These packets include everything your school or homeschool needs to lead students through the process of learning with Maine-based primary sources. Students closely analyze documents, artifacts, images and sound recordings to discover different themes in Maine history. They are scaled for grades 3-12, depending on the topic.

Would it help to have a museum educator work directly with your class? Feel free to book a free virtual primary source workshop. 

Freedom & Captivity Primary Source Sets

   – What Kinds of People are in Prison?

   – Life in Prison

   – Captivity Outside of Prison

   – Working in Captivity

Pandemic Primary Source Sets

   – How do people carry on with life during a pandemic?

   – How do information and misinformation spread during a pandemic?

   – How do pandemics impact different people in different ways?

   – Is it right to control people’s actions during a pandemic?

Bicentennial Primary Source Sets

    – Creating a Maine Identity

    – Mapping Maine

    – Power of Maine’s Vote

    – Slavery and Maine

     – Statehood and the Wabanaki

Why Teach with Primary Sources?

Our materials are designed to let students explore on their own – learning to do the work of historians. We don’t give them all the answers, but instead encourage inquiry and investigation. By interacting directly with materials from Maine’s past, they are able to make up their own minds about what they see, and what it means. It builds their visual literacy and understanding of different perspectives. It’s also just plain more fun to solve mysteries!

Our packets include: 

• A teaching guide
• An introductory document with historical context
• Primary source materials
• Labels explaining what the sources are
• Optional investigative worksheets