The US National Archives is an all around good resource for history teachers to have bookmarked. I’ve written about some of their services in the past (here and here) and today I’d like to remind you of the National Archives Today’s Document feed. Everyday Today’s Document features a new image or document from the archives. The documents are usually accompanied by some additional research links and lesson plan resources.

One of the documents recently featured in the Today’s Document feed was a petition to the US Government signed by Hopi (Moqui) Chiefs. One of the interesting things about this document is the way that the document was signed with the symbol of each family in the tribe.

Applications for Education
This document could be used with a wide range of grade levels. At the middle school or high school level the petition could be part of a lesson on the way the US Government redistributed land to Native Americans following the Dawes Act. The symbol-signature aspect of the document could be used in an elementary school lesson about cultural differences between European-Americans and Native Americans.