Early Washington Maps: A Digital Collection

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Map, "Hermiston Oregon," Umatilla Project Development League, 1910
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The nearly 1,000 maps available on this site document the conflict between Great Britain and America for ownership of the region. They also illustrate the transformation of the physical boundaries of the Pacific region and the efforts of its inhabitants to control the land. The site includes a valuable interactive timeline that presents the maps in historical perspective. The collection contains large-scale geographic maps of the land and sea and small hand-drawn sketches of settlements. The maps are very detailed and most were created in the late-19th- and early-20th-century. Maps are primarily concerned with geography, transportation, climate, population, culture, politics, and tourism and there is a searchable index that is organized according to 21 themes, such as forests, Puget Sound, railroads, Seattle, Washington State University, and Native American reservations.

A drop-down menu allows users to examine and enlarge thumbnail images of each map. Biographical and detailed descriptive text (most between 20 and 500 words) is presented with each image, and the text is searchable by keyword. Created as a resource to help students, teachers and researchers understand the history and development of the state of Washington, this site will appeal to those interested in Washington, historical geography, and the development of cartography.

Coal and the Industrial Revolution

Question

How can the story of coal help students understand the nature of today's fossil-fueled world?

Textbook Excerpt

Most textbooks explain the phenomenal growth of the American economy during the industrial revolution by some combination of immigration, urbanization, the rise of mass production, the inventiveness of great scientists, the development of extensive infrastructure, the rise of corporations, government subsidies, the "laissez-faire" legal environment, and the bounty of America's natural resources.

Source Excerpt

Sources reveal a society suffering from growing pains, with environmental and human rights concerns not yet keeping pace with the huge demand for raw coal and power to support rapidly expanding systems of infrastructure and industry. A nationwide dependency on mining sprang up unplanned, at the root of many of the changes in the U.S.'s culture and economy.

Historian Excerpt

Historians also treat economic growth during the industrial revolution as the product of many factors, but some seek out explanations and track changes beyond the few tidy categories laid out in textbooks. How, for instance, did the U.S. transition to coal power, and how was that transition both driving and driven by urbanization, mechanization, and a growing infrastructure? What effect did it have on the environment and living conditions?

Abstract

Why did the American economy take off in the late 19th century? What were the consequences of the nation's industrial ascendancy? Textbook treatments of what some historians call the "second industrial revolution"—the period of rapid and tumultuous economic expansion that stretched from the 1860s into the 1900s—can seem superficial and unsatisfying in comparison to neighboring sections on social change, political conflict, and cultural ferment. A better understanding of the story of coal, too often ignored by textbook authors, can provide students with important understandings about the nature of today's fossil-fueled world.

Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History

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Detail, Nature Transformed
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This collection of essays, commissioned from distinguished scholars, is designed to deepen content knowledge and offer fresh ideas for teaching. Essays begin with a thorough overview of the topic. “Guiding Discussion” offers suggestions on introducing the subject to students, and “Historians Debate” notes secondary sources with varied views on the topic. Notes and additional resources complete each essay. Essays include links to primary sources in the National Humanities Center’s Toolbox Library and are part of the larger TeacherServe project.

Visitors can browse 17 essays, divided into "Native Americans and the Land," "Wilderness and the American Identity," and "The Use of the Land." These focus on the changing ways in which North Americans have related to the natural world and its resources. Topics include, among others, “The Columbian Exchange,” “The Effects of Removal on American Indian Tribes,” “Cities and Suburbs,” and “Environmental Justice for All.”

Useful for teachers looking to expand their content knowledge beyond the information and viewpoints presented in textbooks, and to get a taste of historians' debate over the interpretation of history.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Article Body

As stated on the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) website, the organization's "mission is to work with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."

While the menu for the FWS website is daunting, skip the "Kids, Educators, Parents" section, and try "History." The former is aimed toward the exploration of nature and the biological sciences, and would need modification for the history classroom.

For starters, under "History," educators can find four virtual exhibits, covering the National Conservation Training Center, Pelican Island, conservationists Olaus and Mardie Murie, and an FWS vessel, the Otter. The exhibits are small and largely text-based, although the exhibit on Pelican Island provides historical images. While specialized, the exhibits may prove of use for regional West Virginia history or information on conservation movement founders.

Additional resources include nine small historical images; period documents related to Rachel Carson, the U.S. Commission of Fisheries, and professional jargon; articles on topics ranging from fishery history to the limits of agroecology; law enforcement and FSW timelines; lists, including individual stations' centennial time capsule contents (what did employees feel best represented their station?); and oral history transcripts. Note that there are links to larger document databases, including FWS news releases dating as far back as 1914, under documents. This is easy to overlook, as other featured items are more prominent.

