What is Volunteer Voices?
"Volunteer Voices: The Growth of Democracy in Tennessee" is a grant project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services that will allow K-12 educators and students free online access to a variety of primary, or first hand, sources related to Tennessee’s history, culture, government, and industry. The project is a state-wide effort involving collaboration between museums, libraries, historical societies, and archives to digitize over 10,000 artifacts and documents such as historical letters, maps, diaries, journals, art, and images.
The primary goal of the project is to choose resources that significantly relate to the K-12 Tennessee social studies curriculum and other related subjects. The items will be classified by the 10 historical eras described in the curriculum and will provide a means of making history "come alive" for students. In addition, the grant will provide free training to educators throughout the state on how to use the digital library and incorporate it into their classroom lessons to enhance instructional practices.
The Volunteer Voices website will also serve as a portal for educators to gather information regarding using primary sources as well as sample lesson plans incorporating the sources into the Tennessee curriculum standards.