Course 150 · Life course 37

Trace a Community Story Through Archives

Follow a local-history question through finding aids, original records, conflicting dates, and a short cited account.

Before you start

Read short excerpts and date labels. All records, metadata, rights cards, and archive descriptions are supplied and fictional. No archive account, travel, family documents, or publication is required.

See everything you’ll need

Practice materials and a worked example · Free download. Download the starter pack

What you’ll leave with

A six-part community-history packet with a bounded question, finding-aid path, record analysis, timeline, citation and rights notes, and a 150–250-word evidence-based account.

Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.

Your project

Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.

Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.

Get your materialsDownload practice filesStart with the supplied materials, follow the lessons, and compare your work with the annotated example.
Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.

Optional course overview

Watch an introduction.

This overview from US National Archives introduces ideas you’ll practice in the lessons.

Watch directly on YouTube

US National ArchivesGetting Started with DocsTeach: Finding and Sharing Primary Source DocumentsYouTube

Course handbook

Know the route before you begin.

Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.

Who this is for

For learners 14+ exploring practical skills for school, work, and everyday life.

Prepare before lesson one

Read short excerpts and date labels. All records, metadata, rights cards, and archive descriptions are supplied and fictional. No archive account, travel, family documents, or publication is required.
Use the time shown for each lesson; it includes the supplied practice, changed-input work, and applied questions. Keep the six lesson outputs for the final project. Optional videos, setup, and any optional real-world extension take extra time.

Your final project

Finish with proof you can use.

A six-part community-history packet with a bounded question, finding-aid path, record analysis, timeline, citation and rights notes, and a 150–250-word evidence-based account.

Save a project record in My Proof

See project checklist and review criteria

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

State a bounded question and a search plan that could challenge the starting caption.
Trace R3 through the correct collection and item locator.
Analyze record purpose and shared evidence before drawing conclusions.
Create a timeline that separates approval, event, publication, and later annotation.
Attach retraceable citations and a rights check to a 150–250-word account with a specific unresolved point.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

The question and conclusion concern the same bounded event.
Record locators, dates, and attendance numbers match the supplied evidence.
The account distinguishes direct support, shared sources, and uncertainty.
Citations support specific claims, and image access is kept separate from reuse permission.

Three ideas to help you along the way

Three useful ideas

The rules behind the steps.

Keep the record’s context

Creator, date, purpose, and collection location affect interpretation.

Separate plans from events

Invitations, attendance records, and later reports establish different things.

Make uncertainty visible

A supported conclusion can coexist with unresolved evidence.

What do these words mean?

Key words

Key terms worth knowing.

Finding aid: A guide describing a collection and how its records are arranged.
Provenance: The origin and context of records, including their creator.
Repository: The institution or place holding records.
Item metadata: Descriptive information about one record, such as title, date, and locator.
Corroboration: Evidence that supports a claim from another relevant record or source.

Your route

6 lessons.
One useful project.

Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.

Use the tools

Tools to help you practice.

See all tools

ZIP · practice files

Trace a Community Story Through Archives practice files

Start with the supplied materials, follow the lessons, and compare your work with the annotated example.

Text worksheet

Your course project worksheet

A downloadable text worksheet with each lesson’s working output, space for your answers, and the shared final-project checklist. Save your own copy.

Source transparency

Sources and further study.

Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.

US National Archives: Document Analysis

Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-12

Inspected the observe, interpret, context, and evidence sequence across document-analysis resources. Exercises here use new fictional records, not copied worksheets.

Access: Public page or PDF inspected without payment or institutional sign-in on September 12, 2026. Optional external accounts are unnecessary for this course.