Historical Source Lesson: Photographs
| ALL GRADES
For the Educator: Use this historical source lesson with the sample analysis page (as a handout or overhead) to illustrate where to find and how to use photographs. Download full-page sample analysis Image as jpg. |
Relevant Standards: When presented with the interpretive lessons and projects herein, this lesson meets Michigan Content and Benchmark Standards for Social Studies: V:1 Information Processing
What are photographs?
Photographs are representations of the past. While researching the Fruit Belt, we found photographs that showed migrant workers, labor housing, family farms, parades, and machinery from the past. We used photos to understand how people in the Fruit Belt lived, worked, and interacted with each other in the past; but also to understand the particular ways people represented themselves. It is important to remember that photographs are often posed, and can be misleading.
Where can you find them?
We found our photographs at the Library of Congress, the State of Michigan Archives, and the Regional Archives (WMU). The archives at FMHS and private donors in the community also offered many photographs for our use. We also found many magazines, newspapers, and books that contained photographs from the past.
How do you interpret them?
Analyzing photographs can be easy and fun, and can also tell us a lot about the past. Following these steps can help you to clearly and effectively interpret the photographs you find.
Look carefully at the photo. Identify buildings, people, and objects. What is happening in the photo? Why do you think the photo was taken, when, and by whom? Where does this scene take place? Can you compare this scene to anything in today’s world? What can you suggest about the people in the photograph, their emotions and relationship to each other? What do you think the photograph is trying to communicate?
Asking questions like this can help you understand the photograph and what it tells about the past. After you’ve answered your questions, you can use the information you gathered to create a story about the past shown in the photo.
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