Smithsonian's History Explorer Resources Related To "History Explorer Podcast: Investigating Portraiture"

Design Your Own Performance

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:44:35 GMT

In this lesson plan, students will analyze images relating to Celia Cruz and then design a performance to understand the role of aesthetics and style in the performing arts. This lesson is a resource included in the online exhibition entitled ¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.

Camera Creativity and Collaboration

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:43:23 GMT

Take a close look at a famous picture of Martha Graham, then grab your camera and make your own dance photo with a friend or family member. Part of an OurStory module entitled An American Story in Dance and Music, this activity includes a primary source photograph, guided looking questions, step-by-step directions for creating your own photograph, and background information. OurStory is designed to help children and adults explore history together through the use of children's literature, museum objects, and hands-on activities.

Creating Stories: America on the Move Electronic Field Trip, Part 2

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:05:38 GMT

In this electronic field, curators from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's exhibition America on the Move take students behind-the-scenes to show how they develop individual stories for exhibitions and provide guidance to students who want to create their own family stories by analyzing objects, documents, and other resources.

Portraits of a City: The Scurlock Photographic Studio’s Legacy to Washington, DC

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:18:19 GMT

For most of the twentieth century, two generations of Scurlocks documented Washington, D.C.'s African American community and city life. Portraits of a City is a web resource from the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, that preserves and provides access to the photographic archives of the Scurlock Studio. The thousands of images in the Scurlock archives are an invaluable resource for understanding the history of Washington and of the nation.

Understanding Historical Photos

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:28:51 GMT

This resource will help students understand how to analyze historical photos to better understand the intentions of those who took them. Every photograph is both truthful and deceptive. These images were selected to illustrate some of the intricacies in reading historical photographs. This activity is included in the online exhibition entitled Whatever Happened to Polio?

History Explorer Podcast: Portraiture and Identity

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:54:45 GMT

In this episode of the History Explorer podcast series, Shannon Perich, curator in the Photographic Collection at the Museum examines three unique photographic portraits, showing how portraiture and the creation of an image between sitter and photographer, can be used to express many ideas, beyond that of simply a picture of an individual. The resource includes both an audio and image-enhanced podcast, a teachers guide and a student worksheet.