Incorporating 20th Century US Environmental History in the 6-12 Classroom
This guide consists of curated primary and secondary sources to help students connect environmental history to broader themes in twentieth century US history.
Incorporating 20th Century US Environmental History in the K-5 Classroom
This guide consists of curated primary and secondary sources to help students connect environmental history to broader themes in twentieth century US history.
For Us the Living
A series of five primary source based learning modules that encourage high school students to explore American history through the stories found in Alexandria National Cemetery.
Open Parks Network
View over 1 million images from U.S. national parks and historic sites.
Earth Day: Lost to History
Human history affects more than human beings.
A Symbol of Friendship
The cherry trees in Washington, DC were a gift from Japan. What does their history tell us?
Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of Friendship
Discover the rich history of DC’s cherry trees and what they reveal about U.S./Japan relations.
Resources for Earth Day
Earth Day gives students a chance to consider how human relationships with the natural environment have changed over time.
The Jewish Americans
This site, produced by PBS, uses multiple resources to examine the history and influence of Jewish culture in the U.S.
Puerto Rico Encyclopedia/Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico
Connect with your ELL students with this bilingual Puerto Rico Encyclopedia!
Creating a More Perfect Union: 1861-1865
Interested in teaching about the Civil War from a maritime perspective?
Texas Archive of the Moving Image
Watch some Texas history, submit your own, or learn to make local documentaries.
Throughout the Ages
Looking for a primary source website created especially for elementary teachers?
Yale Digital Commons
A wheeled pull toy depicting Nixon with a crown? If you’re looking for a unique object to bring up in class, start with the digital commons.
Women in the Lab (and the Field)
Marie Curie and Jane Goodall—you may know these female scientists, but can you name any American women scientists?
Sand, Sea, and Oil: Operation Desert Storm
It’s in the name: “Desert.” How did the environment affect the Persian Gulf War?
Roosevelt's Tree Army
The work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in central New York State.
The Disaster of Innovation
How the cotton gin revolutionized the use of slaves and the production of cotton in the Southern United States.
Nature Transformed: The Environment in American History
Beautiful scenery or impassable peaks? These 17 in-depth essays analyze how the North American view of nature has changed over time.
TeacherServe
Attention Secondary teachers! Searching for essays on religion, the environment, or African Americans in U.S. history? TeacherServe is here for you!
Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students
Using the premise of a mystery, elementary students act as history detectives as they explore a historical question and formulate and test hypotheses.
OurStory
Link literature and history with activity sets for 18 books and a database of over 270 other books for young readers.
New World Wonders
How did explorers describe the plants and animals they discovered in America?
Back to the Future . . .
In the year 1900, what did Americans think the next century would bring?
Alien Invasions
For each pair of animal and plant species, identify the one that is not native to America.
Using Old Maps as Tools to Explore Our World
Maps show far more than how to go from point A to point B! Discover how to incorporate maps into your classroom.
Building the Erie Canal
Cutting through New York from the ocean to the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal changed lives.
Missouri Digital Heritage
Missouri teachers looking for primary sources, look no further. Explore this portal for resources from libraries, universities, archives, and heritage sites throughout the state.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1994
More than 355,000 items produced by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, from 1817-1994.
National Museum of Natural History
Don’t let “natural history” scare you away! The museum covers anthropology as well.
Peace Corps
Explore world and U.S. history simultaneously through universal development issues.
Daily Objects, 19th-century America
With the advent of industry and western expansion, U.S. businesses mass produced dreams of affluence and progress.
Jefferson's Confidential Letter to Congress
Jefferson, surprised by the Louisiana Purchase? Maybe not. Historian Leah Glaser looks at a letter from Jefferson requesting funding for the Corps of Discovery.
American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
What impressions did the average citizen or foreigner form of early America and its people?
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
Visualize the Civil War through the photographs selected by Alexander Gardner in 1865.
Photographer to the World-The Detroit Publishing Company
When travel wasn’t an easy option what views did people have of other places?
Federal Township Plats of Illinois, 1804-1891
View maps created during the early stages of surveying Illinois.
