Spotlight on Elementary Education

History has been shaped and influenced by the out come of ancient trials—such as the Trial of Socrates in 399B.C.—to Rosenberg Trial in the 1950s. This site offers a comprehensive look at 50 prominent court trials throughout history and its resources can be used to give young learners an introduction to the history of the modern judicial system.

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Website Reviews

Find quality websites & primary sources
American Women
Photomechanical print, The awakening, Feb. 20 1915, Henry Mayer, LoC.

Interested in using the Library of Congress to research women's history, but [...] »

iCivics
Screenshot, People's Pie, iCivics

Games can be more than mindless fluff. When content-rich, they can engage [...] »

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
Home Made Candy Recipes By Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill 1909

75 full-text cookbooks let you or your students prepare the foods from the [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Political Animals

A menagerie of terms for politicians, parties, factions, and movements.

[...] »
Early American Artifacts

What did people living in what is now known as North America leave behind? [...] »

Selling the Dream

"Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!"

[...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
Labor and Trade in Colonial America
Photo, Weavers at Colonial Williamsburg, May 29, 2010, animalvegetable, Flickr

Was colonial trade really triangular? What kinds of work did colonists do, [...] »

The Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
photographic print, Second atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 1945 August, LOC

Controversial issues are often simplified in textbooks. Discover the facts [...] »

Jim Crow Segregation: The Difficult and Anti-Democratic Work of White Supremacy
Print, For the Sunny South. An Airship. . . , 1913, Library of Congress

The fight against segregation and its discriminatory practices does not [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, the nation's [...] »

Central Intelligence Agency
Glass negative, "Belle Boyd," Confederate spy, Between 1855 and 1865, LoC

You've seen spy movies, but what is the real history of U.S. [...] »

National Air and Space Museum
Cigarette card, Imaginary A plane, c. 1957-1958, NYPL Digital Gallery

Fly me to the moon became a famous Frank Sinatra line. NASA also made this a [...] »

Ask a Historian

Gettysburg: Turning Point or a Small Stepping-Stone to Victory?
colored lithograph, The battle of Gettysburg, 1863, Currier & Ives, LOC

History is often muddled by modern hindsight. Discover the true meaning of [...] »