History & Background

How did Primary Source get started?

In the late 1980s Primary Source co-founder, teacher and historian Anna Roelofs asked "How can we make history and the humanities more exciting for kids?" Meanwhile, co-founder and school administrator Anne Watt inquired "How can we teach kids about places and people that we never learned about in school?" Anne's husband, John, a China scholar, was concerned about how little Americans know about China and other parts of Asia. These visionary educators recognized that the answer to such questions resided with teaching. Stated simply, the more knowledgeable and inspired teachers are, the more knowledgeable and inspired are their students.

Anna Roelofs brainstormed with a few friends about how to get primary sources, the "stuff" that makes history exciting, into educators' hands. She created a 501c3 to do just that. Then, in the summer of 1988, Roelofs met a receptive audience in Anne Watt, whom she encountered when they co-led a workshop at Harvard. The following summer their shared vision launched Primary Source; its first institute attracted sixteen teachers to study world cultures.

After receiving a master's degree in education and working as a teacher and school administrator, Anne Watt received a Ph.D. in Education from UMass Amherst. "Struck by ignorance about cultures that are different from our own" she was committed to making sure teachers have a deep knowledge of a variety of cultures.  Roelofs, with a sociology and social work background, recognized that the growing diversity of schools made it essential to teach students history in which they see themselves accurately reflected.

Formal beginnings and ongoing work

Primary Source was formally established in 1989. Since its early offerings of a few yearly seminars about United States and Central American history and culture for fewer than 100 teachers, it has grown in programmatic depth and geographic reach. Today, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathy Ennis, Primary Source provides programs in a variety of content areas, curriculum resources, and study tours to teachers throughout New England. It has served more than 10,000 teachers and, through them, reached approximately 1 million students. In 2006 the Founders Endowment was established to create a permanent source of annual revenue to strengthen and expand programs.