Mary, The Primary Source Librarian | August 24, 2007
“If an ancient Japanese ceramic vessel could speak, what would it say? How about an African mask or the monstrous skeleton of a prehistoric giant sloth? And what might these things say to one another? By “talking” with objects and creating conversations between different objects, your students can bring artifacts, works of art, fossils, and [...]
Mary, The Primary Source Librarian | August 20, 2007
Here’s a really easy idea for introducing primary sources to younger kids. Do you remember playing “Telephone” at slumber parties, birthday parties, and classroom parties when you were little? The leader whispers a message to the next child in the circle, and each child in turn passes on what he has heard. At the end [...]
Mary, The Primary Source Librarian | August 16, 2007
We returned to real life late last night after an excellent 2 1/2 weeks in Europe. At the end of our trip, we spent two days in Berlin with our daughter, who has just moved there to work as an artist. The last time we saw Berlin, we had to take a bus through Checkpoint [...]
Mary, The Primary Source Librarian | August 5, 2007
I am again traveling in Italy. I have seen all the major museums several times over the years, but yesterday I visited a different one – the Museo di Storia della Scienza – in Florence. Imagine an entire museum dedicated to scientific instruments! There were hygrometers, anenometers, barometers, and thermometers. There were machines to experiment [...]