Help Shape New Primary Source Lesson Plans — Join Our Teacher Community

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Sign up to collaborate and review resources, participate in focus groups, website user testing, and historic consultancy, or to receive updates from the Center for Digital Editing (UVA) as well as partner projects and organizations.
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About From the Archives to the Classroom

A national initiative helping high school teachers bring rich archival sources into their classrooms with an emphasis on:

  • US-based primary sources from the 1700s to the 1980s
  • High-quality, free curriculum units
  • Teacher-tested activities and techniques
  • Collaborations with scholarly editors and historians

Why This Project Matters

  • Addresses teacher need for trustworthy primary-source materials

  • Aligns with common state and national standards (e.g., democracy, political parties, Indigenous relations, federal power) as well as lessons appropriate for AP and IB classes

  • Helps students connect documents to broader themes like civic life, justice, and historical change

  • Designed with real classrooms in mind

Join The Initiative

Current & Upcoming Projects

Building new lesson plans together—current projects and the next phase

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Howard Thurman Papers (2024–2025)

  • 11 participating expert educators
  • 11 educator-created, classroom-tested lesson plans
  • final materials published online
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Martin Van Buren Papers (2025–2026)

  • 12 participating expert educators from around the country
  • 12 classroom-ready units in progress
  • final materials published online
  • free national workshop (May 2026)
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Help with future projects

Participating teachers:

  • help choose documents
  • co-create lesson plans
  • test materials with students
  • help shape a national workshop for peers

Ready to be part of the next teacher collaboration?

Sign up to contribute, review materials, or receive updates as new resources are released.

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