A PowerPoint for a teacher workshop for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers by the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project. This PowerPoint includes activities and lesson ideas, as well as how to use Chronicling America.

1. Vermont Digital Newspaper Project

2.  Part of the National
Digital Newspaper
Program
 Digitizing historic
Vermont newspapers
between 1836-1922
Vermont Content Online:
• 59 Vermont titles
• 260,000 pages
• Every county
represented (except
Grand Isle)

3. Online tool to search
historic newspapers from
across the country.
8 million pages from
1836-1922 available to
search by text.
You can search, save,
download, print, and clip
articles for free.
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

4.  Historical perspectives on international, national
and local themes, events, and topics.
News as it happened, as it was perceived. Culture
and times!
Content-specific vocabulary & nonfiction, primary
source reading experience.(Great for the
Common Core!)
 Easy to use! Brings a historical primary source to
the modern audience with modern tools.
Essex County Herald., February
05, 1915, Image 5

5. • Offered through the National
Endowment for the Humanities
• Nation-level prize in Junior and
Senior divisions
• Awarded to an outstanding
entry in any category that
utilizes Chronicling America
newspaper resources
Edsitement!
edsitement.neh.gov Another
great website
for teachers!
Last Year’s Winners

6. library.uvm.edu/vtnp

7. Vermont-specific Content:
Vermont Digital Newspaper Project
Website:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Chronicling America:
Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
or
ChroniclingAmerica.com
We have an
interactive Google
Map!

8. Vermont Digital
Newspaper Project
Website
Educator Resource Page:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp/

9. • Downloadable lessons
and activities.
• Links to other resources
and lessons from other
states.
• General Tutorial section

10. flickr.com/vtdp
pinterest.com/vtdnp
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
facebook.com/vtdnp
slideshare.net
Interactive map with
newspaper mastheads!

11. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
Or search: “Chronicling
America”

12.  Keyword searches
 Simple search
 Advanced search
 All Digitized
Newspapers
 100 years ago
 Recommended Topics
 Likely students will
need to use only the
simple search.
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

13. We’ll learn two ways:
 Simple Search
 Advanced Search
Important: The search
technology searches the
newspaper text, so think
about historical language!

14. Pick a state or
search all states.
Pick a year range or
specific year.
Remember, years
are between
1836-1922.
Enter a search word(s) here.

15. The Search Pages tool will
scan the newspaper text to
find results.
1. Scroll down to
find Vermont
2. Keep
the year
range as it
is
3. Type in a word of your choice. 4. Click on Go.

16. c
45,506
results!!
“Library”
highlighted in
red on the
newspaper
page.
The search tool searches the text to find the word/phrase you entered. In this case, “library.”

17. Click on these two
buttons to zoom in
and out. Or, scroll
with your mouse or
fingers.
Click on this
to go to full
screen.
This shows which page
of the newspaper is
shown. Shown here is
page 3. Use the arrows
to go from page to
page.
Use these arrows to browse
surrounding newspaper issues.

18. 1. Zoom in to something you are interested
in clipping.
2. Click on the scissor tool.
3. You can then print or save the image.
The red box shows
what will be clipped.

19. Hold down Ctrl to select
multiple states or
newspapers!

20.  James P. Taylor (1872-1949)
 Founder of Green Mountain
Club (1909)
 Long Trail built between 1910-
1930, oldest long-distance
walking trail in the country.
 Could do a project on Taylor or
the Green Mountain Club
“In Vermont we are attempting to make the
Green Mountains play a larger part in the life
of the people by beginning a trail along the
Green Mountain Range.”
The Bennington Evening
Banner ., July 30, 1914,
Page 5

21. Try a simple search first, with
keywords.
Could limit to Vermont, years
1900-1922.
Search words to try in
combination, proximity, or as
phrases:
Taylor, Long Trail, Green
Mountain Club, J.P. Taylor,
James Taylor.

23. 1. Have students browse
the news papers from
across the country.
Possible directions to take
the activity:
 What was happening
in the news?
 Look for cultural
trends.
 How did the news
differ from state to
state?
 State-specific news:
what was happening in
Vermont?

24. Common Core:
English Craft and Structure
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4 Determine
the meaning of words and phrases as
they are used in a text, including
vocabulary describing political, social,
or economic aspects of history/social
science.
1. Have students type in
historic vocabulary words in
the search box.
2. Results are highlighted in
red. Students should try to
determine the meaning of
the word based on its
context.
3. It may take more than one
result to figure the
meaning out!
4. Have students defend their
meaning of the word by
citing evidence in the text.
Words to try:
 Abolition
 Dry goods
 Freight
 Foundry
 Icehouse
 Moving Picture
 Phonograph
 Proprietor
 Velocipede
 Stage coach
 Suffrage
 Tavern
 Teamster
 Telegraph
 Temperance
 Vaudeville

25. • John Brown’s ill-fated raid on
Harper’s Ferry, VA, took place on
October 16-18, 1859.
• Brown and 20 others captured the
armory with the intention to arm
nearby slaves and begin an
insurgency that would end slavery in
the south.
• Brown and his men were cornered in
the armory by militia and US Marines.
• Brown was soon defeated. Among
the dead were two of Brown’s sons.
John Brown was hanged in Virginia
on December 2, 1859.
1. Have students enter the words “John Brown Harpers Ferry” in the search
box, limiting the years between 1859 and 1861 (more/less years,
depending on the spectrum). Students can also search by a specific state.
2. Students could divide up into North & South (or particular states) and
argue perspectives found in the newspapers, or individually find and
analyze examples of differing perspectives found in the papers.

26. Richmond, VA, Daily Dispatch response to the raid:
Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), Oct. 20, 1859
Burlington, Vt., Burlington Free Press response:
Burlington free press., February 10, 1860

27. • Local historic buildings
• Famous people
• Events
• Technology
• Culture
• Differing perspectives

28.  Could be a good place
for students to start.
 Important National
Events, People,
Inventions, Cultural
Trends
 Includes:
 Important Dates
 Suggested Search
Terms
 Sample Articles
 Vermont-specific Topics
in the works!
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/

29.  Hartness (1861-1934) was an
inventor, astronomer, aviator,
and VT Governor (1921-1923)
 Built the first municipal landing
field in Vermont (1919)
 Started first Vermont flight
school in 1921.
 President of the Aero Club of
Vermont (1916).
 Keywords: Hartness, aviation,
James Hartness, aero, Governor
Hartness.

30.  Barre’s granite industry brought
in Italian stone-cutters at the
turn of the twentieth century.
 Barre became a center of labor
radicalism, anarchist ferment.
 Luigi Galleani, one of the most
notable anarchists, lived in Barre
from 1903-1911.
 Newspapers: Cronaca Sovversiva
(Italian)

31. MLA:
Author's Last Name, First Name Middle Initial. "Article Title."
Newspaper Title Date of Publication: Pages. Name of Database. Web. Date
of access.
Example:
"The Pioneer Shops." Burlington Weekly Free Press 9 April 1869: 1.
Chronicling America. Web. 20 November 2014.
At the bottom of every newspaper page (great for keeping track of pages!):

32. This PowerPoint
will be posted on
our website and
available for
download.
Contact us:
library.uvm.edu/vtnp
Erenst Anip, Project Librarian:
eanip@uvm.edu
Karyn Norwood, Digital Support:
knorwood@uvm.edu
Phone: 802-656-0819