Incorporating 20th Century US Environmental History in the 6-12 Classroom
This guide consists of curated primary and secondary sources to help students connect environmental history to broader themes in twentieth century US history.
Piscataway Park and Tobacco Farming
In 1700s Maryland and Virginia, farmers lived and died by the quality of their tobacco. Teachers tour Maryland’s Piscataway Park, learning about farmers’ struggle against their environment to grow and cure the perfect crop.
Monticello: Jefferson's Experiment
TAH teachers get an introduction to Monticello as Thomas Jefferson’s ’laboratory.'
American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Watch and listen to thousands of public broadcasting programs from across the U.S.
Prohibition: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick
What did the effects of the 18th Amendment look like? Explore 1921 through 1933 through images and film.
Teaching with Food
Teach with all five senses, including taste!
Film Review: Prohibition
Historian Tona Hangen takes a look at Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s three-part documentary on Prohibition.
Probing Probate
How do we know what people in the past owned and valued?
1804 Inventory
What can an inventory tell you about daily life in Delaware in 1804? Curator Barbara Clark Smith asks this document four questions.
Puerto Rico Encyclopedia/Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico
Connect with your ELL students with this bilingual Puerto Rico Encyclopedia!
Ballyhoo!: Posters as Portraiture
Think of all the celebrity advertisements you see everyday. Why pick that particular person for that particular poster?
An Ear for the Past: The National Jukebox
Catchy primary sources? You bet! With the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox, get your students humming history.
Selling the Dream
“Don’t Sell the Steak—Sell the Sizzle!”
Comic Books in the History Classroom
Comic books as primary sources? Bring superheroes into the classroom with these six historical themes.
Manias of the Gilded Age
Fads, crotchets, crazes, rages, and cultural fevers. Test your knowledge of these short-lived obsessions.
Animating the Home Front
What happens when cartoon characters go to war?
Children and Youth in History
Bring history home to young students with sources they can relate to—and prompt older students to think about the construction of concepts like “child” and “teenager.”
Film Review: Titanic
Are historical films like James Cameron’s Titanic most useful as ways to interest students in history—or as primary sources for the present day?
Why Historical Thinking Matters
See this Flash movie for a peek at how historians read and question sources.
Tax Rates of the Mid-20th Century
Is it April 15 already? Discussing the recent past in context.
Victory Vegetables
WWII Victory Gardens allowed citizens to raise food…and wage war!
Taxation to Revolution
It was reasoned that no colonists could fear an act that made them drink cheaper tea.
Intertwined Development: Railroads and Political Parties
The influence of the booming rail system on the growth and development of three political parties in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Anthony Pellegrino: Let the Music Play!...in Our Classrooms
Teach with punk, hip hop, and classic rock with these suggestions from teacher educator Anthony Pellegrino.
Trade Routes and Emerging Colonial Economies
The direct and indirect impacts of various trade routes during the 16th through 19th centuries.
Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students
Using the premise of a mystery, elementary students act as history detectives as they explore a historical question and formulate and test hypotheses.
Fine Line Between Thief and Entrepreneur
Explore the fine line between Captains of Industry and Robber Barons and how the terms has evolved over time.
Using Visual Fine Arts to Enrich Understanding
The socio-cultural impact of historic events or time periods and the interpretation through various forms of media.
The Big Picture: Match the Ad to the Year
Be it the radio or the television, the slogans related to popular or unpopular products tend to stick on our mind.
Paradise in a Breakfast Bowl
A morning meditation on flakes: Do your morals and values help you decide which cereal to eat in the morning?
Back to the Future . . .
In the year 1900, what did Americans think the next century would bring?
The Ice Cream Wars
Was there conflict in the past over one of our favorite summer treats?
Fashion Maven
Do you have your mother’s—and her mother’s—fashion sense?
Yo, Ho, Ho and a . . . Bushel of Oysters?
Shellfish pirates stole from the rich to feed themselves—and make a little money on the side.
Dance, But Not That Way . . .
