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
The Vietnam War Declassification Project

An extensive collection of primary documents pertaining to the American [...] »

Department of Transportation: Digital Special Collections
Figure .2232(c) - Two Wheel Landing With Vertical Reactions-Nose Up

Read up on early 20th-century train and airplane accidents, among other [...] »

Cultural Readings: Colonization and Print in the Americas
Engraving, De nieuwe en onbekende Weereld, 1671, J. van Meurs, Cultural Readings

Examine texts about the Americas produced in Europe from the 15th to 19th [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Classroom Glory

Does the movie "Glory" depict historical accuracy or wholesale fiction?

[...] »
History of Hidden Killers: Epidemics in America

Wherever people go, disease is sure to follow. Answer these questions about [...] »

Westward Expansion: Image vs. Reality

East or West? See if you can determine which region produced these images on [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
Panic of 1873
Panic as a Health Officer Cleaning the Streets

Beginning in Europe, the Panic of 1873 quickly spread to the United States [...] »

Coal and the Industrial Revolution
Photo, At the close of the day, January 1911, Lewis Hine, Library of Congress

How can the story of coal help students understand the nature of today's [...] »

Slavery
Photo, "An ex-slave," 1897, New York Public Library Digital Gallery

What was it like to be a slave in 19th-century America? Accounts contrast. [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

American art makes the interpretive nature of historical knowledge clear. [...] »

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
Negative, Victory Corps. . . , Alfred T. Palmer, September-October 1942, LoC

Did you know that there is a specific law enforcement agency for firearm [...] »

Library of Congress

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

Ask a Historian

On Gendering the Constitution
The Force of Truth, 19th century allegorical image

The agitation among women’s rights activists over the language of the 14th [...] »