Starting Points

Looking for resources for a particular lesson, assignment, or National History Day project? Primary sources, such as the original letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings on this site, help us connect with history, understand the past, and practice critical thinking skills to draw our own conclusions. This website also contains essays and exhibits to help place the primary sources in context.

Making history is a messy process. We recommend both students and educators read about what archivists face in addressing historical inequities.

For Students

Just getting started? We recommend starting with essays and exhibits:

  • Introducing Women’s Activism will give you some background and introduce some of the major themes to keep an eye out for.
  • Biographical Profiles feature individual women's stories with links to related primary sources.
  • Exhibits feature organizations and topics, including an overview and links to related primary sources.

Do you have a particular topic in mind already? Explore our subject guide visualization to refine your topic and find related primary sources.

Ready to explore on your own? These search tips will help you use the website effectively.

Would you like some expert advice? Reach out to any of the archives that participated in this project. They’ll be thrilled to hear from you and can help you find more background information (secondary sources), identify the best primary sources on this website, or even help you find additional primary sources that weren’t digitized for this project.

For Teachers

Primary source sets and lesson plans using sources on the site are under development and will be posted on the Classroom Resources page as they become available.

To inquire about any particular source or research area, please contact the appropriate partner repository or the In Her Own Right project team at inhor@pacscl.org.

For primary source guidance, see the Library of Congress' Getting Started with Primary Sources and the Teaching with Primary Sources Collective Guidelines Toolkit.