Welcome to History Content

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
Illinois Digital Archives
Photo negative, Playing with the pet cat, Dec 1942, Jack Delano, LOC

Primary sources on Illinois history with an emphasis on residential and [...] »

1896: The Presidential Campaign
Cartoon, The Immigrant: The .., April 25 1896, Frank Beard, The Ram's Horn.

Follow the contentious election of 1896 with close to 100 political cartoons [...] »

Crisis at Fort Sumter
Drawing, Fort Sumter, 1864, John Ross Key, LoC

Work through the Fort Sumter crises alongside our nation's leaders.

[...] »

History Quiz

Test your history knowledge
Probing Probate

How do we know what people in the past owned and valued?

[...] »
Sand, Sea, and Oil: Operation Desert Storm

It's in the name: "Desert." How did the environment affect the Persian Gulf [...] »

In Our Own Time: Native American Timekeeping

Pre-Columbian calendars were very different from the ones we use today. Are [...] »

Beyond the Textbook

Question textbook narratives
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 [...] »

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, [...] »

John Brown's Raid
Painting, John Brown, 1867, Thomas S. Noble, NYPL Digital Gallery

Did Northerners all respond the same way to Brown's infamous raid? [...] »

National Resources

Federal teaching resources
National Park Service
Screencapture, FDR Memorial, National Park Service homepage

Lesson plans, essays, multimedia, activities, and artifacts of U.S. heritage [...] »

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Photo, Russ Hopcroft, from the University . . . , 2002, Ian MacDonald, NOAA

Explore the history of science and technology, maritime history, and the [...] »

U.S. Postal Service
Photo, City Carrier, 1975, United States Postal Service

Come rain or shine, the mail must go through, bringing information and [...] »

Ask a Historian

"Join or Die"
Young Benjamin Franklin at his printing press

Think the "Join or Die" snake first appeared during the American Revolution [...] »