Andrew Jackson Elected President in 1828 (American Memory)

Posted on | December 3, 2009 | View Comments

Andrew Jackson was elected the 7th U.S. President 181 years ago today.  Since Jackson is one of the most famous of Presidents and because there is so much information on him, I thought I’d just do a simple post showing the ease of using the Library of Congress’ American Memory website to quickly find various types of primary sources in a variety of formats.

First step is to go to the American Memory website.

You’ll then see a search box with the words “Search all collections” above it.  Enter in “Andrew Jackson” here and click the search button.  You will then get a large list of available items related to Andrew Jackson.

If you’re looking for pictures or other media click on the “Gallery View” button towards the top of the site within the baby blue rectangle.  This will filter out non-media related search items.  This is the quickest way to immediately find some primary sources to work with.  You will now see a table of thumbnails of images you can click on to view.

This way of searching is not simply for pictures either but as you can see from the results, there’s scans of manuscripts and other related items.  It’s really very easy and you can see how quickly you can find primary sources to include in your lesson plans.

Please note, however, that in most cases the pictures fall under the Fair Use, meaning you can use the pictures in your classroom or lessons but not necessary all images are. Please check all copyright restrictions if you’re unsure.

I hope this quick lesson helped you get some quick and initial success in finding things to enhance your teaching.

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