This resource provides a detailed lesson focused on using eyewitness accounts, representing a range of different perspectives, to write reliable accounts of historical events. Students begin by examining alternative reports of a single event: the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. After reading and comparing newspaper reports and memoirs written about the fire, students produce a research report explaining how they would use these primary source materials to write three kinds of history: a factual account of the fire, a description of the historical experience, and an interpretation of the fire's historical significance. Next, students consider a unique eyewitness account, the diary kept by a Confederate girl when her Tennessee town was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. The lesson asks students to evaluate the reliability of this primary source and to draw up a list of questions they would want to ask and issues they would want to explore before making this eyewitness report part of the historical record. To conclude the lesson, students apply their research skills to present-day eyewitness accounts, gathering published examples or conducting interviews, and produce a report on their value and use as historical evidence. Links to primary documents and other instructional materials are available at the website. (author/ncl)

Arts & Communication students can study, interpret, and compare/contrast the newspaper articles and eyewitness accounts. Analyzing the numerous photographs from 1871 which accompany this lesson will appeal to the photography and filmmaking student. Environmental Management students may research the effects of disasters (natural and man-made) on cities, regions, and the United States as a whole. Public Safety students can compare today's standards for search and rescue to those in effect in the 1870s. Industrial and Engineering Systems students may analyze the volatile nature of the fire by noting discrepancies in building and construction materials used then vs. the housing and building codes implemented today. Manufacturing students can study the cost of rebuilding Chicago in 1871 and compare those costs to today's dollars. Health Services students will benefit from noting differences in medical care from the 19th century to the 21st century. Career-technical students can use this site as a model for a research paper. The students will utilize information-gathering skills, document analysis, and critical thinking.