Digital Snapshots

Here you can find educator resources and a general lesson plan appropriate for use in classes focusing on Mississippi Studies and U.S. History, as well as in middle and high school classrooms. In this lesson plan, teachers will find engaging activities and historical content related to the Churches - Survey Photograph Collection.

To understand the past and see its impact on the present, students should engage with primary sources from past events. For students to truly understand the documents and have the correct context, teachers must first lay the groundwork for this connection. The teacher should begin this lesson with a brief introduction about religion in Mississippi and the American Deep South, the Great Depression, efforts at the state and federal levels - like the New Deal - aimed to combat the effects of the Depression, and programs that were products of these efforts, like the Works Progress Administration. A short introduction to the Churches - Survey Photograph Collection and a list of additional resources is available here.

The selected images from the Churches - Survey Photograph Collection provides a glimpse at churches that no longer exist due to a variety of natural and man-made reasons, highlighting the role of photography as a form of historic preservation.

Use the button below to access the lesson plan, photograph analyses worksheets created by the National Archives, and learn how you can use the Churches - Survey Photograph Collection in your classroom.