Featured Primary Sources
Women’s History
Nothing can enrich and enliven our understanding of the nation’s past, or dispel apathy about it, more powerfully than primary sources. The primary sources below open up a variety of viewpoints and have been chosen by master teachers specifically for use in the classroom. Affiliate School members can print a packet that includes an image of the document, photograph, or other resource, a transcript where applicable, and text to place the document in historical context. Additionally, you may want to search the Gilder Lehrman Collection itself for other resources to enrich your lessons.
Amelia Earhart to her former flight instructor, Neta Snook, 1929
Creator: Amelia Earhart Curriculum Subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels:
Confederate reaction to “Beast” Butler’s orders, 1862
Creator: P. G. T. Beauregard Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Cotton Mather’s Account of the Witch Trials, 1693
Creator: Cotton Mather Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels:
Eleanor Roosevelt’s four basic rights, 1944
Creator: Eleanor Roosevelt Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:
Henry Knox on the British invasion of New York, 1776
Creator: Henry Knox Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Horace Greeley on a woman’s reform newspaper, 1851
Creator: Horace Greeley Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Lucy Knox on the home front during the Revolutionary War, 1777
Creator: Lucy Knox Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Lydia Maria Child on women’s rights, 1843
Creator: Lydia Maria Child Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Martha Washington on life after the Revolution, 1784
Creator: Martha Washington Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Mary Todd Lincoln on life after the White House, 1870
Creator: Mary Todd Lincoln Curriculum Subjects: Economics Grade Levels:
Sharecropper contract, 1867
Creator: Isham G. Bailey Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Susan B. Anthony on suffrage and equal rights, 1901
Creator: Susan B. Anthony Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics Grade Levels:
The price of war: a letter from Mary Kelly to Sarah Gordon
Creator: Mary Kelly Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911
Creator: Joseph Rumshinsky Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Foreign Languages, Literature, Religion and Philosophy Grade Levels: