This album was created by a member of the TPS Teachers Network, a professional social media network for educators, funded by a grant from the Library of Congress. For more information, visit tpsteachersnetwork.org.

Social Distancing

Album Description

Explore Social Distancing through primary sources and compare and contrast them with today's COVID-19 "Stay Safer at Home" directives.

Spark discussions, discover personal connections, build analysis skills, and increase understanding of primary sources in a variety of formats. 

Applicable to any grade level. Especially useful for online teaching and helping students wrestle with changes that come with Social Distancing.  

Social Distancing, Stay Home, Lockdown, Covid-19

  Pre K - 2   3 - 5   6 - 8   9 - 12   COVID-19   Social Distancing   online learning 

Familiar ghosts. Sketch 1. Ghost of a village lawyer

Teaching Notes

In this cartoon from 1799, why would a peasant want to keep the village lawyer at a distance? 

What do you do when you're on a walk and someone comes much closer than six feet from you? Do you use a pitchfork? Do you wear a mask? 

Reference note

Summary: Cartoon of a well-dressed man with a large head being kept at a distance by peasant man holding a pitchfork.
Contributor Names: Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756?-1811?, engraver
Created / Published: 1799 June 4 [publication date]
Subject Headings: -  Ghosts--1790-1800
-  Lawyers--1790-1800
-  Peasants--1790-1800
Notes: -  Imp. London Published by SWFores No 50 Piccadilly June 4 1799-Folios of Caricatures Lent.
-  No copyright information found with item.
-  Printed above the lawyer: Ah Tom! how are you?
-  Printed above the peasant: If the dost no keep off the Farm [sic]-rabbit me if I donna stick thee-thee canst not fetch a La warrant now.
-  Printed, lower left: Woodward del; lower right: Cruikshank Sculp.
-  The print appears to have been executed after a drawing by George Woodward, but with some variation in design and coloring. See SWANN - no. 757 (A size).
-  Bequest and gift; Caroline and Erwin Swann; 1977; (DLC/PP-1977:215.68)
-  References: Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol VII 1793-1800 / by Mary Dorothy George. London: Printed by Order of the Trustees, 1942 (entry #9470).
-  Exhibited: Graham Gallery, "Cartoon and Comic Strip Art, " 1972.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: cph 3b37331 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b37331

The matinee line is a study in democracy

Teaching Notes

How is a matinee line like "a study in democracy?"

Are the people in the line standing six feet apart?

Can you think of a recent event in the news when citizens had to leave their homes and risk getting COVID-19 to vote in a state election? Were they being brave or foolish? What would you have done in that situation?

What other kinds of events or situations bring people of all classes, races, socio-economic levels, and even nationalities together? Is that happening today? 

  democracy    voting   

Reference note

Contributor Names: Wright, George Hand, 1872-1951, artist
Created / Published: [1919?]
Subject Headings: -  Motion picture theaters
-  Queues
Notes: -  Title on verso.
-  (DLC/PP-1934:0068).
-  Forms part of: Cabinet of American illustration (Library of Congress).
-  Published in: "The Majestic Movies" by Harrison Rhodes, Harper's magazine, 138:183 (Jan. 1919).
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: cai 2a15361 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cai.2a15361
cph 3c34933 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c34933

Broad Street showing Treasury Building in distance

Teaching Notes

Before Social Distancing orders went into effect, some places were far more crowded than others. Discuss how where you live might cause government leaders to be more or less strict about requiring you to socially distance yourself from others. 

Search online for photographs of public spaces before and after COVID-19 related stay-at-home orders. 

  urban areas    human geography    cities    New York City  

Reference note

Contributor Names: Stereo-Travel Co.
Created / Published: Corona, New York City : Stereo-Travel Co., c1909.
Subject Headings: -  Streets--New York (State)--New York--1900-1910
-  Events--New York (State)--New York--1900-1910
-  Crowds--New York (State)--New York--1900-1910
-  Broad Street (New York, N.Y.)--1900-1910
Genre: Stereographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Notes: -  133332 U.S. Copyright Office.
-  Copyright, 1909, by Stereo-Travel Co.
-  No. 20.
-  Title from item.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: stereo 1s07691 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s07691
cph 3b42983 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b42983

The stereograph as an educator - Underwood patent extension cabinet in a home library

Teaching Notes

Between 1870 and 1920, stereographs - two nearly identical photographs or photomechanical prints, paired to produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image - became a popular form of home entertainment. They were viewed through a stereoscope (see the next photo in this album). 

The Library of Congress owns a set of early stereoviews of American cities on the East Coast. Read more about stereographs and stereoscopes HERE

Students learning from home today may have a variety of technologies to connect with their teachers and classmates and to continue their learning online. Others may have little or no access to technology or the Internet. 

Discuss issues of equity and access for all students during the coronavirus pandemic.  

