The
Colorado Primary Sources is a pack of 20 primary source documents that are relevant to the history in Colorado. We have created a
FREE Online Teacher’s Guide for Primary Sources to help you to teach primary sources more effectively and use creative strategies for integrating primary source materials into your classroom. This
FREE Online Teacher's Guide for Primary Sources is 15 pages. It includes teacher tools, student handouts, and student worksheets. Click
HERE to download the
FREE Online Teacher's Guide for Primary Sources.
The Colorado Primary Sources will help your students build common core skills including:
• Analysis
• Critical Thinking
• Point of View
• Compare and Contrast
• Order of Events
• And Much More!
Perfect for gallery walks and literature circles! Great research and reference materials!
The 20
Colorado Primary Sources are:
1. Photograph of Bent's Old Fort trading post – served fur traders in early 1800s
2. Painting entitled Comanche Indians Chasing Buffalo with Lances and Bows by George Catlin – Comanche lived on the high plains of southeastern Colorado – circa 1846
3. Photograph of James W. Denver – politician, U.S. Army officer, lawyer, and actor – city of Denver is named after him – 1856
4. Reproduction of painting of the first house in Denver after commencement of official survey – corner of Wynkoop and 12th Streets – November 1, 1858
5. Photograph of prospectors in Pikes Peak region of Colorado – 1858
6. Illustration of Cherokee Pass through the Rocky Mountains – located near present-day Fort Collins – 1859
7. Map of Colorado Territory featuring the Central Gold Region – 1862
8. Photograph of Chief Ouray and wife Chipeta of the Ute tribe in western Colorado – circa 1865
9. Photograph of Boston and Colorado Gold and Silver Smelting Company workers posing by stacked silver bars in Empire Forks, Colorado – bars weighed 2,200 pounds and were worth $45,000 at that time – 1875
10. Copy of wood engraving of anti-Chinese riot in Denver – white working class feared that cheap Chinese labor would threaten their jobs – 1880
11. Photograph of Ute Chief Sevara and family – 1899
12. Photograph of burros at Colorado silver mine – burros were used to carry supplies to and from mines and haul ore and rock inside mines – circa 1900
13. Photograph of miners being lowered 750 feet down into Colorado mine – circa 1910
14. Photograph of woman representing the National Woman's Party putting up a billboard in Denver – 1916
15. Photomechanical print of the Georgetown Loop Railroad in Clear Creek Canyon – the corkscrew route that rose in elevation was considered an engineering marvel at the time – 1899
16. Photograph of tuberculosis patients on porch of Jewish Consumptive Relief Society building – Denver became known as the "World Sanitarium" due to people flocking there to recover from TB in the Colorado climate – circa 1920
17. Students at Colorado School of Mines learning to use tools designed for underground mineral prospecting – 1942
18. Photograph of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park – largest cliff dwelling in North America – built by Ancestral Puebloans – photo taken 2006
19. Photograph of abandoned buildings in Animas Forks, Colorado – mining ghost town – photo taken 2009
20. Population density map of Colorado – 2010
Your students will:
- think critically and analytically, interpret events, and question various perspectives of history.
- participate in active learning by creating their own interpretations instead of memorizing facts and a writer's interpretations.
- integrate and evaluate information provided in diverse media formats to deepen their understanding of historical events.
- experience a more relevant and meaningful learning experience.
Each primary resource is printed on sturdy 8.5" X 11" cardstock.