Help students better understand the history behind the term “Manifest Destiny” by exploring the history of the Comanche people using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Help students reconsider the how the expansion of the United States from 1865 to 1890 was perceived by Native peoples in the west using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Teachers guide students to create interactive digital maps detailing the migration of Mormons using Library of Congress primary sources.
Analyze data from the U.S. Census Bureau in the social studies classroom.
Tour Monticello with TAH teachers and learn about the history behind Thomas Jefferson’s home.
TAH teachers get an introduction to Monticello as Thomas Jefferson’s ’laboratory.'
What do the contents of pockets say about their owners? TAH teachers model strategies for examining and questioning artifacts.
Watch Suzannah Niepold of the Smithsonian American Art Museum guide teachers in analyzing four works of art.
Watch Suzannah Niepold guide TAH teachers through analyzing the differences between two versions of Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.
Educators tour the NMAAHC exhibit “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty” and ask about approaches to presenting the lives of Thomas Jefferson and his enslaved workers.
Who was Dred Scott, and what was the significance of his case?
This Constitution Day, the National Endowment for the Humanities asks, how is the Emancipation Proclamation like the U.S. Constitution?
What do these letters from a women’s rights activist reveal about social causes in the 1840s?
What were the origins of this infamous controversy?
Make the Lewis and Clark expedition and life on the Oregon Trail come alive with these suggestions!
Flag Day may not fall during the school year for many, but Flag Day resources are valuable all year long.
East or West? See if you can determine which region produced these images on westward migration!
Human history affects more than human beings.
Discover the motivations fueling the 19th-century temperance movement.
How do textbooks from different countries treat the War of 1812?
This site offers a grab bag of digital history exhibits. Definitely worth perusal.
There’s more to the White House than the President himself—music, art, staff, pets. . .
There’s more to it than Seneca Falls.
In 1821, Anglo settlers migrated to Texas en masse. Discover the profound impact this movement had on the relationship between whites and hispanic Tejanos.
Earlier this year, we looked at what historic sites were doing to celebrate the bicentennial of the War of 1812. But how can you teach the bicentennial in your classroom?
These African American civil rights activists affected more than the U.S.
Explore Old Ironsides—live the life of a ship’s boy or learn about the people who fought aboard her.
Get classroom attention by using the “swashbuckling” history of the USS Constitution as a knowledge vehicle.
How much do your students know about the War of 1812? Find resources on the bicentennial of this often-overlooked war.
How do the speeches of Sojourner Truth and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper differ? Historian Carla Peterson examines documents for answers.
What can an inventory tell you about daily life in Delaware in 1804? Curator Barbara Clark Smith asks this document four questions.
Is reading a piece of historic literature once enough? Not if you want to get the most out of literary sources.
What does an 1853 daguerreotype have to say? Plenty, says Frank Goodyear, particularly about tourist culture and the rise of railroads and photography.
Remember the Alamo! But what does the U.S. remember? Historical fact or historical mythology? Historian Stanley Corkin looks at the film The Alamo.
Slave badges were used in Charleston to keep track of slaves. Can you build a lesson for 4th graders around them?
A family’s oral history intersects with larger events in U.S. history.
Did industrialization result in more women working outside the home or in more women in domestic spheres only?
Believe it or not, the U.S. wasn’t always particularly supportive of increasing naval strength.
Allow the National Woman’s Party to show you their collection on women’s progress to equality.
Interested in teaching about the Civil War from a maritime perspective?
Team up with the National Archives and Records Administration to bring primary sources into your classroom!
Looking for a little professional development? Miss your college classes? Try Yale’s.
Peruse an extensive collection of pamphlets related to African-American life leading up to, during, and following the Civil War.
Compare Republican and Democrat accounts of the great debates.
What is Congress? Why should anyone care?
Anchor Socratic seminars in primary sources and watch your students work together to arrive at historical understanding.
Americans of the 18th century took a much dimmer view of the institution of a professional army than current views of the U.S. military.
A menagerie of terms for politicians, parties, factions, and movements.
Frederick Douglass approached the abolition of slavery from within the confines of the Constitution.
Being born in the United States was not always a guaranteed path to citizenship.
Whether you are writing a paper or just curious, here are some great resources on the Mexican American War.
Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. Can you tell the difference?