Do you know how to dance the Sleigh Bell Polka? Learn the proper way to perform 19th and 20th century dances.
Theatre of the People
Through performing art, U.S. minorities assert their identities. Answer these questions on multicultural music and theatre.
Stumbling Down the Road to Health
It seemed like a good idea at the time . . . which “healthful” ingredients and inventions that had unintended consequences?
Bubbles, Panics, and Crashes: A Century of Financial Crises, 1830s-1930s
Do your students think the Great Depression was the only previous slump in the U.S. economy?
Begging Leave to Inform the Publick
Ads that were revolutionary … or not. What products could be sold during the American Revolution?
Daily Objects, 19th-century America
With the advent of industry and western expansion, U.S. businesses mass produced dreams of affluence and progress.
Baseball Cards, 1887-1914
A collection of over 2,100 early baseball cards.
Wet With Blood: The Investigation of Mary Todd Lincoln's Cloak
Explore the archives of the Chicago Historical Society to learn about Lincoln’s assassination through objects.
Material History of American Religion Project
Learn about American material culture and its relation to the nation’s religious history.
Hagley Digital Archives
Focused on business history, this gateway site connects businesses to greater cultural and social trends.
Godey's Lady's Book
Explore mid-18th century women’s culture through three full-text issues of the Godey’s Lady’s Book.
Colonial Williamsburg
Experience life in Colonial Williamsburg without visiting Virginia.
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
Although painful to view, racist memorabilia reminds us of past mindsets and ethics.
July 1942: United We Stand
See how the federal government promoted nationalism in a widespread media movement.
Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry
Listen to the recordings of the creator of the microphone and gramophone player.
Encyclopedia Britannica: The 1911 Edition
Find out what people thought of everything from ablation to vinegar in 1911.
Lift Every Voice: Music in American Life
What work can be accomplished through music?
The Commercial Closet
How have GLBT lifestyles been portrayed and used by the commercial media?
Brief Timeline of American Literature, Music, and Movies
Explore film, music, and literature in its social context and chronology. Understand the cultural dynamics that lent themselves to the media.
Library of American Broadcasting Sound Bites
From dog food to automobiles—advertisers on the airwaves.
HistoryWired: A Few of Our Favorite Things
What American history items do Smithsonian curators like best?
Phillip Morris Advertising Archive
What tactics has the tobacco industry used to sell smoking to the populace?
AdFlip
Nostalgic for X-ray glasses advertisements?
Traders: Voices from the Trading Post
Listen as traders talk about their experiences at Native American trading posts.
19th Century Advertising, Harper's Weekly
Can I interest you in a metallic artificial leg?
The 19th Century in Print: Books
What were people reading around the time of the Civil War?
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online (1841-1902)
Explore the history of Brooklyn, 1841 through 1902, with historical newspaper issues.
National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
More than 50 virtual exhibits ranging from Julia Child to West Point.
WTO History Project
Take a peek at Seattle protest history through the WTO Ministerial Week.
Club Kaycee, Golden Age of Kansas City Jazz
Listen to jazz from the ’20s and ’40s while learning about music greats and hot spots.
The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
Unsure how to teach presidential history in an engaging manner? Try these activities and lessons.
The Primeline Midi Library
Browse more than 630 ragtime Midi files.
Perfessor Bill Edwards Ragtime/Old-time Piano Gallery
Introduce yourself to ragtime music and the time which gave birth to it.
Goldband Records: "Every One a Musical Treat"
What on earth is “swamp pop”?
Children's Books Online
For story time or personal research, peruse historical children’s books.
Education by Design: Using Visual Aids
Seek inspiration from classroom visual aids of the past.
TUPPERWARE!
Have you ever heard of a Tupperware party? Find out more about the household brand.
American Photography: A Century of Images
How has photography altered our perception of and the actuality of reality?
Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition, History
What would your life have been like as a housewife in 1850?
Creative Memo on Lay's Products
Potato chip marketing—how a luxury item became an everyday U.S. food.
Magic, Illusion, and Detection in Turn of the Century America
Learn about American culture at the turn of the 20th century.
