Library of Congress Project – 2023
Library of Congress Project – 2023
Teaching with Primary Sources and Humanistic Stories as Told Across Different Media
Project Overview
We embarked on this one-year project in January 2023 inspired by the potential to weave in a new dimension of analysis and new types of stories into the cross-media methodology. By tapping into the stories to cultivate empathy and social/cultural awareness—while also building social perspective-taking, critical thinking, and media/digital literacy skills applicable across academic subjects and disciplines. Funding from the U.S. Library of Congress through the TPS Eastern Region grant program made this work possible and created a new foundation to extend the work of the Harvard X-Media Lab. This project represents the latest expansion of our methodology and advances our mission to help educators tap into the power of storytelling to cultivate empathy and social/cultural awareness—while also building social perspective-taking, critical thinking, and media/digital literacy skills applicable across academic subjects and disciplines.
Theory of Change: Humanistic Stories + Primary Sources + Cross-Media Methods = New Results
This project demonstrated how integrating primary source collections with proven cross-media analytical methods allows learners to experience humanistic stories more fully and uncover new pathways for inquiry, discussion, and academic engagement. Primary sources provided essential historical and cultural context, helping to bring stories from diverse backgrounds to life from multiple points of view.
Methods
To counteract “presentism” and create meaningful connections to contemporary issues and events, the Cross-Media Methodology employs three epistemic lenses—aesthetic, ethical, and academic—as frameworks for interpreting the potential meanings of humanistic stories (fiction or non-fiction) told through different media (e.g., books, films, graphic novels, podcasts, etc.). New insights and deeper learning emerged through comparative analysis of multiple media versions of culturally representative stories. The inclusion of primary source analysis added a powerful new dimension to the learning experience, enhancing relevance for both educators and students.
Collaborators
The project’s vision to evolve the cross-media methodology through strategic use of primary sources was further enriched by our collaboration with Journeys in Film, a leader in film-based education. Their team contributed to the design of professional development opportunities and co-created new resources for educators. [Learn more about the pioneering work of Journeys in Film here.]
Deliverables
The project culminated in the successful development and delivery of two new professional development workshops, introducing the Cross-Media with Primary Sources methodology. As part of this work, we produced an updated instructional guide and companion lesson materials. These serve as a supplement to the original 2013 Educators’ Resource for The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, which was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the events and the film adaptation.
Now, in the 60th anniversary year, we revisited the Watsons’ story with fresh perspectives, highlighting compelling primary source materials from the Library of Congress and collections across the United States to further deepen learning.
You may download both the original and supplemental guides below for educational use only:
- 📄 [Educators’ Resource for The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 (2013)] (PDF, 3.24 MB)
- 📄 [Supplement – The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 Educators' Resource: Focus on Primary Sources (2023)] (PDF)