Use this essay on Jewish immigration to flesh out a unit on the Civil War or immigration.
When the presidents’ maladies threatened to affect their performance.
Boston abolitionists on the lookout for slave-catchers in 1851.
As spring weather approaches, are your students getting antsy? Eighth-grade teacher Elizabeth Schaefer gets students out of their seats with American Expansionism.
How emigrants traveled from Pennsylvania to Illinois in 1830.
Of all the discoveries and developments that occurred in the 19th century, two proved to be the main force behind the development of the New Age.
Teach students to explore contingency with this great lesson plan idea.
“Seeing the elephant” in California.
The obstacles and restraints on disposing of one’s human “property.”
How can you bring 21st-century teaching into curriculum you’ve already developed and use? AP U.S. History teacher Ron Gorr substituted online and in-person research and discussion for a quiz and a lecture.
How the cotton gin revolutionized the use of slaves and the production of cotton in the Southern United States.
Slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement—you have to teach these topics, so check out these essays to enrich your curriculum!
Thanksgiving—how much do you know about the history of this popular holiday?
A great way for students to learn more about the War of 1812 and our nation’s emblem: the Star-Spangled Banner.
The direct and indirect impacts of various trade routes during the 16th through 19th centuries.
Two letters from 1800 Tripoli lead into a story of piracy, privateering, slavery, international politics, and war at sea and on land.
Using the premise of a mystery, elementary students act as history detectives as they explore a historical question and formulate and test hypotheses.
Find primary sources and the tools to present them to students—in one place.
What can historical election maps tell us? Take a look at the electoral vote for several 19th-century presidential elections.
Peruse the news, but beware hot air? Examine famous U.S. hoaxes.
A morning meditation on flakes: Do your morals and values help you decide which cereal to eat in the morning?
Pre-Columbian calendars were very different from the ones we use today. Are these statements about Native American timekeeping true?
In an attempt to salvage a failed Confederate agenda, John Wilkes Booth swore to destroy President Abraham Lincoln’s policy of extending civil liberties to African Americans.
Daughters of rulers and subjects of history…are these statements on women of monarchical lineage true or false?
Was there conflict in the past over one of our favorite summer treats?
Each song has a story. What inspired it? When was it made? By whom?
Explore these online Constitution Day resources for September 17 and throughout the year.
Fond or far-fetched, everyone has one—but as president, nicknames garner the respect and allegiance of the nation.
The first day on the new job is difficult for everybody—including U.S. presidents.
Can you match these famous first words with their presidential speakers?
Before “pop” music reigned supreme, jazz and ragtime amassed great public popularity.
Pistols at noon, or handbags at dawn? Decode the Code of Honor by answering these questions on dueling etiquette.
What about the other occupants of the White House?
Patents as primary sources? These documents can give your students clues to development of U.S. science, technology, business, and social concerns.
What does the Constitution mean to you? Match each quote to the historical figure whose view of the Constitution it reveals.
For each pair of animal and plant species, identify the one that is not native to America.
Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty are popular American icons. How much do you know about their history?
Africa, Europe, and North America—mix, and serve. Explore the foods that African Americans developed in the colonies, and later in the nation.
Men and women both settled the West. Answer these questions on women’s records of the experience.
“John Brown’s Body” keeps reappearing. What do you know about the song?
Up to the 20th century, whalers provided oil for the industrial revolution. How much do you know about these iron men and wooden ships?
Binders, buses, and backpacks—consider the history of these back-to-school basics.
What can 214 State of the Union addresses tells us about American politics and rhetoric?
Indiana educators, looking for visual primary sources? Search more than 38,000 photographs from the 19th century to the present.
African Americans and Native Americans have had a long and complex relationship, often characterized by their similar exclusion from the fruits of freedom envisioned during the American Revolution.
The impermanence of paper money was matched by the impermanence of the bank that issued it.
Was the antebellum period the height of reform movements in U.S. history?
Were the great fires of 1845 the result of arson or accident?
Pennsylvania educators, or teaching urban history? Explore two neighborhoods in Philadelphia using an interactive map and more than 1,240 primary sources.
MA educators—explore a historical moment (and accompanying primary source) for every day of the year.
Can’t travel to Monticello? Take your students on a virtual tour of Jefferson’s estate with this website.