Posters: American Style
Explore 20th century American poster art, from advertisements to patriotic propaganda.
Godey's Lady's Book Online
Explore mid-19th century culture as presented in the Godey’s Lady’s Book, a women’s magazine.
Portal to Texas History
Texas educators, looking for primary resources on state history? Search this portal for thousands of images and documents drawn from Texas-based archival collections.
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History
Why is Las Vegas one of the world’s most popular destinations? How has it changed?
Silicon Valley History Online
Silicone Valley is known as a high-tech industry center, but has it always been?
Documenting Our Past: The Teenie Harris Archive Project
View African American life in Pittsburgh between 1930 and 1970.
Historic Missouri Newspaper Project
Peruse articles, images, and advertisements drawn from 14 Missouri newspapers, 1835 through 1988.
Probing the Past
What might you have owned in Maryland or Virginia in 1740-1810? (Lesson plans included!)
StoryCorps
Connect 20th-century events and daily life with real human experiences through oral history audio files.
Manufacturers' Catalogs from the First Decade of American Automobiles
Curious about early cars? View more than 800 automobile manufacturer catalog images from 1909.
American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I, 1760-1900
Explore American life through advertisements, literature, poetry, Civil War envelopes, and more!
Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Looking for ways to use fiction in your elementary history curriculum? Read on for suggestions!
Messages of Houses and Their Contents, 1780-1820
Examining changes in early American homes helps interpret the past. It reflects the transitions that occurred in that community, as well as within the household.
Why Was the Boston Tea Party Not Stopped by British Troops?
To some extent, the Boston Tea Party was the result of unintended consequences.
Integrating Material Culture into the Classroom
Use this guide developed by PBS and the Antiques Roadshow to teach about material culture.
From Medieval Europe to Colonial America
What did Colonial America and Medieval Europe have in common?
Prosperity and Thrift: Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy
An array of primary sources follows the rise of the consumer economy under Coolidge.
Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
Follow the rise of professional advertising with these advertising items and publications from 1850 to 1920.
Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia 1876
Primary sources from Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition provide a view of the U.S.’s industrial development.
Time Archive, 1923 to Present
From its March 23, 1923 first edition to the present, Time presents a searchable database of cover art.
Performing Arts in America, 1875-1923
Browse primary sources reflecting the performing arts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls
Cover art and full texts from dime novels preserve the popular culture of an industrializing U.S.
Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875
Digitizing 19th-century American fiction, this site offers close to 3,000 texts by 1,456 authors.
Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
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.
Oral History Digital Collection
In full-text narratives, more than 2,000 people from northeast Ohio discuss issues significant to the state and the nation.
Nineteenth-century California Sheet Music
Scanned images from more than 2,700 pieces of sheet music provide insight into life in 1852–1900 California.
Child Labor in America, 1908-1912: Photographs of Lewis W. Hine
Sixty-four photographs taken by Lewis W. Hine between 1908 and 1912 document child labor conditions.
Alcohol, Temperance, and Prohibition
More than 1,800 primary sources provide a window into the Temperance Movement and Prohibition.
The Tax History Project
Follows the history of American taxation through a collection of primary and secondary sources.
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
Delve into the complex history of slavery and the law with this collection of primary sources.
Images of Native Americans
Illustrations follow European interpretations of Native Americans, through images from popular culture, literary and political observations, and artistic representations.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Photographs
Close to 200 photographs document the work of Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA).
Business Plan Archive
Through this collection of business plans and planning information, track the beginning of the “Dot Com Era.”
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Follow historical trends in national, international, and regional economic activity using the Bureau’s data.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
A variety of primary sources and background essays explore the 1911 fire, a hallmark tragedy of the industrial age.
SIRIS Image Gallery
Access close to 140,000 images from the Smithsonian Institution.
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Browse and listen to cylinder recordings, the first commercially produced sound recordings.
Anti-Saloon League, 1893-1933
Printed materials preserve the public campaigns of the Anti-Saloon League from 1893 to 1933.
