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
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

Teaching Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War? Explore this storehouse of [...] »

Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library

Teaching modern presidencies and politics? Take advantage of the virtual [...] »

The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip

Archives audio files of more than 700 folk tunes recorded in the South in [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Historical Improbabilities

Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. Can you tell the difference?

[...] »
Discovering Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus—a legend without a face? Answer these questions about [...] »

Thanksgiving: Presidential Turkeys

How many turkeys have presidents pardoned?

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Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
The Early Conservation Movement
photographic print, Quentin Roosevelt Planting a Tree, c1904, Edward S. Curtis,

The "go-green" movement is rampant in modern America. However, support for [...] »

Denmark Vesey
An official report of the trials of sundry Negroes, 1822

Tried and executed in 1822, along with many other slaves, for a plotted [...] »

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 [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
National Postal Museum
Ink on paper, Kodak advertisement, c. 1942, National Postal Museum

When going postal is actually a good thing! Explore the Museum's extensive [...] »

Federal Emergency Management Agency
Silkscreen, Disaster Broadcast. . . , 1941-1943, Edward T. Grigware, LoC

When the weather's not on our side, FEMA's there to lend a hand.

[...] »
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

True Americans in the Cold War
Confessed Communist spymaster Elizabeth Bentley

Looking for the Red in the Red, White, and Blue?

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