The Fallen Comrades list also provides insight into historical events. Listed deaths include the 1958 disappearance of the F.W.S. Grumman Goose N-720 and an employee, Lindgren, murdered by Italian hunters in 1922. Lindgren's death was used by journalistic factions to increase anti-immigration fervor.

Additional information of historical significance, particularly statistics, is tucked throughout the site. Try reading about climate change, wildfires, and wetlands trends.

If your students are animal lovers, consider having them select an endangered species, perhaps from their state. Each species' page includes federal documents related to their identification and recovery. These documents display how government interacts, not just with society, but with the country's fauna, a component of history which often goes unremarked.

Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920

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Image for Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
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These published works, manuscripts, images, and motion picture footage address the formation of the movement to conserve and protect America's natural heritage. Materials include 62 books and pamphlets, 140 Federal statutes and Congressional resolutions, 34 additional legislative documents, and excerpts from the Congressional Globe and the Congressional Record. An additional 360 presidential proclamations, 170 prints and photographs, two historic manuscripts, and two motion pictures are available.

Materials include Alfred Bierstadt paintings, period travel literature, a photographic record of Yosemite, and Congressional acts regarding conservation and the establishment of national parks. An annotated chronology discusses events in the development of the conservation movement with links to pertinent documents and images.

National Park Service

Article Body

The National Park Service oversees a wealth of places and resources to visit and for hands-on and classroom instruction in American history.

For Teachers introduces educational materials focusing on history and culture available through the National Park Service.

Teaching with Historic Places offers lesson plans, classroom activities, and professional development opportunities to help educators bring places on the National Register of Historic Places into the classroom and to prepare for local field trips. Curriculum modules are based on national U.S. History Standards.

Teaching with Museum Collections is a guide to teaching history with material culture.

Teacher Resources for Archaeology show how to explore archaeology to bring the earliest history of North America alive.

Discover Our Shared Heritage lists America's historic places, alphabetically and state-by-state.

A Place for Kids and Teachers links to professional development opportunities for educators.

Traveling Trunks names hands-on artifacts and describes learning kits to borrow and/or purchase for classroom use.

History: The National Park Service

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Logo, NPS History and Culture website
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Historical aspects of many of the 384 areas under the National Park Service's stewardship are presented in this expansive site. A "Links to the Past" section contains more than 25 text and picture presentations on such diverse history-related topics as archeology, architecture, cultural groups and landscapes, historic buildings, and military history. Of particular interest to teachers, a section entitled "Teaching with Historic Places" features more than 60 lesson plans designed "to enliven the teaching of history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects" by incorporating National Register of Historic Places into educational explorations of historic subjects. Examples include an early rice plantation in South Carolina; the lives of turn-of-the-century immigrant cigar makers near Tampa, Florida; a contrast between the Indianapolis headquarters of African-American businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker and a small store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, that grew into the J. C. Penney Company, the first nationwide department store chain; the Civil War Andersonville prisoner of war camp; President John F. Kennedy's birthplace; the Liberty Bell; Finnish log cabins in Iowa; and the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Saugus Iron Works. Especially useful for teachers interested in connecting the study of history with historic sites.

Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

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Image, Page from the journals, Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
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This well-designed site presents the Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals, edited by Gary E. Moulton. The site provides the complete text of all the journals from the 1803–1806 expedition, as well as introductions, prefaces, and sources. The material is searchable by keyword and phrase.

There are 29 scholarly essays about the expedition. An image gallery offers 124 images of pages from the journals, 95 images of people and places, and 50 images of plants and animals encountered on the expedition. The maps section includes 12 explanatory maps and nine images of maps from the journals. Additionally, there are 27 audio excerpts of journal readings and eight video interviews with the editor of the project. The website stands as an outstanding resource for researching the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Harvesting the River

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Color offset lithograph, "Whistling In," Bartlett Kassabaum, 1980
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Presents a narrative in exhibit format—with hyperlinks to archival documents and photographs—on the cultural and economic life of the people who came to the Central Illinois River region from 1875 to 1950. Organized into three sections on the harvesting of fish, waterfowl, mussels, and natural ice; transportation by boat, railroad, and plank roads; and the settlement and development of six area river towns. The site delivers oral histories (audio and video), as well as illustrations and photographs. It may serve as a useful introduction to those studying this particular region and regional history in general.

American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920

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Title graphic, American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
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This site is a collection of 253 travel narratives written between 1750 and 1920. The narratives were written by American citizens and foreign visitors about their travels in America. Some of the accounts were written by famous Americans (James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving, for example), but most of the authors were not famous. The narratives include their observations and opinions about American people, places, and society; and are valuable sources for the study of early American attitudes. Most accounts are viewable either as scanned images or as transcribed texts. Also included is the 32-volume set of manuscript sources entitled Early Western Travels, 1748-1846. The collection is searchable by keyword, and may be browsed by subject, author, and title. Students and teachers will find these primary sources invaluable for research and study of the late 18th and 19th centuries.