The Heartland of America Museum offers students a learning experience into the past. We are a heritage museum that features 32 major exhibits and 38 aisle exhibits and 10-12 lobby exhibits. Our exhibits show in detail how their ancestors lived and worked and played. We offer artifacts of all kinds including: antique cars, tractors and buggies; toys and games; military items from WWI to the Gulf Wars; electronic media equipment including camera, video, tape, telephone & telegraph; musical instruments and more. Some of the exhibits include a General Store, Drug Store w/ Soda Fountain, Barber & Beauty Shops, Doctor & Veterinarian Office and much more. The museum also offers three major outbuilding exhibits including a completely furnished one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop and an authentic refurbished Route 66 Diner that was visited by Elvis Presley on several occasions and features a copy of his signature from the guest book.

If you happen to be looking for federal primary sources from Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Illinois, a good spot to check is the Chicago office of the National Archives and Records Administration. Records available include bankruptcy records, Chinese Exclusion case files from Chicago and St. Paul, Michigan and Illinois Selective Service System Name Index records, and naturalization records. Other topics represented in the collections include, but aren't limited to, African American history, Depression era history, disasters, espionage, and maritime history.

Consider looking through the site's finding aids to get a sense of the collections available on location.

When visiting, be ready with an official photo ID and willingness to fill out a short form concerning your interests. Leave your pens behind (pencils are permitted), and prepare to leave your belongings in a locker or in your car.

Looking for more directed opportunities? Check out the archives' upcoming events. If you teach in Illinois or Indiana, you may even be eligible for continuing education credit.

In addition to the aforementioned public programs, there are workshops designed specifically for teachers. Find them (and more opportunities) under the Workshops heading.

Archivists are ready and willing to help your students define their research topics and select appropriate primary sources, for National History Day projects or other endeavors.

The National Archives and Records Administration: Rocky Mountain Region offers access to federal photographs, paper documents, architectural drawings, and maps created in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana between 1847 and the 1990s, as well as to archival materials from North and South Dakota created after 1972. Topics represented include homesteading, Indian agencies, reclamation projects, mining, naturalizations, the World War II homefront, territorial court records, railroads, bankruptcy, genealogy, and national parks, among others.

With so many topics, how can you find what you need? Luckily, the region offers a list of online finding guides, specific to their holdings.

In addition, the region offers tours of the facilities, presentations of their holdings and services to students, and internship opportunities. Tours and presentations require appointments, and presentations can be made at the Lakewood, Colorado, facility or elsewhere. Availability of presentations made anywhere other than the main facility is subject to travel budget considerations.

NARA's Rocky Mountain Region branch is dedicated to providing professional development opportunities for educators. With advance notice, the archives provides three workshops—"Using Online Resources of the National Archives," "Hands-On History: Incorporating Primary Sources in the Classroom," and "Finding Primary Source Documents at the Rocky Mountain Regional Archives." All workshops are free. However, off-site workshops outside of the Denver metro area may require payment of travel and expense fees.

Archivists are also available to assist in student research for National History Day projects and other undertakings.

The archives is currently creating primary source document lessons for each of its constituent states. Each lesson includes one or more primary sources, background information on the source, suggested teaching activities, and a description of the document's relationship to national and state standards. Lessons are available in CD and .PDF formats.

The National Archives and Records Administration is divided into numerous regional subdivisions—one of which is the Pacific Region. This region has three locations, all within the state of California—San Bruno, Laguna Niguel, and Perris. The San Bruno and Perris locations are open for public research.

The San Francisco/San Bruno location holds federal records from California, with the exception of the Southern portion of the state; Nevada, with the exception of Clark County; Hawaii; American Samoa; and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Topics with strong representative materials include environmental issues, Naval history, Native American history, and Asian-Pacific Immigration. Available records include photos, architectural drawings, and maps dating from the 1850s through the 1980s. The location offers occasional public programs.

The Perris/Riverside location holds federal and court records from Arizona; Clark County, Nevada; and southern California. Topics with strong representative materials include Naval history, Native American history, westward migration, civil rights, and Asian immigration. Materials date from approximately 1850 through the 1980s. This location also offers public programs.

Visitors are asked to call ahead, have an ID ready, and be willing to leave personal belongings in a locker.

Students are encouraged to visit to apply for internships, learn to find and use primary sources, and/or discover National History Day contests.

Educators may visit to learn of FREE educational resources, curriculum-specific primary sources, and/or National History Day.

Finally, if you teach grade four, five, seven, eight, eleven, or twelve in California, there's a fantastic resource available to you online. Teaching History in California selects state standards from each of these years, and provides related background information; primary sources; transcriptions; worksheets; PowerPoint presentations; additional documents, such as maps, timelines, and vocabulary lists; and/or teaching activities. Also, consider taking a moment to engage your students in an introductory activity on primary sources.

The Elk Grove Historical Museum interprets the lifestyle of Illinois pioneers from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries and the local history of Elk Grove and its development. It preserves the 1856 Schuette-Biermann farmhouse, the 1880s Deike family barn, an early 20th-century chicken coop and privy, as well as a reproduction one-room schoolhouse.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, standards-based education programs for pre-K through 6th grade, and other recreational and educational events.

The Schiele Museum of Natural History involves visitors in the exploration of natural history, as well as human prehistoric history and Native American history. The museum maintains a seasonally-open Catawba Indian village, a recreation of a Stone Age site of human habitation, and a living-history 18th-century backcountry farm.

The museum offers exhibits, living-history demonstrations, programs and guided tours for school groups, planetarium shows, professional development for educators, and other recreational and educational events.

The Noble Maritime Collection, according to its website, mission "is to preserve and interpret the art, writings, and historical maritime artifacts of the distinguished marine artist, John A. Noble; to continue Noble's legacy of celebrating the people and traditions of the working waterfront of New York Harbor; to preserve and interpret the history of Sailors' Snug Harbor in its collections, exhibitions and programs; and to operate a maritime study center inspired by John A. Noble and the mariners of Sailors' Snug Harbor."

The center offers exhibits, programs for school groups (grades K-7), traveling maritime libraries for loan, camps, and other recreational and educational events

The Hubbard Museum of the American West presents and interprets the history of the West, from pre-contact to the present day, in its four rotating galleries and children's area.

The museum offers exhibits, lectures, programs and self-guided and guided tours for school groups, and other recreational and educational events.

The Museum of the Rockies, according to its website, "houses one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaurs, permanent exhibits on Western history and American Indians, several changing exhibits each year, and a planetarium." During the summer months, it also operates the Living History Farm, which recreates life in the 1890s.

The museum offers exhibits, planetarium shows, classes, tours for school groups, traveling trunks for rent, professional development opportunities for educators, and other recreational and educational events.