The Southwest branch of the National Archives provides access to documents—such as letters, photographs, architectural drawings, and maps—which originated from federal agencies and courts. Documents on the premises date from the 1800s to late 1900s; and were created in Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

Areas of collection emphasis include Native American removal, westward expansion, Chinese exclusion, segregation, repatriation, the World Wars, economic history, oil, the Civil War, slavery, and the U.S. space program.

Groups and classes are welcome to visit—with advance notice—for activities such as research, tours, internships, exhibit viewing, lectures, learning to teach history with primary sources, and genealogy workshops.

Educators may be interested in available professional development workshops on archival holdings and using primary sources. If the workshop does not take place at the archives, travel expenses may require payment.

You may also want to check the main page for links to the latest annual K-12 education newsletters.

If you are looking for a way to bring the archives into your classroom, rather than taking your class to Fort Worth, several digital options are available. For one, you could make use of student activities, such as an examination of historical U.S. census documents. You can also explore lesson plans on the domestic slave trade or illegal Chinese immigration, created by teachers; or you can even submit you own, inspired by the archives' sources. Finally, you might consider scheduling a roughly hour-long distance learning program. Available topics vary, but all programs are document-based and provided free of charge.

Interested in art? Looking for more lesson plans? Consider taking some time to explore Art and Archives, a collaboration between the Southwest branch of the National Archives and the Sid Richardson Museum. The website defines primary and secondary sources, offers art and archival vocabulary lists, and contains a collection of lesson plans which utilize art to think about history. Topics include Lewis and Clark, westward expansion, the Louisiana Purchase, cowboys, Wounded Knee, and black soldiers in the Civil War. These lesson plans are generally for middle and high school students. However, a version of the Louisiana Purchase lesson plan is listed for grade five.

The Central Plains regional branch of the National Archives holds federal and court records from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa. Collections include Leavenworth Penitentiary mugshots and files, World War II draft cards, naturalization records, federal land records, and records from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, among other topics.

On site, you can conduct research, take in exhibits, make rubbings of well-known signatures, and watch an 11-minute film. Prior to visiting you can arrange a facility tour (for adults or for children) and/or children's activities. Take a look at this handy .PDF file for an overview of the archives and descriptions of source types. The archives even provides a list of local restaurants to make visiting easy. Additional visit preparation resources include online finding guides for looking through a portion of the available records and a current exhibit listing.

In addition, the archives offers a calendar of free public events. Reservations are required.

The Central Plains archive branch emphasizes hands-on activities for students, which can be customized to meet your current curricula needs and meet either at the archives or your school. Other visit options include guided or self-guided exhibit tours, complete with pre-visit curriculum packets and information on how the exhibits related to state standards, and professional development workshops

In addition to on-site opportunities, you students can also participate in one of five interactive distance learning programs. Topics include using documents, the Civil War, history online, westward expansion, and National Archives online resources. You can also request a free annual primary source CD with documents, information on their relationship to national standards, teacher notes, suggested activities, and analysis worksheets. While you're waiting for the CD to arrive or if you are interested in looking at a sample of its contents, try teaching suggestions on industrialization and/or the Civil War or Constitution Day lesson plans.

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 Museum of Nuclear Science and History, according to its website, is "the nation's only congressionally chartered museum in its field," tracing the history of nuclear research, development, and application.

The museum offers exhibits, programs and guided and self-guided tours for school groups, outreach presentations, and professional development for educators.

The Atomic Testing Museum traces and interprets the history of nuclear testing in the U.S. and of the Nevada Test Site.

The museum offers exhibits.

The Frazier International History Museum overviews 1,000 years of world history in a 100,000 square-foot space. Exhibits focus on arms and related artifacts.

The museum offers exhibits, reenactor interpretations, programs and tours for school groups, camps, and other recreational and educational events.

The Kansas Cosmophere and Space Center introduces visitors to the sweep of the Cold War Space Race and space exploration.

The museum offers exhibits, IMAX shows, planetarium shows, science demonstrations, programs and self-guided and guided tours for school groups, professional development opportunities for educators, camps, and other recreational and educational events.

From the Arizona Historical Society website:

"The Fort Lowell Museum is located in the reconstructed Commanding Officer's quarters of Old Fort Lowell, originally established in 1873. The museum features exhibits about military life on the Arizona frontier."

The museum offers exhibits.