You can then take the photograph and put it into your favorite photo editor such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or GiMP.

Once you have it in your editor, start playing with the tone to make it look black & white using a sepia tone filter and then next you will want to blur the edges to give it that slightly unfocused look. Play with different filters to see the different effects they have on the image.

Now for some more advanced edits. If you know how to create layers in your editor, you could take the background from an old photograph and place the modern photo (that you have just revised) on top to give you the rough edges of the photo. This would require you to select a portion of the modern photo and then paste it on top of the new layer.

Here is what the revised image might look like:

Let me know what you come up with.

Have you ever handled a document over 150 years old? The American Civil War left behind a vast paper trail of soldiers’ letters and diaries, as well as newspapers and periodicals; all of these documents provide accounts of crucial events of the era, enabling historians to piece together the events that shaped America’s past during this defining time.

Join American Public University on March 3^rd from 11am-12pm as two authors, Dr. Steven E. Woodworth and Tom Daccord, will discuss researching and handling original Civil War documents through the Internet and how they apply it to their own projects.

Learn More (URL: http://www.studyatapu.com/web-cast/history/civil-war/)

The following is from the Library of Congress Website:

A Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment … a Collection Connection from the Learning Page

Help your students make personal connections with history by considering the lives of a young Union soldier and his family during the Civil War. Through letters and other documents, the collection describes the drudgery of life in military camps, details of troop movements, experiences of a prisoner of war, a soldier’s view of politics, and feelings of homesickness and familial love.

Once your students read and research these primary sources, have them reflect on how they would have felt being in the same situation or perhaps receiving one of the letters from an older brother.

Just a few more simple ways to engage students in history.

Until next time…

Check out the webcast HERE

Photo credit: Selected Photographs of the Civil War

Stay warm…

Hi, Here is another acrostic poem. This time it is about Julia Grant, the wife of the 18th President Ulysses S. Grant.

Julia Grant was born at White House Plantation in St. Louis, Missouri

U. S. Grant proposed to her several times times before she said yes

Lonely without Ulysses Grant

In 1869, she entered the White House to begin, “the happiest period of her life”

Attended 1897 dedication of Grant’s tomb in New York City

Grant’s had 3 sons and a daughter

Received the position of 1st Lady

A family marriage held at the White House

Next to her husband’s grave

The 1st First Lady to write a memoir