Surf an animated timeline of Abraham Lincoln’s life and times.
Wyoming educators, explore more than 10,000 primary sources on Wyoming’s 19th- and 20th-century history.
Deepen your coverage of the late 19th century with the letters of Ulysses S. Grant, war-hero-turned-president.
Cutting through New York from the ocean to the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal changed lives.
President Polk, the fortunes of war, territory, and the ever-present compromises of history.
A Congressional balance of power between North and South on slavery
Examine this 1877 massacre from a total of 40 different perspectives.
Do your students think the Great Depression was the only previous slump in the U.S. economy?
Missouri teachers looking for primary sources, look no further. Explore this portal for resources from libraries, universities, archives, and heritage sites throughout the state.
75 full-text cookbooks let you or your students prepare the foods from the 19th to the early 20th century.
How many presidents have applied for and received patents?
How did the Alamo happen?
What do slave receipts reveal? Ever considered using similar documents to teach?
All 102 issues of the first African American newspaper conveniently presented in PDF format.
More than 355,000 items produced by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, from 1817-1994.
Eight “toolboxes” enable secondary teachers to enhance existing U.S. History units.
Forty diverse documents about the history, geology, and hydrology of the Platte River, from 1843 to the present.
Full texts of more than 130 works of literature by more than 75 Southern authors.
17th- through 19th-century newspaper articles from 23 states and DC.
Old Hickory’s hard currency—what are useful focal points in Jacksonian-era economic history?
Use autobiographies to deconstruct views of slavery and historical heroes.
One institution, two very different perspectives. An expert contrasts records.
With the advent of industry and western expansion, U.S. businesses mass produced dreams of affluence and progress.
Jefferson, surprised by the Louisiana Purchase? Maybe not. Historian Leah Glaser looks at a letter from Jefferson requesting funding for the Corps of Discovery.
A useful local history project which focuses on the history of Savannah and the Georgia coastline.
A variety of resources focused on the life and times of infamous abolitionist John Brown.
View 22 census data samples and 65 million records from 13 federal censuses.
View the Virginia Historical Society’s extensive collection of materials documenting Virginia history.
A collection of American and European literary classics, made available free of charge.
Uncover the inner workings and history of the US Electoral College. Click here to explore!
Provides a wealth of information on US presidential elections, with a particular focus on the 2000 election.
How much do you know about the history of the American Senate? Click here for background information on this component of our legislative branch.
Learn about American material culture and its relation to the nation’s religious history.
Begin your background research on prairie farmhouses with this website.
A collection of U.S. and military maps useful for a variety of research.
Focused on business history, this gateway site connects businesses to greater cultural and social trends.
A comprehensive history of religion and major religious events within the United States.
Read this quarterly journal which focuses on a different topic in American History in each issue.
An impressive website for the study of Jews and Judaism in the United States.
Your first resource for photographs and images depicting African Americans during the 19th century.
A comprehensive guide consisting of over 240 primary source items detailing African American history.
Travel the Underground Railroad with this interactive website.
A collection of portraits and photographs by acclaimed photographer Matthew Brady.
A collection of 3,000 historical maps and information about the history of cartography.
A companion site to a PBS documentary, this website hosts a wealth of information on the Oregon Trail.
A comprehensive collection of primary source materials which cover the infamous Harper’s Ferry raid.
A collection of primary source material for teaching women’s history and mid-19th century culture.
What impressions did the average citizen or foreigner form of early America and its people?
Would you have survived along the Underground Railroad?
If you need primary sources on the Spanish in North America, try this site.
View maps created during the early stages of surveying Illinois.
The mail always comes, rain or shine; but how?
What was said, written, and drawn about slavery? Gain a more complete image of the institution, its evil effects, and how it felt to be a slave.
Introduce your students to one of America’s great masters of horror.
What would it be like to grow up poor? Greek? Mexican? Rich?
Discover the men, ideas, and process behind discovering that mosquitoes transfer yellow fever.
A hodge podge of history: England, Missouri, and the greater U.S.
What exactly is freedom, and who possesses it?
Teaching Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War? Explore this storehouse of Lincolnian history.
How did WWI affect urban development? How did it impact housing and business in the cities?
See uncommon photograph subjects for the turn-of-the-century, such as street peddlers.
