Free resources for teachers and students
Founded in the history of literature, science, medicine and more. Everything here is free to use in class, and built on the primary sources in Hearth Library.
Classroom units
From Once in a Lifetime, a First-Hand History of Pandemics. Each unit asks one big question and draws on several sources.
Unit 1
Who Gets Blamed?
Why do epidemics produce scapegoats?
- Discourse on Epidemic Qi, and a Brother's Letter Cao Zhi, 217–218
- The Plague Comes to Messina and Catania Anonymous of Catania, 1348–1361
Unit 2
The Healer's Burden
What does an epidemic ask of those who care for the sick?
- The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians Thucydides, 430–400 BCE
- Preface to the Treatise on Cold Damage Zhang Zhongjing, 200–206
- The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at Carthage Cyprian, 252–253
- The Plague at Constantinople Procopius, 550–551
Unit 3
Governments, Quarantine, and Consent
When may authorities restrict people to stop a disease?
- The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians Thucydides, 430–400 BCE
- The Great Epidemic of 735–737 Shoku Nihongi, 735–797
- How to Care for the Sick in the Epidemic of 737 Council of State, 737
Unit 4
Explaining Disease Before Germs
How did people make sense of what they couldn't see?
- The Plague at My Country House, and a Life for a Life Aelius Aristides, 170–175
- Preface to the Treatise on Cold Damage Zhang Zhongjing, 200–206
- Discourse on Epidemic Qi, and a Brother's Letter Cao Zhi, 217–218
- The Plague at Constantinople Procopius, 550–551
- How to Care for the Sick in the Epidemic of 737 Council of State, 737
- The Plague Comes to Messina and Catania Anonymous of Catania, 1348–1361
Unit 5
Faith and Catastrophe
How did religious believers respond, and did responses differ?
- The Plague at My Country House, and a Life for a Life Aelius Aristides, 170–175
- The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at Carthage Cyprian, 252–253
- The Plague at Constantinople Procopius, 550–551
- The Great Epidemic of 735–737 Shoku Nihongi, 735–797
- The Plague Comes to Messina and Catania Anonymous of Catania, 1348–1361
- The Plague in the Bishop of Rochester’s Household William Dene, 1349–1350
Unit 6
After the Plague
Did epidemics change societies, or did people go back to normal?
- The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians Thucydides, 430–400 BCE
- The Plague at Constantinople Procopius, 550–551
- The Plague in the Bishop of Rochester’s Household William Dene, 1349–1350
Unit 7
Case Study: Smallpox
How did a terrifying disease become the only one ever eradicated?
- The Great Epidemic of 735–737 Shoku Nihongi, 735–797
- How to Care for the Sick in the Epidemic of 737 Council of State, 737
Unit 8
Reading Sources Critically
How do we decide whom to believe?
- The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the Athenians Thucydides, 430–400 BCE
- The Plague at My Country House, and a Life for a Life Aelius Aristides, 170–175
- Preface to the Treatise on Cold Damage Zhang Zhongjing, 200–206
- Discourse on Epidemic Qi, and a Brother's Letter Cao Zhi, 217–218
- The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at Carthage Cyprian, 252–253
- The Plague at Constantinople Procopius, 550–551
- The Plague in the Bishop of Rochester’s Household William Dene, 1349–1350
Reading guides
Sources in the library with discussion questions, key vocabulary and a classroom activity, at the end of each page under “For teachers.”
- The Plague at Athens, and Pericles Answers the AtheniansThucydides, 430–400 BCE. 4 questions, 8 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- The Plague at My Country House, and a Life for a LifeAelius Aristides, 170–175. 4 questions, 6 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- Preface to the Treatise on Cold DamageZhang Zhongjing, 200–206. 4 questions, 7 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- Discourse on Epidemic Qi, and a Brother's LetterCao Zhi, 217–218. 4 questions, 7 terms, an activity. Accessible.
- The Plague as a Test: A Bishop's Sermon at CarthageCyprian, 252–253. 4 questions, 8 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- The Plague at ConstantinopleProcopius, 550–551. 4 questions, 8 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- The Great Epidemic of 735–737Shoku Nihongi, 735–797. 4 questions, 8 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- How to Care for the Sick in the Epidemic of 737Council of State, 737. 4 questions, 6 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- The Plague Comes to Messina and CataniaAnonymous of Catania, 1348–1361. 4 questions, 6 terms, an activity. Moderate.
- The Plague in the Bishop of Rochester’s HouseholdWilliam Dene, 1349–1350. 4 questions, 6 terms, an activity. Moderate.
Practice
Read the original: match phrases of Greek, Latin, Chinese, Japanese and more to their English, and learn the words that carry the meaning. These exercises are now games on Hearth Games, in Word for Word.
Coming next
In preparation
Encyclopedia
Short articles on the people, places, ideas and inventions behind our sources and games. The first entries will cover the history of spaceflight, for Space Hotel Ltd, and the early Americas, for Lost Settlement.
For Space Hotel Ltd and Lost Settlement
In preparation
Teaching with our games
Guides for using each game in class: the real history and science it draws on, what it simplifies, and which primary sources to read alongside it.
For Space Hotel Ltd and Lost Settlement
In preparation
Printable source worksheets
One-page worksheets for reading any source in the library closely: who made it, when and for whom, and what it can and cannot tell us.