Daily Mail World Map of War and Commerce

You never know when you will come across something new and unique to then discover it has already been highlighted somewhere else.

I recently found the map titled Daily Mail world map of war and commerce while searching for maps of the world wars.  A few days later, the Teacher Page folks posted a new Infomational Text Primary Sources Set...which included the same map.  I had not thought of teaching it with an informational text angle for analysis, so it is always good to share ideas and look for entities that have used the same document from a different perspective or in a unique way.

The insets with many infographic icons will help students grasp the difference between the "Comparative Resources of the Belligerent Powers at the Outbreak of Hostilities".  Could they recreate infographics of similar topics for current world conflicts?

  Social Studies/History    6 - 8    9 - 12    3 - 5  

Great sources and strategies   Sherrie Galloway  and  Cheryl Davis ! I think it's always powerful to have students relate the historical documents to today. Here is another source from 1888 and the accompanying guided primary source analysis that asks students to create a similar document for another presidential election. 

I would also like to mention a new presentation from the Library that was featured in the September TPS Consortium Update.

Presidential Elections and Voting in U.S. History

• Nominating Candidates: How has the process for nominating candidates changed?
• General Election Campaign: How have candidates, parties, and organizations tried to reach voters?
• Voters and Voting Rights: How have different groups won and protected the right to vote?

Presidential Campaigns: Political Charts and Maps

• National political chart & map of the United States. 1860

• United States: map showing loyal states in green, what the rebels still hold in red, and what the Union soldiers have wrested from them in yellow. 1864.

Looking back at the Presidential campaigns of 1860 and 1864 might be a good way to discuss presidential campaigns and party platforms.  These two documents include the platforms of the major parties and various other information. The 1864 document included biographical information on the candidates.  What other information is included and why might it been added?  How might you use these in the classroom to discuss the current campaigns for president of the United States? Can your students find the current platforms from each party?  Are there similarities or differences to the platforms of 1860 and 1864?

What was the creator of these documents trying to convey?  Do you notice any bias towards one candidate or another?  How and where would the public have access to this information?  Advertising in this time period is very different from today; how could voters decide on the accuracy and the source of information then and now.

Please share other thoughts and ideas on how you might use these primary sources.

  6 - 8    9 - 12    13+    Social Studies/History  

Presidential Campaigns: Political Charts and Maps

• National political chart & map of the United States. 1860

• United States: map showing loyal states in green, what the rebels still hold in red, and what the Union soldiers have wrested from them in yellow. 1864.

Looking back at the Presidential campaigns of 1860 and 1864 might be a good way to discuss presidential campaigns and party platforms.  These two documents include the platforms of the major parties and various other information. The 1864 document included biographical information on the candidates.  What other information is included and why might it been added?  How might you use these in the classroom to discuss the current campaigns for president of the United States? Can your students find the current platforms from each party?  Are there similarities or differences to the platforms of 1860 and 1864?

What was the creator of these documents trying to convey?  Do you notice any bias towards one candidate or another?  How and where would the public have access to this information?  Advertising in this time period is very different from today; how could voters decide on the accuracy and the source of information then and now.

Please share other thoughts and ideas on how you might use these primary sources.

  6 - 8    9 - 12    13+    Social Studies/History  

Trieste -- a "frontier" city with a complicated history

I am president of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) this year and next, and I am about to leave for the Biennial IBBY Congress in Trieste. The only thing I knew about Trieste was that James Joyce had lived there, but I have learned that it is a place with a complicated history.

When I started poking around the Library of Congress, I found some wonderful images which capture its complex roots in the midst of geopolitical conflicts.

In a 1916 movie poster, "the woman symbolizes the city of Trieste, historically part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, during World War I, its main point of access to the sea. The Italian irredentist movement had been campaigning for the city's annexation since at least the last two decades of the 19th century. At the end of the war, in November 1918, the Royal Italian Army entered Trieste to the applause of the part of the population that favored the Italian cause. The army declared its seizure of the city and established a curfew. Annexation by Italy of Trieste and the surrounding region of Venezia Giulia was politically inevitable, but it was opposed by the newly-established Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which also wanted to annex the city and its hinterland. The status of Trieste as an Italian city was affirmed by the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. Annexation poisoned relations between the Italian and the Slovene populations, which at times boiled over into armed combat."

A 1923 stereoscopic image refers to Trieste as "the prize taken by Italy from Austria" and recounts the World War I-era conflict that led to its Italian status.

Into the 20th century, Trieste continued to be a cultural melange and a political hot potato, as an editorial cartoon demonstrates: 

"At the end of World War II, both Italy and Yugoslavia claimed the port city of Trieste. In what was perhaps the first military offensive of the Cold War, Tito and his partisans invaded the area in March 1945. A peace treaty in 1947 established Trieste and the surrounding area as a Free Territory, but it was eventually divided between Yugoslavia and Italy."

This has me thinking a lot about places that have seen a lot of changes in governance -- more locally, the Alabama city of Mobile used to even display its six historical flags on its municipal flag. 

And there is our northeastern state line, which follows the Tennessee River against the states of Georgia and Tennessee, the capriciousness of which has led to water claims on the part of Georgia.

Can you think of any other areas that have "changed hands" or where the border has been so contentious over time?