Washington was once part of an area contested for between the U.S. and Great Britain.
Find top notch history web resources, as well as advice on using technology for teaching.
Read a selection of the world’s greatest speeches by prominent African American figures.
Delve into Texas law from early colonization through 1897.
What questions have past censuses posed? What were the results?
Find out about the guitar players who came before you, and perhaps, even perfect your own abilities.
Explore the history and development of a small town. The online scrapbook provides an uncanny lens into town life.
Explore U.S. architectural styles and ornamentation, or date the buildings in your town.
What tools do men use to turn wilderness into private property?
How does the settling of the Siberian frontier compare to that of the U.S. West?
Explore the history of education within the U.S, through writings and images.
Enjoy an interactive experience depicting the life of Mark Twain.
What can you learn from the Lansdowne portrait of George Washington?
Follow the formation of the African American community in the city of Hartford, CT
Hundreds of lesson plans, right at your fingertips. Incorporate them in the classroom.
One convenient source for major historical U.S. documents.
What did patent examiner Taft have to say on the Civil War homefront?
What work can be accomplished through music?
Explore film, music, and literature in its social context and chronology. Understand the cultural dynamics that lent themselves to the media.
What kind of map might you have used as an explorer? An early urbanite?
Peruse maps of Spanish and Portuguese colonization, exploration, and military ventures.
Teaching exploration? Why not introduce your students to nautical charts?
What American history items do Smithsonian curators like best?
Conduct your own “virtual dig” of a Dutch farmhouse.
Discover the depth of Austin, Texas’s urban history through 10 online exhibits containing images and essays.
Need to check a date? Have students report on their birth dates? Try here.
Introduce students to 25 documents selected by the National Archives for their historical importance.
View Virginia’s antebellum architectural culture.
What picture have people painted of the Washington, D.C. in written works?
View maps of Liberia acquired during efforts to restore freedmen to Africa.
View maps of the West, while simultaneously looking into the lives of traveling performers.
Look to the past to consider the prospects of democracy in the U.S.
Access a selection of rare 19th-century books online.
What was popular music like in the 19th century?
Analyze data to understand the impact of slavery on the colonies and nation.
Enjoy this sneak peek at the Mellon Collection of Virginia history.
Did you know that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s family was also involved in abolitionism?
See the U.S. grow before your eyes with this collection depicting two centuries of urbanization.
Imagine life on the western frontier.
We all know the role of the wagon in westward expansion, but what of ships?
Looking for historical economics statistics? The NBER Macrohistory Database should be a central resource for you.
Meet 30 influential African Americans who contributed across a wide variety of fields.
Follow the development of a mill town from its birth to its current status.
Read the correspondence of lesser known founding father John Jay.
Right this way for Seattle and Washington state history resources.
Catch up on the latest scholarly research, and learn and incorporate new scholarship or innovative findings into the classroom.
Gain inspiration for new ways to approach political history.
Can I interest you in a metallic artificial leg?
Teenagers in love? By the author of The Last of the Mohicans?
Explore Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin life through rare books.
How did people learn the latest music trends without electronics?
Do films capture your students’ attention? Introduce them to Roosevelt in motion.
View maps created for a multitude of purposes related to travel by rail.
Have you ever wondered about the international politics of Puerto Rico?
What magazines do you read? What did people read in the 1800s?
What were people reading around the time of the Civil War?
When was Texas part of Mexico? The U.S.? Separate?
Track the exploration and use of Acadia, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the Great Rocky Mountains.
Can you tell New Orleans jazz from Bebop? Can you hear the variations in style and instrumental parts?
Look to the Library of Congress for your election and electoral congress needs.
Explore Florida state, regional, and local history.
Peruse lesson plans about the West on this companion site to a Ken Burns documentary.
Follow the evolution of American music along the Mississippi.
Bring yourself up to speed on the Gold Rush, including the minorities involved.
Discover briefs on more than 60 iconic points in U.S. history.
How has campaigning changed over the years? Need to know details on major campaign issues?
Explore the history of Brooklyn, 1841 through 1902, with historical newspaper issues.
Delve into Wisconsin’s maritime history. Discover the multiple ways in which water shaped the history of the state.
Experience Caucasian, middle-class Northeastern life through the collections of four families.
Explore the largest collection of freedom suits available to U.S. researchers.
