
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1924.
SUBJECTS
Klamath Indians.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp13006
Wishham girl (The North American Indian; v.08)
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: The subject is clothed in a heavily beaded deerskin
dress of the plains type. The throat is encircled by strands of shell beads of native
manufacture, heirlooms which were obtained by the original Wishham possessor from
the Pacific slope. Pendant on the breast are strands of larger beads of the same kind, as
well as of various kinds brought into the country by the traders of the Hudson's Bay
Company. An indispensable ornament of the well-born person was the dentaliumshell thrust through a perforation in the nasal septum; occasionally, as in this case, two
such shells were connected by means of a bit of wood pushed into the hollow bases.
Tied to the hair at each side of the face (see the following plate) is another dentaliumshell ornament, which is in reality an ear pendant transferred from the lobe of the ear
(where its weight would be inconvenient) to the hair. The head-dress consists of
shells, shell beads, commercial beads, and Chinese coins. The coins made their
appearance in the Columbia River region at a comparatively early date. This form of
head-dress was worn on special occasions by girls between the age of puberty and
their marriage.
NOTES
1 photogravure : brown ink ; 46 x 32 cm.
Original photogravure produced in Boston by John Andrew & Son, c1910.
Original source: The Nez Perces. Wallawalla. Umatilla. Cayuse. The Chinookan
tribes [portfolio] ; plate no. 278
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1911.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp08023
Bull Chief - Apsaroke (The North American Indian; v.04)
Bull Chief - Apsaroke (The North American Indian; v.04)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: A biographical sketch of this veteran is in Volume
IV, page 197.
NOTES
1 photogravure : brown ink ; 46 x 30 cm.
Original photogravure produced in Boston by John Andrew & Son, c1908.
Original source: The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa [portfolio] ; plate no. 128
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909.
SUBJECTS
Crow Indians.
OBJECT TYPE
REPOSITORY
Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04017
Winter - Apsaroke (The North American Indian; v.04)
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: In the thick forests along the banks of mountain
streams the Apsaroke made their winter camps.
Original source: The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa [portfolio] ; plate no. 127
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909.
SUBJECTS
Crow Indians.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04016
On the Little Bighorn - Apsaroke (The North American Indian; v.04)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: This picturesque camp of the Apsaroke was on the
Little Bighorn River, Montana, a short distance below where the Custer fight
occurred.
NOTES
1 photogravure : brown ink ; 36 x 44 cm.
Original photogravure produced in Boston by John Andrew & Son, c1908.
Original source: The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa [portfolio] ; plate no. 114
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909.
SUBJECTS
Crow Indians.
Tipis
Camps (temporary settlements)
Great Plains
Montana
Little Bighorn River (Wyo. and Mont.)
OBJECT TYPE
Photomechanical print
Image
REPOSITORY
Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04004
For a winter campaign - Apsaroke (The North American
Indian; v.04)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: It was not uncommon for Apsaroke war-parties,
mounted or afoot, to move against the enemy in the depth of winter. See Volume IV,
page 105, for the narrative of such an expedition. The warrior at the left wears the
hooded overcoat of heavy blanket material that was generally adopted by the
Apsaroke after the arrival of traders among them. The picture was made in a narrow
valley among the Pryor mountains, Montana.
Original source: The Apsaroke, or Crows. The Hidatsa [portfolio] ; plate no. 129
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1909.
SUBJECTS
REPOSITORY
Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp04018
Wichita grass-house (The North American Indian; v.19)
CREATOR
Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.
SUMMARY
Description by Edward S. Curtis: The relatively permanent character of the typical
dwelling of the Wichita indicates the sedentary life of this tribe. They were farmers in
the main, but hunted the buffalo and other game in season.
NOTES
1 photogravure : brown ink ; 35 x 43 cm.
Original photogravure produced in Cambridge, Mass. by Suffolk Engraving Co.,
c1927.
Original source: The Indians of Oklahoma. The Wichita. The southern Cheyenne.
The Oto. The Comanche. The Peyote cult [portfolio] ; plate no. 654
Seattle : E.S. Curtis, 1930.
SUBJECTS
Wichita Indians.
Lodges (Native American structures)
Great Plains
Kansas
REPOSITORY
Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
DIGITAL ID
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/iencurt.cp19003
Tobadzischini--Navaho
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Title: Tobadzischini--Navaho
Creator(s): Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952, photographer
Date Created/Published: c1904.
Medium: 1 photographic print.
Summary: Navajo man in ceremonial dress as Tobadzischini, Yebichai war god.
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-8855 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-80026 (b&w film copy
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Call Number: LOT 12331, box 1 [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Notes:
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neg.)
o
o
o
LC no. 22.
Copyright by Edward S. Curtis.
Forms part of: Edward S. Curtis Collection (Library of Congress).
Format:
o
o
Photographic prints--1900-1910.
Portrait photographs--1900-1910.
Collections:
o
Curtis (Edward S.) Collection
Bookmark This Record:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001695855/
Yebichai sweat--Navaho
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About This Item
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Obtaining Copies
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Access to Original
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Title: Yebichai sweat--Navaho
Creator(s): Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952, photographer
Date Created/Published: c1905 January 6.
Medium: 1 photographic print.
Summary: Three Navajo men, seated, watching over a man covered with a blanket(?) anchored by sticks with
feathers attached.
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Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-48372 (b&w film copy neg.)
Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. No renewal in Copyright office.
Call Number: LOT 12311 [item] [P&P]
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Notes:
o
o
o
o
H55514 U.S. Copyright Office.
Title from item.
Curtis no. 1080-04.
On verso: Yebichai sweat bath.
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o
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Forms part of: Edward S. Curtis Collection (Library of Congress).
Published in: The North American Indian / Edward S. Curtis. [Seattle, Wash.] : Edward S. Curtis, 1907-30, v. 1, p.
116.
Subjects:
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o
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Indians of North America--Spiritual life--1900-1910.
Navajo Indians--Spiritual life--1900-1910.
Rites & ceremonies--1900-1910.
Sweatbaths--1900-1910.
Format:
o
Photographic prints--1900-1910.
Collections:
o
Curtis (Edward S.) Collection
Bookmark This Record:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003652733/