Murder and Mayhem - The Great Gatsby: Facts behind the Fiction

Part III

Creating a Literary Newspaper

Students use their familiarity with the American Memory collections, prior knowledge of life during the 1920s, and the events of The Great Gatsby to create an eight-page literary newspaper of historically accurate events from the 1920s and parallel fictional stories based on The Great Gatsby.

1. Using the American Memory collections and following the directions on Part II, each team locates one or more primary source documents/objects from each of the following areas (documents/objects from Part II may be used):
   • News
   • Sports
   • Advertisements
   • Lifestyle
   • Entertainment
   • Editorials
   • Obituaries
   • Business

2. The artifacts selected should illustrate life during the 1920s and an idea, event, or detail from The Great Gatsby.
3. After all the teams have located the artifacts for each of the categories, have them write an eight-page literary newspaper. See Newspaper Directions handout written for students.

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