More than 50 virtual exhibits ranging from Julia Child to West Point.
Meet the Oneida, and discover their role in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.
Begin genealogical projects on the right foot with these databases and tools.
Unsure how to teach presidential history in an engaging manner? Try these activities and lessons.
Explore the thoughts of Samuel F. Morse, artist and father of the electromagnetic telegraph.
What songs were on the “Top 20” in the 1850s? Was it as much of a social concern as it is nowadays to stay musically trendy?
Visit the businesses and meet the people of Harrisonburg, PA’s 8th Ward.
Explore the history of Boston, MA, through photographs, maps, and atlas pages.
Few engineering feats are so overlooked by history as the creation of sewers worldwide.
View 400 hundred years of cartography from the Illinois area.
For story time or personal research, peruse historical children’s books.
Make this your first stop for topics related to Washington state history!
How has the birth control pill altered sexuality and feminine gender expectations?
What did women think of their work at home, in the arts, and in business?
Where exactly were troops stationed in a given battle? Visualize the military campaigns, and imagine what the troops saw when they were able to initiate fighting.
Need a comprehensive site on Georgia history? Why, here you go!
Did you know that, traditionally, newsboys read poems to their customers on New Year’s?
Try lesson plans based on the Library of Congress’ American Memory collections.
How are Brazil and the U.S. similar? How are they different?
Hear the recollections of ex-slaves and freedmen in their own voices.
State standards require you to teach VA history? Worry not! This site covers Virginia history from prehistoric times to the present.
Imagine San Francisco as it would have been as early as 1850.
How did the Underground Railroad work? Listen to an insider’s story.
Compare inauguration promises or cabinet members. See the image of the United States’ government over time.
Take a look at the “Constitution State,” with approximately 14,000 images depicting Connecticut’s history from the 19th through the 20th century.
Imagine life as a Moravian in Bethlehem, PA.
How can you incorporate digital technology into your teaching, study, or understanding of history?
Visit this website to learn more about the United States during the time of Tocqueville’s landmark tour and book.
Explore maps from throughout America’s history, with a special focus on 19th century Georgia.
Learn about labor politics and economics throughout American history.
An impressive gateway site for all humanities subjects.
Visit the companion site to the Ken Burns documentary which chronicles the Lewis and Clark expedition.
A unique website designed to foster communication regarding all of the planet’s native peoples.
A great website for introducing African American history to young or new students.
Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Alexis de Tocqueville’s trip through the United States. You’re welcome!
One of the few resources dedicated to Seneca Village and the creation of Central Park.
Learn about the First National Women’s Rights Convention and the greater women’s rights movement.
Explore cartography and the exploration of the North American continent.
Explore American and world history through this collection of maps.
Learn about family life and social history in the northern Midwest.
Navigate a virtual exhibit of a 1991 archaeological undertaking.
An informative introduction to the practice and excitement of historical research.
View fantastic photography throughout the ages in over 15 exhibits.
Learn about the Chickasaw Indians, originally from the American South, with this website.
Speed up your online search for resources on American women’s history with this research guide.
Explore American slavery through this website’s 33 primary source documents.
The 46 first-person accounts on this website effectively chronicle slavery in the United States.
Visit this website to learn the history of many of the 384 areas under the stewardship of the National Park Service.
This large gateway site provides a starting point for any and all historical research.
View primary documents that helped to shape America’s history.
Learn about the women’s rights movement through the secondary sources offered by this website.
Follow presidential campaigns through the years with this collection of campaign materials.
Read the memoirs and letters of three 19th-century African American women on this website.
View the early history of California through this collection of over 30,000 photographs.
Explore 14 significant and compelling documents from the National Archive Holdings.
Explore the Irish Famine of 1846 through the eyes of Irish and English newspapers.
Peruse this website to explore comments made by Tocqueville, Beaumont, and others on the early 19th-century American woman.
Your starting point for research in the field of Women’s Studies.
Start your research into Women’s history with the National Women’s History Project.
Imagine what it might have been like growing up over 100 years ago.
Use New Jersey during the American Revolution as a national microcosm.
Peruse this online exhibit on the history of Jewish life in the United States.
Explore slavery in America from nine thematic perspectives.
Which ethnic groups have made their homes in the Columbia River Basin?
