Creator: Library of Congress | visit site
Grade Range: 6 - 11
This site has film clips of American Factories, The McKinley Era, New York circa 1900, San Francisco before and after the earthquake, and other indexed historical early films. The clips are long, so take a few minutes to download, but the results could illustrate a history lesson or a communications study. This site also links to Edison’s early motion picture and sound recordings. Students can also use these for primary research for National History Day or other major projects.
In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector. Because the clips are long, make sure to preview them to help decide whether to play the whole thing or just portions. This videos would be great to use during a study of Edison, or even the content covered in the videos. It could lead to a very interesting conversation as to the value of videos as resources, and what criteria we should judge them by.
At Home
Share some of these fascinating film clips with the entire family, and then go to a public library to get more information that might have interested you.