Congress for the New Urbanism
What is New Urbanism, and does it effect you? Will it affect the way you buy a home, or where the homes are located?
Murphy and Bolanz: Block and Addition Books, Dallas County 1880-1920
Explore the layout and businesses of turn-of-the-century Dallas.
Early Washington Maps: A Digital Collection
Washington was once part of an area contested for between the U.S. and Great Britain.
Harvesting the River
Explore river life—with a particular focus on food harvesting.
Worthington Memory, Online Scrapbook
Explore the history and development of a small town. The online scrapbook provides an uncanny lens into town life.
Meeting of Frontiers
How does the settling of the Siberian frontier compare to that of the U.S. West?
1939 World's Fair Photograph Collection
What images does a state choose to describe its way of life to the nation?
The Yale Map Collection: Online Maps
What kind of map might you have used as an explorer? An early urbanite?
Voices of the Colorado Plateau
There’s more to the West than cowboys.
Historic USGS Maps of New England
Explore New England’s topography with more than 1,100 topographical maps, covering all of New England and parts of New York.
Historical Map and Chart Collection
Teaching exploration? Why not introduce your students to nautical charts?
American Colonization Society Collection: Maps of Liberia, 1830-1870
View maps of Liberia acquired during efforts to restore freedmen to Africa.
Surveyors of the West: William Henry Jackson and Robert Brewster Stanton
Follow the journey of two men through the western United States.
Heading West and Touring West
View maps of the West, while simultaneously looking into the lives of traveling performers.
Regional Oral History Office
Explore California oral histories, or learn to conduct your own interviews.
Women Artists of the American West
What have women artists considered worthy of depiction in the U.S. West?
Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
Right this way for Seattle and Washington state history resources.
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Rare Books c. 1820-1910
Explore Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin life through rare books.
The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts
See Revolutionary War-era maps evolve from draft to completion.
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age
Have you ever wondered about the international politics of Puerto Rico?
The 19th Century in Print: Periodicals
What magazines do you read? What did people read in the 1800s?
Mapping the National Parks
Track the exploration and use of Acadia, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the Great Rocky Mountains.
Florida Heritage Collection
Explore Florida state, regional, and local history.
New Perspectives on the West
Peruse lesson plans about the West on this companion site to a Ken Burns documentary.
Drawing the Western Frontier: The James E. Taylor Album
How did newspaper illustration shape stereotypes (and our understanding) of the “Wild West”?
Great Lakes Maritime History Project
Delve into Wisconsin’s maritime history. Discover the multiple ways in which water shaped the history of the state.
Conservation and Environmental Maps
Looking for maps with an environmental focus? Try here.
WTO History Project
Take a peek at Seattle protest history through the WTO Ministerial Week.
The Wright Brothers in Photographs
Meet the Wright Brothers and their family through photographs of friends and exploits.
Historic Topographic Maps of California
Explore a wide range of Californian geological survey maps, dating from 1895 to present.
The History of Sanitary Sewers
Few engineering feats are so overlooked by history as the creation of sewers worldwide.
Historical Maps Online
View 400 hundred years of cartography from the Illinois area.
New France, New Horizons: On French Soil in America
Explore French Louisiana, Canada, and the Great Lakes region.
Connecticut History Online
Take a look at the “Constitution State,” with approximately 14,000 images depicting Connecticut’s history from the 19th through the 20th century.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Follow the development of Weapons of Mass Destruction through the protection of the people of the U.S.
Federal Highway Administration
Do you fit today’s transportation norms? Do you reside in a suburb or a city?
Seneca Village
One of the few resources dedicated to Seneca Village and the creation of Central Park.
WestWeb: Western Studies and Research Resources
This gateway site provides a wealth of resources pertaining to the American West.
American Museum of Photography
View fantastic photography throughout the ages in over 15 exhibits.
History: The National Park Service
Visit this website to learn the history of many of the 384 areas under the stewardship of the National Park Service.
California Heritage Collection
View the early history of California through this collection of over 30,000 photographs.
