Teaching Historical Research
Using Primary Sources:
World War II Documents

INTRODUCTION

The exercises in this guide are designed to aid student understanding and interpretation of historical sources by providing examples of some common types of primary source material found in a manuscript collection. All primary materials in this lesson plan are housed in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia (WHMC), a joint collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri and the University of Missouri. The original documents may be viewed in WHMC's reading room on the university campus in Columbia, or may be borrowed through intercampus loan at any of the other three UM campuses in Kansas City, Rolla, or St. Louis.

All primary source documents in this manual relate to World War II, creating five lessons connected to one major theme. Within that theme are exercises relating to different facets of the war, including the daily experiences of a regular soldier, the reminiscences of a prisoner of war, a look at a wounded soldier, statistics about expansion of manufacturing and military facilities for the war effort, and details about some home front activities.

The teacher guide for each section outlines learner outcomes, describes content, poses discussion questions, and proposes further activities to help the instructor design a lesson around the content of the document provided, as well as develop opportunities for further learning. The exercises are designed to be reproduced for classroom use, their structure making them ideal for cooperative learning groups. However, assessment is strictly the responsibility of the teacher; student mastery of the skills in these lessons may be determined by class participation and discussion, rather than by specific answers to the questions posed.

There are also several excellent secondary sources available that would be valuable for use as background material about the war. One volume that might be useful in understanding how children reacted to the war is, Daddy's Gone to War, by William M. Tuttle, Jr., Oxford University Press, 1993. The chapter about the activities and reactions of school-age children is especially interesting.