Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History

Conducting historical research with primary sources has been traditionally reserved for scholars who had the means to physically visit historical sites, libraries, and archives. The scholars were typically university faculty and graduate srudents who had resources to travel to museums or libraries with collections of primary sources. K-12 teachers and srudents were often excluded from conducting authentic historical research with primary sources outside of their local communities because they lacked the time and money to visit remote sites that housed such primary documents. K-12 teachers and srudents who sought opportunities to go beyond the tertiary source of their textbook or library resources were often disheartened with the limitations on doing historical research in the classroom.