FREE Primary Source Analysis | 1920s Mugshot | Read a Booking Record Activity

A free primary source starter: students study a real 1928 New York police photograph of Bugsy Siegel, then decide what a mugshot can and can’t tell a historian.

What can one police photograph tell us? In this free starter, students examine a real public-domain booking photograph from 1928: Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, photographed by New York police with his booking number and the date on a board.

They complete a quick See, Think, Wonder, read the board for themselves, and answer five questions that build from simple retrieval to a short judgement: how useful is this photograph to a historian studying organised crime, and what does it leave out?

Perfect as a starter, a homework task or a taster before a Prohibition or organised crime unit.

What’s included

• 1 student page: the photograph, a record panel, See, Think, Wonder and 5 questions
• 1-page answer key with a teacher note
• 1 teacher page: how to use it, a sensitivity note, and the full lessons it leads into

Licence

Free for classroom use by one teacher. The photograph is public domain (New York police, 1928).