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TPS Western Region

Library of Congress

Teaching with Primary Sources

Metropolitan State University of Denver

@TPSMSUDenver

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Keith Patterson: patterke@msudenver.edu

Kile Clabaugh: kclabaug@msudenver.edu

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What the Yellow Kid and Early Comics Can Tell Us About Fake News

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The Library of Congress

1900

Introduction to the Library of Congress

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What are primary sources?

Why should we use primary sources?

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Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study.

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They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without first hand experience.

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Using Primary Source Analysis Strategies Helps:

  • Enrich student understanding of content
  • Build historical thinking skills and context
  • Derive conclusions based on evidence
  • Examine bias, perspective, and POV
  • Reinforce the importance of sourcing

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http://www.loc.gov/teachers/primary-source-analysis-tool/

What do you see?

What do you think you know?

What do you wonder?

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What is Yellow Journalism?

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Joseph Pulitzer & William Randolph Hearst

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Identifying Yellow Journalism

  • Scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
  • Lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
  • Use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
  • Emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips
  • Dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.

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New York World - Feb. 17, 1898

New York Journal - Feb. 17, 1898

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Who is the Yellow Kid?

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Yellow Kid:

Innovator of the American Comic Format

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Last Appearance

May 1, 1898 (New York World)

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Teaching with the Yellow Kid

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What stories do cartoons tell?

Mulberry Street, New York City (1900)

McFadden’s Row of Flats. Oct. 18, 1896 (New York Journal)

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What stories do cartoons tell?

Mulberry Street, New York City (1900)

Mulberry Street, New York City (2017)

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Zoom-In Inquiry Activity

What stories do cartoons tell?

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What objects do you see?

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What people, animals, and objects do you see?

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Is this picture old or new? (clues?)

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What new information do you have?

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What do you expect to see in the next section? Why?

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When do you think this was made? Why?

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What do you think is happening?

What groups are represented or referred to here?

How would you explain this image to someone else?

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What do you know about the history of this image?

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What do you think happened prior to this captured moment?

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What do you notice about the words in this panel?

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The artist has used words as well as pictures. How does the text connect to the images?

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What would you hear?

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What would you smell?

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Do you have a prediction for the last missing piece?

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What additional information does the complete picture provide?

�What biases or stereotypes do you see?

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What do you wonder about who is included and who is left out of the image?

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What can this image tell us about New York in 1897?

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Create a new caption for this image

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  • Write a short story from a perspective
  • Draw the scene before/after
  • Create a poem/song
  • Rewrite the word bubbles
  • Draw this as a modern scene

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LINCOLN SELFIE

“Don’t believe everything you see and read on the Internet…especially when there’s a picture with a quote next to it”

- Abraham Lincoln

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  • 80% of middle schoolers couldn't tell “sponsored content” from real news articles
  • Less than 20% of high schoolers questioned the validity of photographs
  • The vast majority of undergraduate students struggle to evaluate social media posts (on Twitter and Facebook)

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Source: Stanford History Education Group, “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.”

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Yellow Journalism… Fake News… Disinformation… Propaganda… Satire…

What to look out for

Consider the source

Click away from the story to investigate the site and its contact info.

Check the author

Do a quick search on the author. Are they real? Credible?

Check the date

Reposting old news stories doesn’t mean they’re relevant to current events.

Check your own biases

Consider if your own beliefs could affect your judgement.

Read beyond the headlines

Headlines can be outrageous to boost clicks. What’s the whole story?

Are there supporting sources?

Click on the links in the article. Do the links support the story?

Is it a joke?

If it is too outlandish, it might be satire. Research the site and author to be sure.

Ask the experts

Ask a librarian, or consult an unbiased fact-checking site.

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

1800

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The collections include:

1815

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Today

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Library of Congress Established

Purchased 6,487 Books From Thomas Jefferson to Rebuild the Library

Over 170 Million Items in The Library’s Physical Collections

- 72 Million Manuscripts

- 40 Million Books

- 15.7 Million Visual Materials

- 8 Million Items of Sheet Music

- 5.6 Million Maps

- 3.6 Million Audio Items

- 1.8 Million Moving Images

Over 60 Million

Are Available

Free Online

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New York Journal Collection

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loc.gov/collections/new-york-journal/

Where to Find the Yellow Kid

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Amazing Comics Resources

Chronicling America

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chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

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Thanks!

You can find us at:

@tpsmsudenver

tpscolorado@msudenver.edu

msudenver.edu/tps

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