Search | Read Write Think

Historic American Buildings Survey, Roger Sturtevant

Lesson By

Dr. Michelle Fanara

Citation

Historic American Buildings Survey, and Roger Sturtevant. Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, First & Spain Streets, Sonoma, Sonoma County, CA. 1934. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ca1118.photos/?sp=1.

Source Type

Photographs and Prints

Suggested Grade Band: Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12

Describe How Students Will Engage with the Source

Students begin by analyzing the black-and-white image of Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, focusing on its simple architecture and public-facing façade. Through guided discussion, students explore how the physical preservation of the mission might obscure or reinterpret its colonial history. They then read selected stories from Jaime de Angulo’s Indian Tales, which offer an Indigenous-centered view of California landscapes. Students reflect in writing on how de Angulo’s imaginative folktales offer a spiritual and cultural counternarrative to the mission system. Their final response compares the power of visual structures and oral storytelling in shaping collective memory.

Historical/Community Context for the Primary Source

Founded in 1823 by Father José Altimira, Mission San Francisco Solano was the last and only mission established under Mexican rule. It was built to extend Mexico’s northern frontier and counter Russian settlements, but it caused significant controversy among Franciscans and disrupted the lives of Native Coast Miwok and Patwin peoples through forced conversion, labor, and displacement.

Source: https://www.californiamissionsfoundation.org/mission-san-francisco-solano/

Instructional Focus Question(s) for Discussion

Teacher’s Overarching Question
What does the photograph of Mission San Francisco Solano reveal—and obscure—about its historical role in Sonoma’s landscape?

Supporting Questions

How does the mission’s placement within the town square influence how viewers interpret its significance?
What architectural features in the image communicate authority, permanence, or cultural dominance?
What perspectives or stories are absent from this visual record, and how might those absences shape collective memory?

Extension Question
If you could pair this image with a story or oral history from a community member, what voices or perspectives would you choose and why?

Standards Connection (State)

Standards Connections

California

ELA Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CA RL.11-12.2: Determine two or more central ideas and analyze their development over the course of a text.

Social Studies Standard
HSS 11.3.3: Analyze how the settlement of the West affected Indigenous communities and contributed to conflict.

NCTE Standard 5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Instructional Design

Begin with a silent visual analysis of the photograph. Students note the mission’s architecture, surroundings, and visibility in Sonoma’s landscape. Use guiding prompts to spark discussion: What role did this mission play in shaping California’s northern frontier? Who might this image serve? What’s missing from it?
Provide historical context: explain that Mission San Francisco Solano was built in 1823 to expand Mexico’s control and to challenge Russian settlers. Emphasize the role of the Coast Miwok and Patwin peoples, who were displaced, converted, and forced to labor under the mission’s influence.
Introduce excerpts from Indian Tales by Jaime de Angulo. These folktales, rooted in Native oral traditions, highlight animals, nature, and spirit beings as cultural carriers. Select one or two stories for close reading and group discussion. Students annotate for tone, personification of place, and moral/spiritual layers while considering: How do the stories in Indian Tales reflect a deeper, place-based knowledge of the land?
Lead a class discussion contrasting the mission’s rigid, Eurocentric structure with de Angulo’s fluid, landscape-driven narratives. Pose the question: In what ways does storytelling serve as resistance or reclamation? and extend it to What can stories recover that history books and buildings often ignore?
For the final activity, students compose a short reflective response that pairs a feature of the mission (e.g., the bell tower, the chapel, the fence) with a symbol or figure from Indian Tales. They should explain how this pairing reclaims the space’s deeper memory.
As an optional creative extension, students write an original short myth or fable set in their own town, reclaiming a local site through narrative.

Tags:

California frontier, Coast Miwok, Patwin, Cultural reclamation, de Angulo, Jaime , Indian Tales, Indigenous narratives, Literary analysis, Missions, Narrative voice, Oral tradition, Place-based literature, Primary source analysis, Resistance through story, Storytelling, Symbolism, Visual analysis

Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources

Highsmith, Carol M. La Purísima Mission, Lompoc, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013632530/.

Highsmith, Carol M. Old Mission San Juan Bautista in San Juan Bautista, a city in San Benito County, California. 2013. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013634732/.

Subject/Topic:

Geography, history, social studies, Language, literature, folklore

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

Lesson By

Dr. Michelle Fanara

Citation

Bardell Fototone Miniatures, and Pacific Novelty Co. Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, founded 1772. 1923. Postcard. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2025662032/.

