Material and Symbol: the Lincoln/Keckley Dress

Note: The online Activity for building a virtual exhibit, which parts of this lesson refer to, is no longer available. Students can still choose sources from the object pages, write their own annotations, and present them to the class.

Activity 2: Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Consider Multiple Perspectives the Lincoln-Keckley Dress

  1. Watch the introductory movie together as a class. http://objectofhistory.org/objects/intro/dress/, then discuss the information presented in the film about the history the Lincoln-Keckley dress.
  2. Visit the Virtual Object section in the Introduction. http://objectofhistory.org/objects/onyourown/dress. Ask students to remember the importance of closely examining objects when using them as historical evidence. Provide them with a few minutes to use the Quicktime Virtual Reality version of the Lincoln-Keckley dress.
  3. Allow students to spend time examining the sources in the Explore section of the Lincoln-Keckley dress Object Lesson http://objectofhistory.org/objects/explore/dress/. Remind students that the Explore section contains primary and secondary sources, organized into three main categories:
    1. The Object category containing sources related to the Lincoln-Keckley dress as a piece of material culture.
    2. The Object in History category containing sources related to the Lincoln-Keckley dress.
    3. The Object in the Museum category containing information related to how NMAH acquired and displayed the Lincoln-Keckley dress.
  4. Remind students that the video clips of the curators discussing the objects constitute the secondary sources on the site. All the other materials are primary sources.
  5. Remind students that each primary source is accompanied by supporting information that is essential to critical historical thinking. First, at the top of the source, is an annotation that provides contextual information. Second, at the bottom of the same, is the sourcing information, including author, title, and date of creation. Instruct students to consider all of this information carefully as they work.
  6. Ask students to write a thesis sentence that illuminates or expands on the following statement from the point of view of either Elizabeth Keckley or Mary Lincoln: The dress that Elizabeth Keckley made for Mary Lincoln represented success for both women.
  7. Instruct students to go to the activity section of the site, where they can curate their own virtual exhibit. They should give their exhibit a title and type their thesis statement into the exhibit description textbox.
  8. Then, students should order the six items (1-6) they selected from the Lincoln-Keckley dress materials and annotate each item, explaining how each one supports their thesis statement. Students should also consider additional contextual information that they may have at their disposal (class readings, lectures, etc.) when they write these annotations.
  9. When students have completed annotating their materials, they should click the "Submit your virtual exhibit" button. The system will create an exhibit with a unique URL. Students should use the form provided to email the URL to you themselves and to their teacher. They may also want to bookmark the page in their browsers.
  10. Finally, students should present their virtual exhibits and discuss them with the class.