Do students really understand the tricky and subjective nature of historical primary sources? Start your school year with this fun primary source mystery activity. Students can learn more about you and develop essential primary source analysis skills for lessons throughout the school year.

Before you teach the lesson in the classroom, you must develop 6 – 8 packages of primary source documents and images. More about that at the bottom of this page. Here are the steps for the activity in the classroom.

First, introduce the lesson with the following discussion questions:

      • How do historians write a biography?
      • Where do historians find the information they need?
      • What types of primary sources might a historian use to write a biography?
      • What types of information might be missing?
      • Where could a historian find this missing information?
      • How do historians “figure out” what happened based on incomplete sources?

Second, place the students in groups of 3 or 4 and describe the primary source mystery students will be solving:

Imagine you are teams of historians living in the year 2400. Someone just dumped a box of old stuff from their attic in your office. Your job is to discover as much as you can about this person or people based on sets of historical primary sources.

Third, distribute the primary source packages, one per group, and a note-taking guide similar to the one pictured below.  Explain that all of the information listed on the guide may not be included in every packet of primary sources. DO NOT allow students to conduct internet searches. Explain they are doing this activity “old-school” without digital sources, like historians have done for thousands of years prior to the internet.

Who Am I Data Collection

Fourth, students will want to ask you questions (because all of the primary sources are about YOU). Encourage students to figure out as much as they can from the sources.

Fifth, after student teams complete their analysis of the first packet, encourage students to exchange packets. Repeat until teams have analyzed as many packets as possible.

Sixth, allow at least 30 minutes at the end of class for discussion. Ask students to stop after they analyze several packets and if they solved the mystery. Of course, they will figure out it is you quickly. Ask each team to report the information they learned from the LAST packet they analyzed (the one they have when you stop the activity).  Then discuss what they learned and ask them to explain exactly which source provided that information. In other words, make students “cite the source” like a real historian.

Students may need initial guidance putting the various pieces of information together in order to make conclusions and a life chronology. For example, I ask the students about the birth date of the subject. At first, they concluded this information is not available. I point out that the high school yearbook provided a graduation date. Students quickly calculate an approximate birth year. I then point to the dated postmark on the envelope of the birthday card (the card included a message that said “Happy 35th birthday) and students are able to guess a birth month. After demonstrating this problem-solving method, students can conclude additional information on their own.

Use the following questions as discussion prompts:

  • What things are still unknown about the subject? Where could this information be obtained? What type of primary source would provide this information?
  • What do you believe when the information provided conflicts? How can you confirm your theory?
  • Are primary sources true or false or does it depend on how they are interpreted by the historian? Do primary sources “lie” or mislead?
    • Compare learning, confirming, or denying information and theories using information from different packages of sources to a historian visiting new archives and discovering new information over time. Explain how historical interpretations change as new information is discovered or re-interpreted.
  • Brainstorm what could be discovered about the subject by studying a wider history of the time period. For example, if you, the teacher, went to high school and college in the 1990s, ask what could be learned by studying the wider events of the 1990s?
  • Ask students to label and categorize the types of primary sources in the packets, such as images, advertisements, personal correspondence, government or public records, financial reports, public or private information, etc. Explore how different types of sources contribute different types of information.
  • Ask students what records will remain of their lives in 200 or 1000 years and what those records will say about them.

“Who Am I?” Primary Source Mystery Lesson Extensions

  • If you are confident that the information about you on the internet is safe for student consumption, follow up by asking students to do an internet search on you to see what additional information they can learn.  Explore how the internet is changing the work of historians and the challenges to future historians because physical sources no longer exist or because technology changes. This is also an excellent time to address internet privacy (or lack of) with your students and the impact of negative information on their futures.
  • Ask students to create their own primary source packages to exchange and analyze. This is a great way for students to learn more about each other.
  • Continue to explore the differences between private and public information. Visit the open records website for your state and learn how to request public information. Plan a field trip to your local courthouse or government archive to see what records exist documenting the lives of Americans.

Making your primary source packages for a great primary source mystery

  • Assemble 5-7 primary source items for each packet; place in large envelope and number each envelope to coordinate with the note-taking guide. If you have large classes, photocopy items so that you can have 2 or more copies of each package.
  • As you create your own packets, use your imagination! But be ready for students to make some surprising conclusions about your life, both correct and incorrect. For example, one student decided I must be really wealthy, a conclusion he based on my $1400 credit card bill. Another student concluded that I had a “really fat sister.” I good-naturedly pointed out that the photograph she was referring to was me before I lost weight. As a final wrap-up, I clarifiy some of the wildly incorrect conclusions so my students do not leave with negative impressions of their new teacher.
  • Select items that will contribute to the “mystery.” Design each package so key pieces of information are missing in a packet, but include a source providing the answer in another packet.
    • For example, I include personal correspondence, bills, and other items with different addresses where I have lived. Evidence of my different jobs was also included in various packets. One of the follow-up discussion challenges is to ask the students to place my jobs in chronological order using the evidence provided. Students are encouraged to look for details, such as dates on the various sources, to help them create a chronology of these jobs and addresses.
  • As you search for primary source documents, images, and artifacts, sort them into themed piles. For example, I collected and sorted items to match the categories on the note-taking guide  – Hobbies, Travel, Jobs, Friends/Family, Schooling, – plus a few fun, random items. As you assemble each packet, choose a primary source item from most but not all of the piles so that information is “missing” in individual packets.
  • BE SURE to review your primary sources and mark out private information you don’t want your students to know such as social security numbers or private cell phone numbers.

“Who Am I?” Primary Source Mystery Lesson Objectives:

  • Students will recognize the obstacles faced by historians when working with primary sources.
  • Students will analyze the subjective nature of primary sources and how primary sources are not “true” or “false” but are interpreted by historians.
  • Students will associate everyday items with the concept of historical primary sources such as images, texts, and artifacts.
  • Students will analyze the many meanings of various primary sources.
  • Students will develop strategies examining primary sources and for discovering more information pertaining to a particular primary source or historical topic.

For more about the history of daily life, historical primary sources, and instructional activities by Cynthia W. Resor, see:

Books:
PriMary Source Bazaar Blog Posts
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About the header image: Lewis Hine photo of glass factory workers in Alexandria, Virginia, 1911. Courtesy of Library of Congress.