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Educator Resources


Core Curriculum & Information Literacy Standards

National Council for the Social Studies Curriculum Standards

NJ Social Studies Standards
Standards to foster understanding, appreciation, critical thinking, information literacy and other knowledge skills among New Jersey students experiencing social studies.

Statement on Excellent Classroom Teaching of History
Criteria endorsed by the American Historical Association for establishing and assessing the teaching of history by educators and educational institutions at all levels.

Common Core Curriculum Standards, Language Arts/Literacy-History and Social Science Connections.

NCSS C3 Framework
Connects Social Studies Learning to the Common Core Standards

Statement on Excellent Classroom Teaching of History
Criteria endorsed by the American Historical Association for establishing and assessing the teaching of history by educators and educational institutions at all levels.


Using Primary Resources in Education

National Archives: Docsteach
Provides resources and activities for using primary sources to enrich instruction about history and social studies.

Library of Congress: Resources for Teachers
A comprehensive learning site with guidance on how to use both primary and secondary sources to inform history and social studies instruction.

Library of Congress: Lesson Plans
Includes lesson plans using oral history resources from the Library of Congress, among many others.

The Learning Page: What are Primary Sources?
An excellent guide to identifying and using primary source materials in all formats. Includes both teacher and student activities to learn about using primary sources.

New Jersey Historical Commission, Materials for Teachers
Links to resources on New Jersey history for classroom teachers.

Using Primary Sources on the Web
From the University of Washington library, this is an excellent resource, for educators and students (high school and higher) on identifying, finding, using and citing primary source materials on the web.


Oral History Resources

Please contact us if you would like to add your own Oral History project to this list.

Introduction to Oral History

Now What Was I Talking About?
A brief introduction to oral history, by Howard L Green, Public History Partners.


New Jersey Oral History

Center for U.S. War Veterans' Oral Histories
Provides details of oral history video recordings of war veterans, with some of the videos available via the web site.

Rutgers Oral History Archives
Recordings of the personal experiences of those who lived through the major conflicts of the last century. The experiences are recorded as in-depth interviews.

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
A list of oral history interview transcripts of interviews with medical professionals that are available to researchers in the University of Medicine and Dentistry Library's Department of Special Collections.

Rutgers-Newark in the 1960s and 1970s Oral History Collection
Located in the Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives, this set of 60 oral histories documents the activism which took place on the Rutgers-Newark campus in the 1960s and 1970s.

Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies. Jazz Oral History Project
Features a "collection of tapes consist[ing] of 120 oral histories of seminal pre-Swing Era and Swing Era jazz musicians recorded between 1972 and 1983". Some of the oral histories can be downloaded as transcripts or audio via the website.

Rutgers-Newark: Krueger-Scott Oral History Project
Oral history collection documenting African-American migration to Newark, NJ during the period 1910 to the 1970s.

Queer Newark Oral History Project
Oral history collection documenting queer culture and life in Newark, NJ.

Newark Public Library, Latino Oral History Project
Oral histories of Latinos in New Jersey, collected and preserved by the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center at the Newark Public Library.

The College of New Jersey--Hurricane Sandy Oral History Project
Oral history narratives compiled to preserve the memories of people whose lives were affected by the storm and its aftermath.

Monmouth County Oral Histories
Oral histories collected to document the history of Monmouth County, NJ.

Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park—Oral History Project
Oral history collection documenting the lives of people who lived in Paterson and surrounding towns.

Westfield Historical Society
Information on the Westfield Historical Society's Oral History Project, including a list of transcripts available by email.

Triumphant Spirit: America’s World War II Generation Speaks
A series produced by Brookdale’s TV Production staff, features interviews with 35 veterans.


General Oral History Sites

H-Oralhist
"H-Oralhist is a network for scholars and professionals active in studies related to oral history."

Oral History Association
The premier professional organization for the theory and practice of oral history in the United States. A “must visit” site for anyone interested in oral history.

Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region
A professional organization dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of oral history in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

Library of Congress. Veterans Oral History Project
This list is a selective, annotated compilation of the many existing oral history projects, programs and collections dedicated to recording and preserving the experiences of veterans and civilians.


For Educators

Library of Congress American Memory Project. "Using Oral History"
"This lesson presents social history content and topics through the voices of ordinary people... Using excerpts from the collection, students study social history topics through interviews that recount the lives of ordinary Americans."

Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History
A detailed “how-to” guide for those interested in collecting oral histories.

Oral History Resources from "History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web"
A guide to Oral History and resources for teachers.