Suggested Time:
1 hour

Building Background:
Show the class a present-day photograph. Have students describe what they see. Encourage them to be as detailed as possible. Make a list of their responses on the chalkboard. Explain that historians examine historical photographs in much the same way as the class just examined the present-day photograph. Historians look for details which will provide a better understanding of the people, events, and time period of the photo. Tell students that they will now be studying historical photographs. They will be looking for clues that may help them draw conclusions about the events surrounding the taking of the photo.

What To Do:

1. Divide the class into several small groups. Distribute a historical photograph to each group. Try to choose photos that clearly show definite time periods either through the style of dress of the people in them or the photo's physical setting.

• If you have Internet access, you and your students can explore these sites for photographs:

  How the Other Half Lives
  (http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html)
  This site contains photos and detailed descriptions of tenement life in nineteenth-century New York City.

  Selected Civil War Photographs
  (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html)
  This Library of Congress site shows the Civil War through photographs. Most were done under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady.

2. Distribute one Examining a Photo worksheet to each group. Have students work together in their groups to study their photographs and complete the worksheet.

3. After groups have completed their worksheets, have each group write two brief paragraphs. The first should describe what students think was happening in the moments before the photograph was taken. The second paragraph should describe what students think happened in the next few moments after the photograph was taken.

4. Once groups have completed their paragraphs, have each report its findings to the class. First, have them discuss what they learned about the photograph after examining it closely. Then have each group present their paragraphs, pointing out details from their photograph to support their conclusions.

5. Encourage the rest of the class to examine the photograph for additional details or to ask questions following the report.

Wrap-Up
Discuss with students the ways in which their observation of details changed as they continued studying their photograph. Have them identify which details gave them more information, which gave them less.

Extensions:

• Have students compare and contrast photos of the same location over an extended period of time. Have them note any changes they see. What do these changes indicate about the changing times? What aspects of the place remain the same? Why do the students feel this is the case?
• Ask students to bring in their own historical photographs. Have them study the details in the photos and try to draw a conclusion as to when each was taken. Once this has been done, have them create a historical photograph timeline on a classroom bulletin board.