Outlines; Suggestions for Use of Libraries; Arrangement of Notebooks; Preparation of Written Reports, etc., etc.
The History Teacher’s Magazine
Volume I.
Number 3.
PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER, 1909.
$1.00 a year
15 cents a copy
Wall Maps for History Classes[1]
BY DONALD E. SMITH, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
There are few persons who will question the importance of a liberal use of good maps as a supplement to and even a part of the teaching of history in high schools and colleges, and there are few teachers who are not perplexed by the difficulties in the selection and use of these essential aids to the teaching of their subject. Owing to the considerable cost of this kind of apparatus there is bound to be the ever-present financial difficulty. Owing to the great number of publications purporting to meet the needs of the history teacher, from small outline maps costing less than a cent apiece to elaborate atlases costing fifty dollars, there is a great range of choice within which there is no little difficulty in deciding just what cartographical aids are best for the problem at hand. As the financial question is always dependent upon local and particular considerations, and as the actual handling of maps is a subject in itself large enough for a separate article, I will limit myself to the matter of the selection of the best maps.
It is assumed, of course, that a selection has to be made. There are few institutions wealthy enough to buy indiscriminately everything offered for sale, and even were that generally true, an indiscriminate use of good and bad materials could not be countenanced anyway. The question is then, what are the most useful maps that may be made available for schools with but limited means at their disposal.