Primary Sources

Primary sources are an excellent way to incorporate language arts into your history teaching. Newspaper articles, diary entries, and letters all provide students with vivid verbal pictures of the people and events of the past.

• Mill Life: Learn about mill life from the archives of University of
  Massachusetts' Center for Lowell History, centrally located in the
  Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center in downtown Lowell. 
• LNHP Collection: Lowell National Historical Park maintains an
  extensive collection of library and historical materials. The Library
  and Collections are a non-circulating collection of books, reports,
  dissertations, objects and other materials relating to the history of
  Lowell, the early American Industrial Revolution, the American cotton
  textile industry, and the development and activities of the Park.
• Bringing History Home: Use primary sources to make decisions for new "mill girl" Eliza Paige. In this interactive game, Eliza has just arrived in Lowell, and you get to decide her future based on letters and other documents. Which boardinghouse should she live in? Should she get involved in the labor protests? Is the reality of life in Lowell as good as what was promised?  You decide!