Source Type

Photographs and Prints

Suggested Grade Band: Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12

Describe How Students Will Engage with the Source

Students will begin with a visual inquiry of the 1923 postcard, analyzing colorization, architectural details, and the romanticized portrayal of the mission. They’ll consider how media like postcards influence public memory and historical perception. The class will then read “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko, a short story about the intersection of Native and Catholic traditions. Through discussion and writing, students will compare how the mission system and Catholic imagery are interpreted both in the postcard and in Silko’s narrative. Students will write a short reflection on how place and ritual can be sources of both tension and healing.

Historical/Community Context for the Primary Source

Founded in 1772 by Father Junípero Serra, Mission San Luis Obispo was the fifth of California’s 21 missions. Located in the Central Coast region, it served as a religious, cultural, and agricultural center during Spanish colonization. The Chumash people were relocated to the site, where they endured religious instruction, loss of land, and labor. The mission has since been restored and now functions both as an active parish and a preserved historical site.

Source: https://missionscalifornia.com/missions/mission-san-luis-obispo-de-tolosa

Instructional Focus Question(s) for Discussion

Teacher’s Overarching Question: What does the 1923 postcard of Mission San Luis Obispo reveal about how missions were visually presented to the public in the early twentieth century?

Supporting Questions

How do the postcard’s composition, color choices, and perspective convey a particular narrative about the mission?
What visual details suggest an idealized or romanticized version of the mission’s history?
Which elements or perspectives are absent from the postcard, and how might those omissions shape a viewer’s understanding?

Extension Question
Choose another example of religious architecture in California. How does its visual presentation compare to its actual history?

Standards Connection (State)

Standards Connections

California

ELA Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CA RL.11–12.6: Analyze how point of view shapes a text’s content and style.

Social Studies Standard
CA HSS 11.3.2: Examine the effects of westward expansion and the displacement of Native peoples.

NCTE Standard 3
Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features.

Instructional Design

This lesson centers visual literacy and cultural critique by combining historical imagery with Indigenous storytelling. Begin with a whole-class observation of the 1923 postcard of Mission San Luis Obispo. Ask: How does the postcard image present a particular narrative about the mission? What story is it telling? What’s missing? Consider color, composition, and intended audience. Introduce brief historical context, focusing on the mission’s founding, its role in colonization, and its present function in civic life.
Next, students read Leslie Marmon Silko’s “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” annotating for moments where spiritual traditions coexist and conflict. Ask: What cultural tensions arise in Silko’s story between Native and Catholic burial practices? Discuss how the story’s juxtaposition of Catholic rituals and Pueblo customs serves as a springboard for understanding how Indigenous communities reframe imposed belief systems.
Facilitate a class discussion: In what ways do stories and architecture preserve or distort histories of colonization? Compare the visual portrayal of the mission to Silko’s more nuanced narrative of religion, power, and community.
Students then write a comparative analysis that synthesizes their findings from the image and the text.
Finally, for a creative extension, students design a postcard or mini-poster of a sacred space in their own life, annotating its significance and layered meanings. This synthesizes visual storytelling with personal reflection and historical awareness.

Tags:

California missions, Comparative analysis, Cultural conflict, Imagery, Indigenous literature, Literary interpretation, The Man to Send Rain Clouds, Narrative perspective, Place-based narratives , Postcard analysis, Primary source analysis, Silko, Leslie Marmon, Storytelling, Symbolism, Theme, Visual literacy

Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources

Highsmith, Carol M. Church in Chinese Camp, a small settlement in Tuolumne County, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013634024/.

Highsmith, Carol M. Old Mission San Juan Bautista in San Juan Bautista, a city in San Benito County, California. 2013. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013634732.

Subject/Topic:

Geography, history, social studies, Language, literature, folklore

A Minnesota Dugout

Lesson By

Sierra Gilbertson

Citation

Detroit Publishing Co. A Minnesota dugout. Between 1900 and 1910. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016814530/.

Source Type

Photographs and Prints

Suggested Grade Band: Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8

Describe How Students Will Engage with the Source

Students will identify resources that were used to build the dugout and discuss the challenges of building and living in one. After learning about the Homestead Act, students will consider who would be most likely to be able to take advantage of the act. By the end of the lesson, students will understand that the requirement to build a home on a property and improve the land over five years was a challenge that required resources, skills, and support. They will also understand that these needs, along with the government’s decision to offer this land, impacted migration and settlement.

