A Bank, a Library, and a Hospital

The Legacy of Benjamin F. Harris and Julia F. Burnham

Peggy Christensen

Summer Fellowship 2007

To download this lesson in PDF format, click here.

Lesson 2: Students often rely on a Google search to gather information about an individual or event, and they seldom consider where researchers originally found the information. In this lesson, students will examine a page from the Harris family Bible as well as three pages from Benjamin F. Harris’s autobiography, Notes of B.F. Harris, Sr., to learn more about him. They will also note some of the limitations of individual primary sources.

Procedure:

• Distribute the page titled “Deaths” from the Harris family Bible.
• Fill out the Written Document Analysis Worksheet on an overhead so that the class can discuss each section as you write.
• Hand out Worksheet 2 and the pages from Notes of B.F. Harris, Sr.
• Let students work in small groups to fill out Worksheet 2. Each student will be expected to turn in the completed written assignment. They will need the sheet from the Bible as well as the three pages on “The History of Myself and Family.”
• Discuss, collect, and evaluate the worksheet.

Attachments:

• Worksheet 2: The Immediate Family of B.F. Harris
• Written Document Analysis Worksheet developed by the staff of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/written document analysis worksheet.pdf

Analysis of Local Primary Sources: Notes of B.F. Harris, Sr. and the family Bible page from the Harris Vertical File are primary sources available at the Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library, 210 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois.

Ties to National Primary Source: There is no national source in this lesson.

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