What role did runaway slaves and free African Americans play in the Second Seminole War?
You probably know about John Adam’s political career, but what of the Adams’ domestic life?
An extensive glimpse into slave life and the history of slavery in the United States.
Access more than 500 webcasts from the Library of Congress.
Read the letters of Dolley Madison while learning about her life—from childhood to widowhood.
Explore 200 years of postcards which document the Vincentian religious order of educators and nurses.
Explore Jewish heritage outside of the Mid-Atlantic or the Holocaust.
Search Wisconsin newspapers mainly from 1860 through 1940.
Have a question about New York City or state history? More than 750 articles available.
Acquaint yourself with Pittsburgh history through full texts, images, maps, census data, and lesson plans.
Access works on medicine and health by Clara Barton, Benjamin Coleman, Benjamin Rush, and others.
Texas educators, looking for primary resources on state history? Search this portal for thousands of images and documents drawn from Texas-based archival collections.
Familiarize yourself with New Jersey history using images, maps, and official documents.
What did college students think about their lives and larger issues in the 19th-century?
A diverse array of Antebellum, Civil War, and Gilded Age lesson plans for your convenience.
Silicone Valley is known as a high-tech industry center, but has it always been?
Primary documents, background information, and lesson plans for Wisconsin history.
Imagine your life in 19th and 20th-century Chicago with this extensive collection of images.
Get to know the life, mind, works, and criticisms of poet Walt Whitman.
Peruse articles, images, and advertisements drawn from 14 Missouri newspapers, 1835 through 1988.
Gold mining, though often portrayed as lawless, was, in some cases, big business.
Geared toward K-12 education, this site presents antebellum life in Tennessee through letters and images.
Ever wondered what a composer’s drafts look like? View Foster’s sketchbook.
Learn about Dickinson’s family through their own writings and wider critical response to her poetry.
What was life like for freed slaves returned to Africa? Read letters to former owners.
Read Dolley Madison’s personal correspondence from her youth through her widowhood.
Access more than 5,000 biographies, maps, and images relevant to African American history.
View more than 400 Native American objects selected and presented by the 11 represented communities.
Examine 19th-century domestic life through sheet music and audio song files.
What were common presidential campaign strategies between 1840 and 1860?
Uncover novels, readers, hymnals, almanacs, diaries, maps, treaties, and more from between 1801 and 1819.
Access Congressional documents from the first 25 Congresses.
Explore American life through advertisements, literature, poetry, Civil War envelopes, and more!
Explore Lincoln’s presidency; and access related classroom resources, including lesson plans.
Read the personal correspondence and diaries of women such as Phyllis Wheatley and Margaret Fuller.
Interested in the history of tourism? This site examines the topic within Miami, FL.
Explore the history of Maryland, from Edgar Allen Poe to the War of 1812.
Let the Library of Congress introduce you to African-American history from colonization to the WPA.
Did you know that between 1840 and 1929 many maps were not drawn to scale?
Looking for a new way to teach history? Peruse new media and educational resources.
Experience personal accounts of Civil War hospitals and read poetry drafts in Walt Whitman’s journals.
Explore the meeting of the Plains Indians and Anglo Americans through the fine arts.
Texts throughout U.S. history have featured imagery from the Book of Revelations, including the the documents on this site.
Primary sources document the history of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the first U.S. public university.
The U.S. Supreme Court has shaped American ideals into practice since 1789, but how much do you know about this influential institution?
Intimidated by teaching legal history? Find resources for thinking about and teaching 17 pivotal U.S. Supreme Court cases at this site, designed for educators.
During the 1840s, Manifest Destiny remained an effusive spirit rather than an agenda for empire.
Constitutional or not? Read about this 1803 landmark court case deciding issues of judicial review.
Coming soon to your local PBS station: a new look at the Native American experience.
Explore the history of America’s most iconic image—the American flag. But remember: lip-syncing is not allowed!
An ongoing reference to exhibits, events, lectures, reenactments, ceremonies, and other tributes commemorating the significance of Lincoln’s life and his presidency during this 200th-year anniversary.
If you missed this two-day online event, watch the videos from the Abraham Lincoln: a Smithsonian Education Online Conference on the website.
Register now for this program with expert historians geared for middle and high schoolers.
