A Teacher's Companion to
Letters from the Front, 1898-1945
Voices of the Wisconsin Past
Background | Vocabulary and Preliminary Activities | Questions
Background
Y.M.C.A. workers dispense food
from a rolling canteen to front-line
troops of the 32nd Division in
Alsace, Germany, June 22, 1918.
Signal Corps photo.
WHi(x3)47086
Several years ago I published the initial volumes of Voices of the Wisconsin Past, a series of books that present episodes from the state's history in the words of ordinary men and women. Drawn from letters, diaries, oral histories, and other first-person accounts, the Voices series relates how historical events affected the people of Wisconsin – folks much like the grandparents and other relatives of today's students.
Historical documents – carefully selected, clearly explained, and presented in a readable format – offer an immediacy not otherwise found in conventional narratives. Reading the words of women and men who don't know how their own particular lives will play out helps avoid the sense of inevitability found in many history books. First-person historical accounts become even more powerful when ordinary people tell their own stories – versions that do not usually make the texts. These accounts reinforce the idea that history doesn't just belong to the politicians, generals, or doers of great things.
To assist students in discovering history's little-known individuals, the Office of School Services has produced this companion to the first book in the Voices series, Letters from the Front, 1898-1945. The activities and questions here also provide students with the opportunity to use primary resources, both those found in the book and those preserved in their families and communities. Howard Kanetzke, retired Curator of Education for the State Historical Museum generated the original list of questions on which these materials are based.
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