Reference note

Summary: Photograph shows a woman viewing stereographs in her home; she is sitting in front of a fireplace with a cabinet for stereographs on her right.
Contributor Names: Underwood & Underwood.
Created / Published: New York : Underwood & Underwood, c1901 March 22.
Subject Headings: -  Stereographs--1900-1910
-  Recreation--1900-1910
-  Women--Social life--1900-1910
Genre: Stereographs--1900-1910
Photographic prints--1900-1910
Notes: -  H2526 U.S. Copyright Office.
-  Title from item.
-  Copyright 1901 by Underwood & Underwood.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: ppmsca 08781 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.08781
cph 3a09967 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a09967
cph 3a00260 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a00260

Stereoscope and Card

Teaching Notes

Whenever possible, look for personal connections to primary sources. This is a stereoscope and card that belonged to my husband's grandmother. 

What education related artifacts can students identify from their own homes and families? Ask them to take a photograph to share with classmates online. 

The little child in the stereograph card is saying "Bye, Bye Papa." Students may have seen photographs of people behind windows during the coronavirus quarantine. What are some of the concerns of students whose parents leave home every day to work in "essential services?" 

  stereoscope    family artifacts  

All alone

Teaching Notes

Do you miss your friends? Do you feel all alone? Irving Berlin wrote about that in this song from 1924.

Listen to the song several times and jot down words and phrases that describe what you feel when you cannot see your friends, teachers, grandparents, and others during this time of COVID-19. Discuss. 

For teachers, be sure to check out Part I and Part II of the recording of the webinar, "Listening Skills for Content Access in Remote Settings" presented by TPS friend, Dr. Rolly Schendel. Wonderful ideas for incorporating listening skills and primary sources into learning! 

  listening skills    loneliness   

Reference note

Summary: Male vocal solo, with orchestra
Contributor Names: Berlin, Irving: composer
James, Lewis: vocalist, tenor vocal
Reibold, Bruno: instrumentalist, celeste
Prince, Charles Adams: conductor
Lapitino, Francis J. : instrumentalist, harp
Bourdon, Rosario: conductor
Schmidt, Alexander: instrumentalist, violin
Genre: Popular music
Repository: Source of original recording: Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Quarantine Lifted.jpg

Teaching Notes

Analyze this newspaper notice from The Pullman Herald (Washington State, Nov. 15, 1918) - only four days after the armistice. 

What else was happening in 1918?

How was the lifting of the quarantine different or the same as the lifting of rules in different states of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic? 

What have you heard about the lifting of restrictions today? Who has the power to do that? Why or why not? 

Try reading articles to the right and left of the notice to find out what else was happening at this time.

This little notice can go in so many directions!

  quarantine    public health    restrictions  

The lady's guide to perfect gentility in manners, dress, and conversation ...

Teaching Notes

One of my favorite primary sources from the Library of Congress!

Start with the section header, Attentions to others. You may need to introduce unfamiliar vocabulary. 

Students could write or propose a set of rules for Social Distancing in the age of COVID-19. How do they compare to the rules in this book of etiquette from 1857? 

(The page after this page in the guide is worth reading if you'd like to learn how not to be vulgar when raising your skirt to avoid mud!)

(The full title of the guide is The lady's guide to perfect gentility in manners, dress, and conversation...also a useful instructor in letter writing, toilet preparations, fancy needlework, millinery, dressmaking, care of wardrobe, the hair, teeth, hands, lips, complexion, etc.)

  etiquette    manners  

Reference note

Contributor Names: Thornwell, Emily.
Created / Published: Derby & Jackson, New York, 1857, monographic.
Subject Headings: -  Etiquette
Genre: directory
book
Notes: -  By Emily Thornwell ... (statement of responsibility)
-  Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as facsimile page images and full text. (additional physical form)
Repository: Music Division

Isolation Ward I.jpg

Teaching Notes

When immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island, those who had "serious contagious diseases and their combinations such as scarlet fever, diphtheria (a throat infection that could lead to paralysis), measles with scarlet fever, measles with diphtheria, measles with whooping cough, and scarlet fever with diphtheria" were placed in one of several hospitals with isolation wards.

Students could explore the various levels of isolation during the COVID-10 pandemic and discuss why those levels are necessary. How is Social Distancing the same or different? What is PPE? Does everyone have to wear masks? Are hospitals being built with isolation wards? What is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doing to help? 

  isolation ward    quarantine    Ellis Island  

Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the time in singing, instead of standing in line. The scene is at Lonoke, Arkansas, and these drought-stricken farmers ...

Teaching Notes

How would this image of waiting for food compare to images from today?

Reference note

Contributor Names: Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940, photographer
Created / Published: [1930 or 1931]
Subject Headings: -  Disaster victims--Arkansas--Lonoke--1930-1940
-  Singing--Arkansas--Lonoke--1930-1940
Genre: Photographic prints--1930-1940
Notes: -  American National Red Cross Collection.
-  "Disaster Relief Drought of 1930-31".
-  RC no. 23322.
-  Hine no. 71.
-  Unprocessed in PR 06 CN 089 (Lewis Hine Disaster relief Drought of 1930-1931)
Digital Id: cph 3c01404 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c01404