Alaska's Digital Archive
View images related to Alaskan statehood and Native Americans.
Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection
Explore campus protest ephemera and the youth movements of the 1960s and 70s.
H.H. Bennett: Photographer Extraordinaire
View commercial photography from the last half of the 19th century.
Brittingham Family Lantern Slide Collection
Catch a glimpse of wealthy turn-of-the-century Wisconsin life and travel in these photos.
Portal to Texas History
Texas educators, looking for primary resources on state history? Search this portal for thousands of images and documents drawn from Texas-based archival collections.
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History
Why is Las Vegas one of the world’s most popular destinations? How has it changed?
Western History Photography Collection
How does your view of the American West compare to the visual reality?
Turning Points in Wisconsin History
Primary documents, background information, and lesson plans for Wisconsin history.
The Eastman Project: Images of California Life
View more than 13,200 photographs of California labor and community life between 1921 and 1965.
Minnesota Maps Online
Are you interested in cartography or the natural and social environment of early Minnesota?
Unified Vision: The Architecture and Design of the Prairie School
View Prairie School works by famed architects and designers Wright, Sullivan, Elmslie, Purcell, and Maher.
Lawrence Denny Lindsley Photographs
What did the Seattle area, mining, hunting, and portraiture look like c. 1900?
U.S. Geological Survey
How has land use altered over time, and what did the explorers encounter?
Travel, Tourism, and Urban Growth in Greater Miami: A Digital Archive
Interested in the history of tourism? This site examines the topic within Miami, FL.
The Great Seattle Fire
Delve into photographic evidence of the damage caused by the 1889 Great Seattle Fire.
New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
Support visual learners with a selection of more than 30,000 historical images.
Alabama Maps
How have boundaries changed over time? Compare the maps of yesteryear with those of today.
National Atlas
Explore maps that enable you to better understand the country that you live in, and the land that surrounds you.
Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Looking for ways to use fiction in your elementary history curriculum? Read on for suggestions!
Bringing National Parks into the Classroom
The National Park Service offers traveling exhibits, media-on-loan, and in-class speakers.
National Register of Historic Places Travel Itineraries
Explore the historic sites in more than 50 cities and towns across the U.S.
American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936
This collection captures natural environments, ecologies, and plant communities at the turn of the 19th-to-20th centuries.
Multilaterals Project
From environmental agreements to rules of warfare, read the text of international multilateral treaties, agreements, and conventions.
Rivers, Edens, Empires: Lewis and Clark and the Revealing of America
180 documents and artifacts interpret 19th-century westward exploration and the concept of Manifest Destiny.
Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey and Engineering
Government organizations document historic sites in drawings, photographs, and text.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America
This database of images literally offers snapshots of late 19th to early 20th century America.
First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
Explore sources from the mid-18th-to-early-19th-century European migration into the Ohio River Valley.
Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
Documents the birth of the conservation movement through published works, manuscripts, images, and motion picture footage.
Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Roots of Lewis and Clark
Follows Jefferson’s life, political participation, and accumulation of scientific geographical knowledge from 1735 to 1804.
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Searchable facsimiles of 1,850 monographs and 288 journal volumes related to agriculture in the U.S. between 1806 and 1989.
Using Maps as Primary Sources
A 4th-grade teacher shows strategies for encouraging and supporting student analysis of maps.
Florida State Archives Photographic Collection
Presents more than 137,000 photographs of Florida on specific localities from the mid-19th century to the present.
Digital Library of Georgia
Examines the history and culture of the state of Georgia, presenting an extensive range of primary sources.
National Park Service: Links to the Past
Roughly 200 National Park Service locations preserve locations designated important to U.S. history and prehistory; explore their resources online here.
Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History, 1884-1934
Contains 10,000 pages and images on Everglades reclamation efforts and the history of south Florida.
Around the World in the 1890s: Photographs, 1894-1896
Explore this archive of over 900 images by American photographer, William Henry Jackson.
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Presents the complete text of the Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals, along with supplementary secondary sources.