Historical/Community Context for the Primary Source

From 1862–1988, the United States provided 160 acres of unappropriated public land to individuals who were at least 21 years old or the head of a family for a small filing fee and the commitment to show improvements to the land, including building a house, over five years. This policy led to the development of communities of settlers who supported one another; however, it also resulted in a loss of Indigenous ancestral lands.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Homestead-Act

Instructional Focus Question(s) for Discussion

What materials, skills, and other resources would be needed to build a house like the one in the photograph?
Why might someone want to build a house like the one in the photograph?
How might your life be different if you lived in a house like the one in the photograph?

Standards Connection (State)

Standards Connections

Minnesota

ELA Standard

6.1.4.1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a text says explicitly and inferences drawn from the text; summarize the text.

Social Studies Standard

6.4.22.2. Examine the history and memory of migration and immigration in Minnesota during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the impact of immigration on Indigenous peoples.

NCTE Standard 1

Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

Instructional Design

Project the image and guide student analysis by asking these questions:
- Take a look at the house. What materials do you see that were used?
- Where do you think the materials came from?
- What else might have been needed to construct this house?
- What might be some challenges to living in a house like this one?
- What might make it worthwhile to live in a house like this one, despite the challenges?
After discussing the photograph, students will read or listen to chapters 1–2 of an oral history from the Minnesota Historical Society.
Have students create a three-column chart with the following headings:
- Materials from the Environment
- Materials Not from the Environment
- Nonmaterial Resources (Help, Skills, etc.)
Have students complete the chart in groups to list what would be needed to construct a house similar to the one in the photograph.
After groups are done, project a blank chart and complete it as a class with each group sharing their ideas. When groups share their ideas, prompt them to point out details from the photograph to support the inferences that they make.
Read the article to students and show the video about the Homestead Act from the National Park Service.
Have students Think-Write-Pair-Share for each of the following questions. Discuss each question as a class after students have completed the Think-Write-Pair-Share for the question.
- Who was most likely to benefit from the Homestead Act? What evidence supports this? How?
- Who was likely to be harmed? What evidence supports this? How?
- Who would neither benefit nor be harmed by the Homestead Act? What evidence supports this? How?
- What might Minnesota look like today if the Homestead Act never existed?
Assign students to expert groups to discuss how the Homestead Act might have impacted the demographics and/or creation/development of the following areas in Minnesota. Their responses should include evidence from the texts examined in class.
- Rural areas
- Small towns
- Reservations
Assign students to jigsaw groups and have students share the responses from their expert groups.
After students are done sharing in their jigsaw groups, reflect on learning through whole-class discussion.
Have students complete an exit slip in response to the question: If you had the opportunity to claim land through the Homestead Act, would you? Why or why not?

Tags:

Discussion, Group work, Multimedia, Primary source analysis, Visual literacy, Writing to learn

Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources

Lee, Russell. Homesteading shack built into the side of a hill. Williams County, North Dakota. 1937. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017780851/.

Subject/Topic:

Geography, history, social studies

Foundation of old building

Lesson By

Sierra Gilbertson

Citation

Vachon, John. Foundation of old building on the edge of the world's largest open pit iron mine. Hibbing, Minnesota. When ore was found to lie under the town, in 1919, most of Hibbing was moved, building by building, to its present site a mile south. What is left of North Hibbing is now rapidly vanishing as mining operations expand. 1941. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017813580/.

Source Type

Photographs and Prints

Suggested Grade Band: Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8

Describe How Students Will Engage with the Source

Students will make observations about the location in the photograph. Next, students will make inferences about the functions of the structures and environmental aspects in the photograph. Then, students will imagine the evolution of the place from before the photo was taken to today. Students will then read texts about the location to determine if their inferences were correct and to discover how and why the function of the place changed over time. Finally, students will collaborate with others to imagine future functions of the place that will meet the needs of the various stakeholders in the rural community.

Historical/Community Context for the Primary Source

Iron and taconite mining have been significant contributors to Minnesota’s economy for over 100 years. However, most of the ore has been depleted, leaving the future of the industry and mines uncertain.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/place/Minnesota

Instructional Focus Question(s) for Discussion

What can you infer about the evolution of the use of place in the photograph?
1. Based on your observations of the structures and landscape in the photo, what can you infer about the place’s function?
2. Using what you know about how places change over time, what do you think this area looked like 50 years before the photo was taken? 150 years before? Why?
3. Using what you know about how places change over time, what do you think this location looks today? Do you think it is still rural? Why?
In the future, what might be a good use of the space captured in the photograph? Why?

