Wrangel Island Teaching Materials

The digitized Wrangel Island collection offers many opportunities to engage college level students in primary source research. The following lesson plan for an individual class session is just one example. It is followed by an optional extended research assignment.

Description: Using a variety of primary sources, the students will explore multiple perspectives on the Wrangel Island Expedition to better understand the complex nature of historical narrative.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the session, students will have developed a deeper understanding of how to interrogate primary sources. Students will learn to synthesize information in different formats to create an argument or narrative.

Pre-class reading: Ada Blackjack Diary, Collating Wrangel Island homepage

Lesson Plan: Divide the students into four groups. Each group is assigned two primary documents from the digitized collections to discuss among themselves. After 15 minutes, each group reports back to the entire class on what perspective on the Wrangel Island Expedition they saw in their documents.

Questions to consider: How does the source of the document shape its version of the reality of the situation? Whose voices are given authority? How do the documents in isolation change when viewed together?

Sources:
Group 1:
Two items that show Stefansson’s pre expedition excitement and post expedition defense

Group 2:
Item 2.1: Frederick Mauer to his mother, September 5, 1921.
Papers of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Mss-98, Box 9, folder 7
 
Item 2.2: Allan Crawford to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, September 6, 1921.
Papers of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Mss-98, Box 9, folder 7
 
Group 3:
Item 3.1: Telegram typescript, Harold Noice to V. Stefansson, August 31, 1923
Papers of Harold Noice, Mss-91, Folder 2
 
Item 3.2: Statement by Ada Blackjack, August 23, 1923.
Papers of Harold Noice, Mss-91, Folder 4
 
Group 4:
Item 4.1: Letter from Crawford to Stefansson, 28 November 1923
Papers of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, MSS-98, Box 9, Folder 17
 
Item 4.2: Newspaper clipping from Toronto Evening Telegram, 29 April 1925.
Papers of Harold Noice, MSS-91, Box 1, Folder 3

Follow up research assignment;
Using the Wrangel Island Digital project materials, choose one of the principal participants and write an account of the expedition from their perspective. Use sources by them, but also by other participants to create your narrative. Feel free to illustrate your narrative with photos from the collection.

The digitized Wrangel Island collection offers many opportunities to engage secondary school students in primary source research. The following lesson plan for an individual class session is just one example. It is followed by an optional extended research assignment.

Description: Using a variety of primary sources, the students will explore Ada Blackjack’s time on Wrangel Island with an emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge shaped her experience.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the session students will have developed a deeper understanding of how to interrogate primary sources. Students will learn to synthesize information in different formats to create an argument or narrative.

Pre-class reading: Ada Blackjack Diary, Wrangel Island home page text

Lesson Plan: Have the class discuss Ada Blackjack’s diary. First, what were their general impressions? After they have given their general impressions, ask them to identify moments when they saw evidence of Indigenous knowledge helping Blackjack survive.

Larger research assignment: Using the following sources ask the students to prepare a short presentation on one aspect of their choosing, related to Ada Blackjack’s experience.

Sources:
Ada Blackjack Diary
Photographs that show Ada Blackjack
Newspaper articles related to Ada Blackjack
Ada Blackjack’s statement to Harold Noice
Any correspondence in the collection related to Ada Blackjack

Most people think primary source research starts at an advanced academic level, but, with proper context, elementary school students can interact with primary sources to tell stories of the past.

Description: After an introduction to the story of Ada Blackjack, students will work with photographic evidence to better envision Blackjack’s experience. They will then use their understanding to try to see through the eyes of a person involved in the Wrangel Island Expedition.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the session, students will have engaged with primary sources to better understand the experience of a polar expedition survivor

Lesson Plan: Tell the students the story of Ada Blackjack’s time on Wrangel Island. Stress her ability to survive where others perished and her personal strength as she battled loneliness, scarcity of food, and the Arctic environment. Point out her ability to hunt and create clothing that would help her survival.

Have the students look at all of the photographs in the collection where Ada Blackjack is pictured. Now ask them to tell you what they see.

Sources: Arctic Photographic files related to Wrangel Island

Responsive writing assignment:
You are Ada Blackjack. What would you write in a letter to your son Bennett while you were alone on Wrangel Island?
You are Ada Blackjack’s son, Bennett. What would you write in a letter to your mother if she were alone on an island?
You are a rescuer trying to reach Wrangel Island. What and who would you bring with you, and why?