History Lab Vocabulary
The History Lab is fun, but it's really a blast when your students are prepared. Use these simple steps to get your students ready to search for clues, investigate evidence, and solve the mysteries of history.
- Review the vocabulary words below with your students to introduce the tools of the trade that historians use when investigating history. The "tools," artifacts, images, ephemera, etc., provide information and clues about past events, people, and places.
- Have students look around the classroom and at home for examples of each tool of the history trade.
Three-dimensional objects made or used by humans.
Printed items, usually made of paper, that are only used for a short period of time.
Posters and movie tickets are great examples of ephemera.
Drawings, paintings, and photographs that show past events, people, places, and objects. Prior to the invention of photography, drawings and paintings were the only
way people could visually record what they saw.
One way to see how places change. Maps come in many forms, including political boundary maps, aeronautical charts, and even
globes. The kinds of maps used and developed in different time periods can provide clues to determining the trends, technologies, and beliefs of the past.
Letters, diaries, and interviews are all part of the People tool. Wondering about an object, event, person, or time period? Ask someone!
These sources of historical evidence can lead us on a journey through time. Books may cover a topic in a more permanent way, while magazines and Internet e-zines reflect current trends.
Encompassing audio recordings, film, video, and online sources, electronic media provides a unique view into the past. Film, video, and audio recordings offer “instant replays” of
past events, interviews, and even popular music.
Someone who saw an event happen.
List of sources.
To search out the truth and solve a mystery.
A person who investigates mysteries.
Things left behind by people who came before us.