For 14 years prior to the American Revolution, there was a school operating in the colonial capital city of Williamsburg, Virginia for enslaved children. This school, named after the Anglican philanthropist, Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray, was intended to further subjugate enslaved children, but how these children reacted to this education, further enlightens this story.
This guide consists of curated primary and secondary sources to help students connect environmental history to broader themes in twentieth century US history.
Help students reflect on the purpose of learning history and of education in general by using Library of Congress primary sources to better understand the history of education of Indigenous people in the United States.
Primary sources from the Library of Congress help students explore a fascinating episode from U.S. history: the campaign to teach children to be more moral.
What do the contents of pockets say about their owners? TAH teachers model strategies for examining and questioning artifacts.
Children’s history, local history, and digital media—combine the three to give your students ownership of the past!
Invite young students into colonial history with the stories of children from three very different families.
What was life like for women and girls on late 19th- and early 20th-century farms?
When and where was this photo taken? See what clues you can spot!
Students examine primary sources related to the life of an immigrant girl and her family to discover what life might have been like at the turn of the century.
Discover resources that will enable you to examine this unique area of American History.
Even American presidents were babies once!
Does a caption change the meaning of a photograph?
What can a quilt, a map, some photographs, a haversack, and a receipt tell you about the past?
Looking for proof that students can handle extensive local history projects? You’ve found it.
Anthony Pellegrino explores the history of one segregated school, and complicates his understanding of a traditional textbook narrative.
Walk through the history of student gardening with documentarian Cintia Cabib, and see how you can use gardens in the classroom.
Being born in the United States was not always a guaranteed path to citizenship.
Bring history home to young students with sources they can relate to—and prompt older students to think about the construction of concepts like “child” and “teenager.”
Make whaling, a rich part of New England history, relevant to young students with the diary of a six-year-old at sea.
Kindergarten came to America in the 19th century on a wave of German Romantic Idealism.
Have you had your shots? Which childhood diseases do these public health announcements address?
Answer these questions about memorials to the life and ideals of MLK.
Binders, buses, and backpacks—consider the history of these back-to-school basics.
How have childhood and gender roles changed over time? Browse five housekeeping books for girls.
Young people in their teens were not thought of as a distinct group, but as young adults who were obliged to work for their living, whether they lived at home or not.
Explore the ins and outs of turn-of-the-century labor law, business, housing, and immigration.
Gamester extraordinaire Comte de Rochambeau?
How many children were at work on the eve of World War II? What types of jobs did they hold?
A 3rd-grade teacher leads her students through analysis of child labor photographs.
A collection of primary sources detailing early Asian-Americans in Tucson, Arizona.
What would it be like to grow up poor? Greek? Mexican? Rich?
Teaching Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War? Explore this storehouse of Lincolnian history.
Experience life in Colonial Williamsburg without visiting Virginia.
What might your life have been like as an African American in Virginia c. 1900?
Relive the construction of the city of steel—Gary, Indiana.
Compare global statistics on topics from infant mortality to literacy.
If you were a pioneer, what would you have to say about your schooling? Students take up their pens and invoke their democratic freedom of the press.
Experience Caucasian, middle-class Northeastern life through the collections of four families.
Create your own thematic exhibits using Library of Congress images.
For story time or personal research, peruse historical children’s books.
Examine the events which led to and the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education.
Explore Brown v. Board of Education through interactive activities and personal recollections.
Try lesson plans based on the Library of Congress’ American Memory collections.
Seek inspiration from classroom visual aids of the past.
What would your life have been like as a housewife in 1850?
Ever wondered about the numbers behind the latest teaching trends?
Potato chip marketing—how a luxury item became an everyday U.S. food.
Explore the Irish Famine of 1846 through the eyes of Irish and English newspapers.
Relive media coverage of the famous Lindbergh Trial through this Hunterdon County Democrat database.
Go back in time and witness the harsh conditions at Japanese Internment Camps during World War II.
Imagine what it might have been like growing up over 100 years ago.
An extensive glimpse into slave life and the history of slavery in the United States.
Catch a glimpse of wealthy turn-of-the-century Wisconsin life and travel in these photos.
Have a question about New York City or state history? More than 750 articles available.
View streaming videos on American folk culture from fox hunting to Zydeco.
Explore the folk lore of Florida—from musical performances and art to occupational lore.
Access works on medicine and health by Clara Barton, Benjamin Coleman, Benjamin Rush, and others.
The U.S. Census counts everyone! It creates a current image of the nation with its diversity and class variations.
Did you know that Micronesia was once a U.N. trusteeship administered by the United States?
How does your view of the American West compare to the visual reality?
What can oral histories tell us about girlhood, adolescence, and more in the United States?
Read Dolley Madison’s personal correspondence from her youth through her widowhood.
Review litigation studies ranging from mental health facilities and jail conditions to equal employment.
Uncover novels, readers, hymnals, almanacs, diaries, maps, treaties, and more from between 1801 and 1819.
Connect 20th-century events and daily life with real human experiences through oral history audio files.
Explore American life through advertisements, literature, poetry, Civil War envelopes, and more!
Did you know that adoption was only recognized as a legal U.S. operation in 1851?
Local history teaches about slavery, emancipation, and freedom in Northern Virginia.
Help students identify with the past via children who lived through the Civil War.
An 8th-grade teacher asks: Was early 20th-century America a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl”?
Looking for ways to use fiction in your elementary history curriculum? Read on for suggestions!
Is it all right to make up stories about real people to teach children about honesty? In the 19th century, some people thought so.
What were the consequences of and motivations for Japanese American removal during World War II?
Use this guide developed by PBS and the Antiques Roadshow to teach about material culture.
Explore the historic sites in more than 50 cities and towns across the U.S.
Cover art and full texts from dime novels preserve the popular culture of an industrializing U.S.
Sixty-four photographs taken by Lewis W. Hine between 1908 and 1912 document child labor conditions.
View contemporary coverage of the Civil Rights Movement from two Roanoke, VA television stations.
Examines 19th-century children in America: what they read, what was written about them, and what was written for them.
Provides teaching and reference materials on the women’s rights movement of the past 50 years.
Presents more than 137,000 photographs of Florida on specific localities from the mid-19th century to the present.
Presents four guided investigations—on the Spanish-American War, the Scopes Trial, Social Security, and Rosa Parks—designed to teach students to read primary sources and construct historical narratives.
Includes more than 300 U.S. government pamphlets and books on home front issues from World War II.
Explore the experiences of those with disabilities through documents and images dating from the 18th century to the present.
Provides full-text transcriptions and page images of 1815–1865 Sunday school books addressing religious instruction for youth.
Experience firsthand accounts of Jamestown and colonial history, dating from 1570 through 1720.
Examine segregation and desegregation through summaries and the court’s opinions for two major cases.
150 oral history interviews and 16 collections of documents address the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi.