Art and Creative Making in Primary Source Instruction: English Majors, Making Pamphlets
By Caitlin Goodman / In May 2025 I taught my first book-making workshop for a Special Collections class visit.
Teaching the Limitations of AI in Primary Source Research
By Alessandro Meregaglia / This post will discuss the current limitations of using AI to search digitized and born digital primary sources––like newspaper databases, the Wayback Machine, and archival digital collections. I will show examples of how AI fails to identify information in these primary sources, even though they are available online and navigable by humans. My goal is to equip other primary source instructors with a general overview so they, in turn, can inform their students, who might be tempted to think AI is an exhaustive tool for primary source .
Call for Contributions to Notes from the Field: Fall 2025
Notes from the Field, a publication of the TPS Collective, is accepting submissions about teaching and working with primary sources for three series of peer-reviewed blog posts: “Art and Creative …
Teaching between Digitized and Physical Primary Sources
By Alexandra Wieland / In recent years, educators in archives and special collections have added online teaching to their instructional offerings. As educators, we are supported in this work by efforts to increase accessibility to holdings through digitization projects and programs.
The TPS Collective seeks a new Associate Editor for Notes from the Field
The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Collective is seeking a new Associate Editor for Notes from the Field, a peer-reviewed blog that highlights practical lessons from the front lines of teaching with primary sources.
Engaging with Video Games in Primary Source Instruction
By Kyle Neill / In late 2018, the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point Archives began curating a collection of video games. After recognizing an on-campus need for video game related research and receiving much support from faculty and students, archivists successfully presented a proposal to begin development of our Historic Video Game Collection.
Integrating Primary Source Research in Collective Syllabus Design: A Model for “Play” in the Archives
By Elizabeth Coen and Mary Manning In the winter of 2023, I (Elizabeth Coen) partnered with my colleagues in the University of Houston Libraries, Mary Manning (Performing Arts Curator) and …
Call for Contributions to Notes from the Field: Spring 2025
Notes from the Field, a publication of the TPS Collective, is accepting submissions about teaching and working with primary sources for three series of peer-reviewed blog posts: “Paleography,” “Teaching with …
TPS Fest 2025: Tue July 15 / Wed July 23 / Thu July 31
Do you Teach with Primary Sources, or want share and learn with other like-minded people with all levels and types of experience? Come join your colleagues for an informative and fun day, with a variety of attendee-driven conversations, covering all aspects of Teaching with Primary Sources!
Sustainably Teaching Outreach through Book Arts Demonstrations
By John Henry Adams / One of the things that we often try to convey in special collections instructional sessions is the concept of the “book as object” rather than as a vessel for text.