Resources
Conferences for Educators
The National Endowment for the Humanities is sponsoring several national conferences for teachers and school librarians, which be held in Boston, Chicago, and Newark. The conferences will provide training opportunities for educators who have already received the Picturing America collection. For more information, visit the websites of Primary Source
in Boston, the Newberry Library in Chicago, and the Newark Museum. Find out more.
EDSITEment
EDSITEment is a partnership among the National Endowment for the Humanities, Verizon Foundation, and the National Trust for the Humanities. The site offers a treasure trove for teachers, students, and parents searching for high-quality material on the Internet in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and history and social studies. Please see the home page for access to special resources related to Picturing America, as well as the Picturing America Bookshelf.
A Head Start on Picturing America, Office of Head Start
In cooperation with NEH, the Office of Head Start has provided the Picturing America collection as well as the support book A Head Start on Picturing America to all Head Start programs across the nation. A PDF of the support book may be downloaded from the Office of Head Start’s Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) Website.
NEH Picturing America Web Site
Created by NEH, the Picturing America Web site offers a wealth of project-based resources for teachers, school librarians, and other educators.
NEH Teacher’s Resource Guide
The Picturing America Teachers Resource Guide is published by NEH and has been provided to all Picturing America grant recipients. This link includes a complete PDF version of the Guide.
Picturing America Image Download Gallery
The Image Download Gallery contains digital files of many of the artworks featured in Picturing America. This copyrighted material that may only be accessed by public librarians participating in NEH’s Picturing America initiative, for use conducting free educational library presentations during the project term. If your library has received Picturing America, you may login or register for a user account. Other non-grantees may login, but will not have access to image files.
Picturing America Image Introductions
Staff at the Wilbraham Public Library recorded Picturing America Image Introductions that correspond with many of the American artwork featured in the collection. This link includes audio files for download.
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)
VTS offers a structured, widely respected, research-based method to support viewers of any age in making meaning out of what they see. The necessary ingredients are a group, a facilitator, and an interesting image. For more information, visit Visual Thinking Strategies or read about how the District of Columbia Public Library staff used VTS to enhance their Picturing America programs.
We the People Bookshelf on Picturing America
Each year, NEH identifies a theme important to the nation's heritage and selects books that embody that theme to build the We the People Bookshelf, a collection of classic books for young readers. The theme for the 2008–2009 Bookshelf is “Picturing America.” This site contains the K–12 reading list, programming ideas, and links to curriculum resources.