American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
Follows the development of popular entertainment forms from the 1870s to the 1920s, through playscripts, playbills, and media clips.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America
This database of images literally offers snapshots of late 19th to early 20th century America.
Making of America
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.
Readex Digital Collections
This site offers a cornucopia of documents spanning four centuries of American history.
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
Searchable facsimiles of 1,850 monographs and 288 journal volumes related to agriculture in the U.S. between 1806 and 1989.
Center for Archaeological Studies
Showcases archaeological excavations at Mobile and elsewhere in Alabama through images and exhibits.
Nineteenth-Century American Children and What They Read
Examines 19th-century children in America: what they read, what was written about them, and what was written for them.
Flint Sit-Down Strike
Provides a multimedia introduction to “the greatest strike in American history.”
Florida State Archives Photographic Collection
Presents more than 137,000 photographs of Florida on specific localities from the mid-19th century to the present.
Selling the Computer Revolution: Marketing Brochures in the Collection
Presents more than 250 computer marketing brochures from 1948 to 1988.
Making the Macintosh: Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley
Preserves the history of the Macintosh through interviews with designers, technical writers, Apple employees, and others.
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
Houses more than 40 million pages from more than seven million tobacco industry documents.
Fifty Years of Coca-Cola Television Advertisements
Archives 50 Coca-Cola commercials, broadcast outtakes, and experimental footage.
Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943
Showcases more than 900 Work Projects Administration (WPA) posters produced as part of the New Deal.
Historic Government Publications from World War II: A Digital Library
Includes more than 300 U.S. government pamphlets and books on home front issues from World War II.
Photographs from the Chicago Daily News: 1902-1933
Presents more than 55,000 Chicago Daily News photographs taken in the early 20th century.
Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World
Offers oral history resources examining life in southern textile mill towns from the 1880s to the 1930s.
Inventing Entertainment: The Early Innovations of the Edison Companies
Early motion pictures, sound recordings, and related materials document Thomas Edison’s impact on the history of American entertainment.
Ad*Access
Archives more than 7,000 newspaper and magazine advertisements printed in the U.S. from 1911 to 1955.
Thomas A. Edison Papers
A vast database of Thomas Edison’s papers, including correspondence, technical drawings, and clippings about the inventor.
The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale
We’re off to see the wizard! Discover the cultural impact of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Red Hot Jazz Archive: A History of Jazz before 1930
Discover over 200 jazz bands and musicians active from 1895-1929, captured here in countless audio and video files.
Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture
Explore Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the American cultural phenomenon it was.
Mark Twain in His Times
Focuses on Mark Twain’s life and career, including creation of his popular image, marketing and promotion of his texts, and live performances.
Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
Scanned images of more than 18,000 pieces of sheet music, including covers, published prior to 1923.
Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864
Examples of early photographs preserve the likenesses of cities, famous figures, and other subjects.
Online Archive of California
Explore California from Japanese American internment or the Free Speech Movement to oral histories.
Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2008
More than 250 television commercials trace campaign issues and the selling of American presidential candidates.
Internet Moving Images Archive
Reproduces a privately held collection of American ephemeral films produced between 1927 and 1987.
The Stars and Stripes, 1918-1919
Peruse every edition of the “official newspaper” of the U.S. Army fighting forces during World War I.
Around the World in the 1890s: Photographs, 1894-1896
Explore this archive of over 900 images by American photographer, William Henry Jackson.
Geography of Slavery in America
Provides transcriptions and images of more than 4,000 newspaper advertisements for runaway slaves and indentured servants between 1736 and 1803.
Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
Showcases more than 1,230 images depicting the enslavement of Africans, the Atlantic Slave Trade, and slave life in the New World.
Accessible Archives
Presents articles from 18th- and 19th-century newspapers, magazines, and books, with a focus on the Mid-Atlantic region.
Making Sense of Advertisements
Advertisements have surrounded us for years. How can you interpret them? Where can you find them?
Broadcasting Longevity
The roots of the Grand Ole Opry extend deep into radio broadcasting history.