Happy Friday. This week’s historical highlights feature artifacts from the Canadian War Museum, an annotated map of Middle Earth, a silent film of Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabethan plants, and more.

The U.S. National Archives has redesigned DocsTeach.org, its site featuring student activities using primary sources from American history. Read about it here.

In this ten-minute video, you get a peak into the vault of the Canadian War Museum to see artifacts from their new exhibit, Deadly Skies – Air War, 1914 – 1918.

A rare map of Middle Earth annotated by Tolkien himself goes on display for one day only.

The sister of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond has donated family documents to the Cape Breton University archives.

In the fifth annual “Mostly Lost” film festival, the Library of Congress uses crowd sourcing to identify films from the silent era. 

Speaking of silent films, “The First Biopic of Edgar Allan Poe: 1909 Film by D.W. Griffith Shows the Horror Master Writing ‘The Raven.'”

If you’ve ever wondered what plants the Elizabethans had in their gardens, this article is for you.

“Dressed for diplomacy: How the Queen’s fashion strengthens foreign ties”

Finally, for fans of Lost in Translation: “10 Extremely Precise Words for Emotions You Didn’t Even Know You Had”

I hope the weekend brings you sunny skies, but if the weather doesn’t cooperate at least these historical highlights provide some reading and viewing material to pass the time. 🙂

Update: Don’t miss these “Father’s Day Gift Suggestions from the Patent Files” of the U.S. National Archives.