In Hawaii today, a large number of people might be considered heirs or pretenders to the Hawaiian throne, were it ever to be revived.
Check out this lesson on arguments surrounding the 1830 forced removal of the Cherokee peoples from their homeland.
This lesson leads students to see how Lincoln’s life in Springfield influenced important national issues.
Historians have attempted to account for the great admiration that whites had for Tecumseh.
How geography influenced interactions among Lewis, Clark, & Native Americans.
How to identify the author, audience, date, and message of historical posters.
Pamphlets and documents from 1875 to 1900 highlight African American leaders and organizations.
Read the full text of 52 published works by black women writers from the late 18th to the early 20th century.
Digitizing 19th-century American fiction, this site offers close to 3,000 texts by 1,456 authors.
With over 300,000 pages available for full-text searching, this is one of the richest collections of anti-slavery and Civil War materials in the world.
Read the accounts of former slaves in oral history interviews collected by the Federal Writers’ Project.
Delve into the complex history of slavery and the law with this collection of primary sources.
180 documents and artifacts interpret 19th-century westward exploration and the concept of Manifest Destiny.
The Library of Congress presents 35 of the most important documents from early American history.
Illustrations follow European interpretations of Native Americans, through images from popular culture, literary and political observations, and artistic representations.
Follow the proceedings of the Dred Scott case with facsimiles and transcriptions of 85 legal documents.
10,000 pages of records on the struggle for votes for women, including papers by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Nine galleries explore the history of slavery in New York City.
More than 5,500 transcribed newspaper articles related to the Mexican-American War.
Provides more than 1.5 million pages of text in an effort to digitize more than 11,000 volumes and 100,000 19th-century journal articles.
Explore sources from the mid-18th-to-early-19th-century European migration into the Ohio River Valley.
Annotated materials about Poe published during his lifetime.
More than 15,800 rare historical maps focus on North and South America.
Covers Congressional documents from the nation’s founding through early Reconstruction.
Presents texts by and about the major figures of American Transcendentalism.
Approximately 20,000 documents provide a window into President Abraham Lincoln’s life.
This site examines Illinois history and the life of Abraham Lincoln in the years 1831 through 1860.
With over 126,000 photographs, maps, and other documents, this site offers a comprehensive look at the history of Los Angeles and southern California.
Nearly 1,400 documents covering Southern life from the 18th to early 20th centuries.
Trace the history of Africans in America through Reconstruction, with 245 images, maps, and documents.
Examines 19th-century children in America: what they read, what was written about them, and what was written for them.
Explore all of the known published slave narratives, to better understand the experience of slavery and the culture that slaves created in the nation.
16th-century to present-day maps, focusing on Americana and cartographic treasures.
Explore the mid-Atlantic region with more than 1,852 maps created before 1850.
Explore Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the American cultural phenomenon it was.
Provides full-text transcriptions and page images of 1815–1865 Sunday school books addressing religious instruction for youth.
Recreates the P.T. Barnum Museum as an interactive 3D exhibit and an archive of images, documents, accounts, and essays on 16 original Barnum exhibits.
Scanned images of more than 18,000 pieces of sheet music, including covers, published prior to 1923.
Examples of early photographs preserve the likenesses of cities, famous figures, and other subjects.
Get up close-and-personal with western migrants. Explore personal accounts of westward treks from the perspective of 45 men and four women.
Explore the significance of religion in early American history and its influence on republican institutions.
Explore James Madison’s life through his correspondence, personal notes, drafts of letters and legislation, and legal and financial documents.
Peruse 11 exhibits, from the Gold Rush of 1849 to Japanese American internment during WWII.
Digitizes Indian Affairs, a seven-volume compendium of treaties, laws, and executive orders relating to U.S.-Indian affairs from 1778 to 1970.
Peruse more than 1,700 texts written by or to Thomas Jefferson—from correspondence to books and papers.
Presents the complete text of the Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals, along with supplementary secondary sources.
Showcases more than 1,230 images depicting the enslavement of Africans, the Atlantic Slave Trade, and slave life in the New World.
Presents articles from 18th- and 19th-century newspapers, magazines, and books, with a focus on the Mid-Atlantic region.
Collects more than 4,000 images from books created in Europe between 1492 and 1825.
Don’t overlook song as a way of understanding the past.