This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
New Hampshire students can now read George Washington’s letters, learn about a woman who ran for governor before being allowed to vote, and review the will of a former enslaved man that was written after he bought his own freedom in 1770.
The documents are part of a collection released last month by the New Hampshire State Archives in response to recent changes in state law and educational administrative rules to state history curriculum requirements.
“Whenever you have a state law that’s passed or you have a requirement, it’s always about the pressure and support – the pressure to follow the law, but then what resources are out there to support those impacted by the law?” said Lily Woo, the Secretary of State’s civic and voter education coordinator. “And I think this from the Archives’ teacher resources really helps educators.”
Archival staff selected 27 documents across six categories: the Revolutionary War, the U.S. and state constitutions, the Vietnam War, women, Native Americans, and African Americans.
The collection will grow in the coming years, State Archivist Ashley Miller said.
“We’re polling teachers to see what they want to see, what they’re teaching, because we have all these wonderful records,” Miller said. “What better place to learn New Hampshire history than directly from the source?”
The documents – many of which are written in cursive that is difficult to parse – come with transcriptions to facilitate comprehension. The collection also features a two-page worksheet designed by Woo to guide students in reviewing the primary documents.
Woo, a former Bow High School social studies teacher, said the resources lend themselves to a variety of activities. She proposed, for example, breaking a class into groups to analyze each of the 10 Vietnam War documents.
“You could give each group one of the resources,” Woo said, “and it empowers the students to have to analyze the document and talk about what they wanted to pull out.”
One of the documents is a poignant letter from Vietnam War veteran David B. Senter, who recalled watching three fellow soldiers die in a helicopter explosion. Senter wrote in 1990 that he “managed to bury [the] memory in a secluded corner of my mind; but the ‘CHALLENGER’ disaster brought it all back like a flood.”
Woo proposed showing students the footage of the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster alongside their review of the letter. The video, she said, can “help students understand deeper why that moment triggered this memory for the Vietnam veteran.”
Woo’s favorite document in the collection might also be its most famous: New Hampshire’s 1788 ratification of the U.S. Constitution. As the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, the founding document officially took effect upon Granite State’s ratification of it.
“It really does propel America further along the path of its own story,” Woo said.
The release of the documents comes as the country prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and is part of a renewed focus on social studies and civics education in the state. The New Hampshire Historical Society has been leading the way over the last decade to develop a new, open-source elementary school social studies curriculum with a New Hampshire focus. The curriculum, called Moose on the Loose, also relies on archival documents and has been lauded as a blueprint nationally.
In addition to expanding the Archives’ collection of historical documents, Miller said she wants to be a resource for teachers across the state.
“We are happy to get out there in classrooms if they can’t come here; we’re happy to do virtual,” Miller said. “We want to help.”
In an effort to increase excitement surrounding New Hampshire history, the Secretary of State’s office is launching a new award for high school students this year. The 6/03 award will be given to the student who submits the best project that relies on archival documents. Projects can be submitted as papers, videos, podcasts, or in other forms.
“There is nothing cooler than getting to hold history in your hands,” Miller said.