In order to give students an opportunity to personalize their learning through writing, two teachers of a high school American civilization class designed a biographical scrapbook project. The project objectives were to have students read about one person significant in the development of United States history and literature of the Revolutionary era, to collect specific information necessary to a biographical understanding of that person, to recognize and summarize the contributions of that person to United States history and literature, to convey information through various methods within a scrapbook format, to write both creative and expository articles, and to compile a bibliography. The following types of scrapbook entries had to be included: a birth certificate; diary entries or letters; newspaper articles; sermons, speeches, or essays on a specific topic; an obituary and epitaph; a time-line; a Who's Who entry; and a lead to a speech introducing the historical figure. An interview with one of the students revealed that the student had to think like the character in order to write like him. The student also wrote the least complex entries first. For other entries, the student had to imagine herself in a different time and place and assume the roles of authors different from herself. Clearly, writing history rather than writing about history can help students learn about both writing and history. (HOD)