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
Making of America
Book illustration, The archaeological..., 1876, Charles Rau, Making of America.

Provides more than 1.5 million pages of text in an effort to digitize more [...] »

Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data
Title page and street index, Atlas of the city of Boston

Explore the history of Boston, MA, through photographs, maps, and atlas [...] »

Ad*Access
Drawing, High..Wide..And Handsome, 1954, New York Times Magazine.

Archives more than 7,000 newspaper and magazine advertisements printed in [...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Historical Improbabilities

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

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Carriages and Wagons

Trade in your old Cabriolet for a new 1876 Landau? Test your knowledge of [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
20th-century Jewish Immigration
Dry plate negative, approx. 1920-1930, Jewish colonies and settlements, LOC

Divided into two waves of immigration by textbooks, the continuity of [...] »

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. [...] »

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 [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
Supreme Court of the United States

From John Jay to Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court is the final word in law [...] »

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 [...] »

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. [...] »

Ask a Historian

The Memphis Belle
The crew of the Memphis Belle complete their 25th mission. U.S. Air Force.

The last operational mission of a venerable World War II airplane.

[...] »