Standards Connection (State)

Standards Connections

Minnesota

ELA Standard

7.3.1.1. Exchange ideas through storytelling, discussion and collaboration, intentionally considering the perspectives of Dakota and Anishinaabe people as well as other perspectives.

Acknowledge and elaborate on others’ ideas.
Use tools to collaborate with others both synchronously and asynchronously.
Cooperate, mediate, and problem solve to make decisions as appropriate for productive group discussion.

Social Studies Standard

7.3.14.1. Describe how physical and human characteristics and power structures influence the function of places over time.

NCTE Standard 11

Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Instructional Design

Project the image and inform students that it was taken in Minnesota in 1941. Then, have students respond to each of the following questions via Think-Write-Pair-Share.
- - What do you observe about the structures in the photograph?
  - What do you notice about the landscape?
  - Using what you know about how places change over time, what do you think this area looked like 50 years before the photo was taken? 150 years before? Why?
  - What do you think this location might look like today? Why?
After discussing the responses, provide students with additional contextual information included in the image title.
Distribute the Mesabi graphic organizer. Have students read the following texts in expert groups, adding relevant information to the chart:
Create new groups for students to share information about their assigned text with others to complete the charts.
After students have finished the charts, pose the question: What impact did the reliance on mining have on this rural community?
Next, pose the question: What can be done with this part of the Iron Range in order to meet the needs of all stakeholders?
Have students brainstorm the different stakeholders (e.g. nearby farmers, Ojibwe/Anishinaabe, miners, mine executives, other citizens of Hibbing).
Assign students to groups with each group representing a different type of stakeholder. In these groups, students will collaborate to determine what is most important, their demands, negotiables, and non-negotiables. They should conduct additional research to ensure that their ideas are supported by the perspectives that they are representing.
When groups are finished, define, provide examples, and discuss when it might be best to use of each of these discussion moves:
- Acknowledge others’ ideas
- Elaborate on others’ ideas
- Cooperate
- Mediate
- Problem solve
Place students in mixed stakeholder groups of 4–5. Each student will participate from the perspective of the stakeholder previously assigned to them. They will develop a consensus of what should be done and why. These paragraph responses will be written electronically as a group.
After all groups have finished writing their paragraphs, debrief as a class:
- How did the discussions go? Explain.
- Take a look at the agreements from the other groups. What are some trends? What stands out to you?
Have students complete an exit slip in response to the question: Did your group’s solution seem to be a fair compromise for all stakeholders? Why or why not?
Extension opportunity: Students can identify a place in their community that has been neglected. Then, they can collaborate to propose a use for it and share their idea through a letter to the people currently in charge of it. Resources and tips are available in the Read-Write-Think lesson Write letters that make things happen!

Tags:

Advocacy letter writing, Authentic learning, Discussion, Graphic organizer, Group work, Perspective taking, Primary source analysis, Visual literacy

Alternative or Complementary Primary Sources

Vachon, John, photographer. North Hibbing on the edge of the world's largest open pit iron mine. The old town of Hibbing is gradually being demolished as the pit grows larger. United States Rust Mine Minnesota Mahoning Mahoning-Hull-Rust Mine Saint Louis County Hull, 1941. Aug. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017813557/.

Subject/Topic:

Geography, history, social studies

Afterschool and Summer Reading with LGBTQ Content

Motivate your middle school reader with books that include LGBTQ characters.

Let's Go On A Poetry Walk!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and you're surrounded by brilliant shades of green! Observe and collect sensory images from nature and use the sights, sounds, smells, and textures to create original nature poetry.

Go Wild with Webcams!

Can't make it to a zoo? After reading a book about apes, observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many Webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world.

Star Light, Star Bright: Reading and Writing about the Nighttime Sky

Children watch the nighttime sky come alive as the read a book about fascinating elements in the night and write a poem/story about the things they learn!

TeenTober?!? Learn about this month-long celebration.

TeenTober is a nationwide celebration hosted by libraries every October and aims to celebrate teens, promote year-round teen services and the innovative ways teen services helps teens learn new skills, and fuel their passions in and outside the library.