SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE POST
Library of Congress: a “theme song”?
My students and I created a "theme song" for the Library of Congress.
Sweet Primary Sources from Joyce Valenza on Vimeo.
Here’s the back story:
I was working on an application for the Library’s TPS Mentor program. The kids offered to help me with my required three-minute video. Ian volunteered to produce. The chorus and their teacher, Monica Femovich, volunteer their harmonies. Dan Meder, our media production teacher volunteered our studio and green screen. The rest should have been quiet history.
But . . .
After including the required brief description of my qualifications, the description of some of our lessons, and a chat about my plans for how I would participate in the program, we couldn’t squeeze in the song we produced for the application video into the application video. So, it runs in the background.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Then we decided to produce it much more elaborately as a stand-alone and present it to the Library as a gift. And, BTW, this is the lesson on Depression photographs and oral history that partly inspired our creativity.
So here’s our song. If you would like to promote the use of primary sources in your own programs, perhaps it will come in handy.
Lyrics inspired by Sweet Rosie O’Grady, by Maude Nugent (1896)
Sweet Primary Sources (adapted by Joyce Valenza)
Sweet primary sources
Witness of a time
Help me with my courses,
When I am online
Films, letters, and speeches
Diaries, photos. and song
Teach me with primary sources
And make my analysis strong
What children were doing
Women, how did they behave?
In times long forgotten
How did the men shave?
Sweet primary sources
Allow us to know
And help us discover
As our historic tools grow.
Historical inq’ry
Forces us to think
What others were pon’dring
When their pens touched ink
Film, photos, and pictures
Transport us to when
People were living before us
So we might discover what then
Library of Congress
Treasures and collects
On its great web pages
It works to connect
Historical treasures
With students all over the globe
It gathers primary sources
So we can historically probe!
Images used in the video (viewable in the full-screen version of the video):
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Cambria”,”serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
Adams, Ansel. “Children at Sunday School Class, Manzanar Relocation Center.” 1943. Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppprs.00130>.
Lincoln, Abraham. “Gettysburg Address.” Nov. 1863. Abraham Lincoln Papers. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mal/mal3/435/4356600/001.jpg>.
Nugent, Maude. “Sweet Rosie O’Grady. 1896. Historic American Sheet Music. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mal/mal3/435/4356600/001.jpg>.
“Breaker Boys.” c 1900. Detroit Publishing Company Photographic Collection. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a07285 >.
Harris & Ewing. “Pennsylvania on the Picket Line.” 1917. American Women. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/service/mss/mnwp/160/160022v.jpg.>
Chicago Daily News. “Recruit Lathering his Face with a Shaving Brush. “ Sept. 1915. Library of Congress. Web.22 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/ichicdn.n065457 >.
Chicago Daily News. “Edmund Burke School, Portable School Building Classroom.” 1910. Photographs from the Chicago Daily News. Library of Congress. 22 Mar. 2010. < http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.ndlpcoop/ichicdn.n056230>.
Bell, Alexander. “Sketch of the Telephone. 1876. Words and Deeds in American History. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/004/0001.jpg>.
Hughes, Langston. “Draft of ‘Ballad of Booker T.’” 1 Jun. 1941. Words and Deeds in American History. Library of Congress. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.home>.
Thomas Edison. “ A Dull Razor.” 1920. Early Motion Pictures: 1897-1920. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/edmp.0878>.
Wright, Wilbur or Orville. “Side View of Glider.” 1901. Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/ppprs/00500/00580v.jpg>.
Lange, Dorothea. “Migrant Agricultural Worker’s Family.” Feb./Mar. 1936. FSA/OWI Collection. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/fsa/8b29000/8b29500/8b29523v.jpg>
UPI. “Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-in.” 1960. African American Odyssey. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010 <http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c10000/3c14000/3c14700/3c14749v.jpg>.
Highsmith, Carol M. “Exterior View. Illumunicated West Façade View at Night. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building.” 2007. Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://loc.gov/pictures/item/2007684251/>
O’Sullivan, Timothy H. “Appomattox Court House.” Apr. 1865. Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03908>.
Palmer, Alfred T. (based on photo.) “The More Women at Work, the Sooner We Win!” 1943. American Women. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.12895>.
“Chinese Students.” 1911. The Chinese in California: 1850-1925. Library of Congress. Web. 6 Apr. 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/cubhtml/cichome.htm>.
“Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia.” 1900. Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company: 1880-1920.Library of Congress. Web. 24 Mar. 2010. <http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a08439>.
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Joyce Valenza
Joyce is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University School of Information and Communication, a technology writer, speaker, blogger and learner. Follow her on Twitter: @joycevalenza
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
One Star Review, Guess Who? (#202)
This Q&A is Going Exactly As Planned: A Talk with Tao Nyeu About Her Latest Book
Exclusive: Giant Magical Otters Invade New Hex Vet Graphic Novel | News
Take Five: LGBTQIA+ Middle Grade Novels
The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT