Professor Maria Montoya of New York University reveals the international nature of the California Gold Rush. Miners swarmed into California from Mexico, South America, Europe, and beyond.
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This workshop offers academic content about place-based western history and women's suffrage on the western frontier, juxtaposed with myths of the West and contemporary women's issues in the West. It affords opportunities to engage in study and conversation with leading scholars; an introduction to four forms of primary historical sources—the built environment, artifacts, government records, and private papers—all of which have application in all history classrooms; and networking with other social studies, history, English, and other subject matter teachers, librarians, and media specialists, from grades K12, representing a variety of states.
This iCue Mini-Documentary describes how backlash against Chinese Workers in the 1850s led to the Chinese Exclusion Act, perhaps the harshest anti-immigration legislation in American history.
The institute is an intensive, professional development program on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Participants take part in lectures and discussions on constitutional themes pertinent to the curriculum content, classroom strategies, and performance assessment. An essential component of the institute is teacher preparation and participation in a simulated congressional hearing as a culminating activity. The hearing is a model for student hearings to be held during the school year. Experienced teacher mentors assist participants in discussing the challenges of teaching civic education and preparing for the culminating hearing.
The Redlands Area Historical Society is dedicated to preserving the history, culture, genealogy, and historic architecture of Redlands, CA, and the surrounding area. The society is broken up into three sections—'the society itself, which is focused on collecting historic artifacts and preserving the general history of the Redlands Area; the Redlands Area Genealogical Society, which is dedicated to preserving the genealogy of Redlands residents since the town's founding; and the Old House Group, which works to restore and preserve historic homes and other structures in the Redlands area.
The site offers information about the society and each of its three branches, current society news, an archive of the society newsletter, library access, and an events calendar.
The society does not offer a physical site for visitation. The above listing is pre-existing.
The Lower Columbia Preservation Society was organized in the spring of 1998 in Astoria, OR, and seeks to "preserve, protect, and promote the historic houses and buildings in the lower Columbia region." The society provides a network of support for home and business owners interested in preservation and hosts a variety of educational programs for prospective preservationists.
The site offers an events calendar, a collection of articles about preservation written for the Daily Astorian newspaper, and an online database of past society newsletters.
Educational offerings are intended for owners of historical properties and preservation professionals.
"The Architectural Heritage Center is a non-profit resource center for historic preservation, located in Portland, Oregon. Owned and operated by the Bosco-Milligan Foundation, The AHC hosts dozens of programs, workshops, and exhibits each year, helping people appreciate, restore, and maintain vintage homes, buildings, and neighborhoods. We are also caretakers of one of the largest collections of architectural artifacts in the United States." The center also maintains a library which is open to researchers by appointment.
The site offers information about advocacy, research resources available, and events calendar, and information on upcoming educational programs.
This is a duplicate of listing identification number 4906.
Do you have any suggestions for historical fiction that could be incorporated into our Language Arts classes on the topics of the Oregon Trail or Lewis and Clark? Currently we use Will Hobbs's Ghost Canoe to help reinforce teaching about Coastal Native Americans in the history classes.
Thanks for your inquiry. We often get requests for recommendations of historical fiction to use when studying particular time periods and historical events. So below, I first list some open-access digital databanks of fiction (and occasionally nonfiction) to use in the history/social studies classroom. Then I share some recommendations specific to your request.
The National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) Notable Books lists are a great resource. Each year, a panel of educators and librarians read more than 200 books to select these “notable books.” Lists from prior years can be downloaded for free and you can purchase the most recent list or access it for free with membership in NCSS. For each of these books, general reading levels and applicable NCSS standards are identified and a brief annotation gives an overview of content. OurStory, a project of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, provides a useful bookfinder. Here you can search by general historical topic, age group, book type, and award. Searching this bookfinder for “19th century history” and "middle school" brings up 47 fiction and nonfiction books. Please note that it’s not clear when this list was last updated as it does not include recent award winners. The American Library Association's yearly list of Notable Children’s Books includes books suitable for children up to, and including, age 14. Books that win awards such as the Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Medal are added to the list. (The ALA also has a page dedicated to book lists, but few specifically pertain to the history classroom.) The Reading and Writing Project at Teacher’s College has generated a list of historical fiction using teachers’ recommendations which can be accessed as a PDF here. This list just includes title, author, book type (i.e., picture or chapter) and level, but organizes the books by historical topic including a set of recommendations for “Westward Expansion and Prairie Life.” PBS has a list of historical fiction for grades four and five, which can be accessed here. Some states provide lists of historical fiction and nonfiction. Search California’s database using “Oregon” as keyword or “Lewis” as keyword and you will get more than 20 fiction and nonfiction books.
All these online resources can help you find a book, but don’t forget your local and school libraries and independent bookstores. Often children’s librarians will have wonderful suggestions and your local bookseller may also have a quality selection of historical fiction. Indeed, Martha Dyer, librarian at Mission Hill Middle School in California, helped me compile the following recommendations. (One source she used that is not mentioned here is a database available at the local public library, “NoveList,” produced by Ebscohost.) Here are some titles worth investigating: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell (1997) by Kristiana Gregory. This is a quality selection from the Dear America series. My Travels with Capts. Lewis and Clark, by George Shannon (2004) by Kate McMullan. Seaman: The Dog Who Explored the West with Lewis & Clark (1999) by Gail Langer Karwoski. The Journal of Jedediah Barstow, an Emigrant on the Oregon Trail: Overland, 1845 (2002) by Ellen Levine. This is part of the My Name is America series. Thomas Jefferson: Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm (2000) by Jennifer Armstrong. This is part of the Dear Mr. President series. The books below do not directly address the specific time period or event you ask about, but they could also be good choices as they are engaging and relevant.
And finally, consider one experienced middle school history teacher’s response to your question: “I usually have my students reading excerpts from Lewis and Clark's journals. Some of those read like a fictional story at times!” Good luck!
Teachinghistory.org addresses World War I and II literature in another Ask a Master Teacher response and 20th-century literature for the high school classroom in another.
See this response for five picture books for teaching the American Revolution to fifth graders.
Also see this Teaching Guide on using “book sets” that include fiction and nonfiction texts.
Students view a variety of documents and artifacts related to the short-handled hoe, migrant labor, and the United Farm Workers. They then draw on these sources to develop an online museum exhibit for the hoe.
This lesson uses a simple farming tool, the short-handled hoe, to introduce students to migrant labor in California and the farm worker labor movement.
After a brief introduction to the hoe and the bracero program that brought workers to California from Mexico, students explore a variety of artifacts to understand the context of the hoe’s use, as well as the United Farm Workers’ role in the 20th-century labor and civil rights movement. Students then draw from these varied sources to create an online museum exhibit centered on the hoe.
One of the great strengths of this lesson is that it starts with what seems a simple artifact, the short-handled hoe, but leads students towards more complex thinking, including grappling with the artifact’s larger symbolic and political meanings and its historical significance. The lesson also provides an excellent opportunity for teaching about historical context because placing the short-handled hoe in the context of the other artifacts and documents clarifies the meaning of this particular artifact (labeled a “barbaric instrument” by one doctor).
While the lesson provides only minimal structure, teachers will appreciate the wealth of companion resources, including historians’ commentary, images of other farming tools, and primary sources related to California farm labor, and the work of César Chavez and the United Farm Workers.
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In addition to a brief introduction, teachers can find additional resources listed here.
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While many of the primary sources are artifacts, others are written documents. In addition, in the final activity, students must give a written justification for items included in their exhibit.
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Students create a thesis statement for their exhibit and have to explain why they chose each of the items in their exhibit. Ideally, this explanation should connect to the thesis.
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Teachers may want to provide additional support for struggling readers and English Language Learners in understanding some of the historical documents.
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While no specific assessment is provided, teachers may use the culminating activity as an assessment. Criteria for assessment would need to be established.
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