The World Digital Library: Unique Global Primary Sources at your Fingertips

Posted by: Mary Alice Anderson on: January 11, 2013

• In: Curriculum ideas | Media Specialists | Primary Sources | Technology
• 3 Comments

Educators looking for digital primary resources representing world history and cultures will be excited to learn about a growing collection of significant, multilingual resources accessible through the World Digital Library, a Library of Congress global partnership resource.

An interactive  world map on the launch page has thumbnails representing 9 geographic regions. Each image invites browsing through thousands of manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.  Search by topic, region, time period or in one of 7 languages.  Over 40 world languages are represented in the artifacdts.  WDL is a great source for discovering resources for world history and cultures, foreign language, United States History and world literature.  Click the map to begin exploring.  It’s that easy!

How can I  use primary resources like these in the media center and classroom or to support Common Core Standards?
Teaching Digital Media Literacy in the Content Areas: Using Primary Sources 
See what former students have to say

The Interesting History of Prince Lee Boo, Brought to England from the Pelew Islands

 

The book tells the story of Captain Henry Wilson’s shipwreck on Palau and his subsequent encounter with the Palauan people, one of whom, a young prince named Lee Boo, later came to England with Wilson. Prince Lee Boo was one of the first Pacific Islanders to visit Great Britain, and his life and untimely death, only five months after his arrival in London, captured the imagination of the British, and wider European and American, audiences. This work was so popular that between 1789 and 1850, more than 20 English and a dozen foreign-language editions were published in different countries.  Listen to information about this artifact! View the book and Bibliographic record

 

World Digital Library: http://www.wdl.org
About the WDL:  http://www.wdl.org/en/about/

Tags: High school students, MediaSpecialists, National History Day, Primary Sources, World History