Deafness in Disguise: Concealed Hearing Devices of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Exhibit, gallery and explanations of 19th century hearing aids
05: Reform, Revival & American Culture
Shining Tree of Life : The New Yorker
Article about the Shakers
The Emancipator
The Emancipator Newsletter, published monthly in Jonesborough, Tennessee in 1820 by Elihu Embree, advocated the abolition of slavery.
Boston Review — David M. Kennedy: A Question of Character
In the early 19th century, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville, to this day still the person who made the most ambitious and probably astute characterization of Americans, called us both natural joiners and yet fiercely individualistic . . . .are those both still fundamental parts of who we are? Is the American character disappearing or are we ever more solidifying it? And who will articulate it in such a way that most of us will nod in recognition?
Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries - Rebecca Greenfield - Life - The Atlantic
The Antebellum Women's Movement
This unit introduces students to the pre-Civil War women’s movement through primary source documents. Lesson One: The “Separate Spheres” and “Cult of True Womanhood”Doctrines; Lesson Two: Women’s Work Outside Their Homes; Lesson Three: Antebellum Temperance and Abolitionist Movements; Lesson Four: The Antebellum Women’s Movement .
Evangelicalism in Antebellum America
This module is designed to give insights into and a feel for the culture of evangelicalism during the early republic and antebellum period. It is one thing to read textbook accounts of "the Second Great Awakening" or "antebellum middle-class culture." It is another, richer experience to investigate these topics yourself through an encounter with some provocative primary sources.
The Culture of Honor: How Slaveholders Responded to the Abolitionist Mail Crisis of 1835 | Jennifer Mercieca - Academia.edu
Could the Postmaster General of the United States order his subordinate postmaster in an American city to decline to deliver certain types of mail? Wouldn't that be a violation of the 1st Amendment? Not if the mail is abolitionists newspapers sent to Charleston South Carolina in 1835.
This article is probably more worthwhile in the hands of a teacher and not a student. This is one of the many ways in which the teacher can know more content even though they may "teach" less.
the beginning of advocacy – social reformers react to change
House of Cards: The Politics of Calling Card Etiquette in Nineteenth-Century Washington - Common-placeCommon-place: The Journal of early American Life
An article for teachers who'd be interested in treading off the common path of 19th century US History lessons and introduce students to a snapshot of the social lives of Americans ignored by the history education industry. What does the practice of sharing cards and using them to show social standing tell us about this segment of urban Americans in the 19th century? How does the naming convention on cards reflect different ideas about women taking their husband's name upon marriage? Why would daughter's names only appear on a mother's card until they are "of age"? Creative teachers can do something with this that is inherently interesting
Women, Temperance, and Domesticity – America in Class – resources for history & literature teachers
THis lesson combines excerpts from the Ken Burns film Prohibition and an 1854 novel, Teachers background, questions and answers make this lesson valuable and easy to use
Admissions Books for Eastern State Penitentiary - 1830s and 1840s
Fascinating admissions books created by Thomas Larcombe, a Baptist minister who was the first to hold the position of “moral instructor” at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary in the 1830s and 1840s. There are two .csv files on this page offering details on prisoners held and released. Why not let students dig into the "raw material" of history to see what they can conclude about that time period?
Eastern Apps: Visualizing Historic Prison Data
The American Philosophical Society Library holds three volumes recording the admission of prisoners into Eastern State Penitentiary. These admission books include name, crime, sentence, place of origin, race/ethnicity of inmates, as well as comments by the “moral instructor”.
This gallery presents a collection of interactive apps that let researchers explore trends in the admission books. Each app explores a different aspect of the admission data. The first analyzes word frequency in the moral instructor’s notes, the second explores trends in sentencing lengths, and the third reveals demographic information about inmates based on the sentences they were given. The admission books cover the years 1839-1850 with a two-year gap from 1843-1845.
Nothing to Say - Henry Thoreau complains about technology
Thoreau's comments about railroads the telegraph of the mid 19th century are strangely resonant to technology in the 21stn century. Does technology's conquering of time and distance improve the human condition?
ur inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end,
We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the new, but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.
Domestic manners of the Americans, by Francis Trollope, 1832 (book)
This account of a French woman's journey through the United States in 1832 does not get the same attention as De Tocqueville, but it is a similar volume. Teachers and students can get a much more conversational look into life in 1830s US through segments of this book. Students can search through it for her comments about slavery, religion and the pursuit of profit
Mental Health in the 1840s PBS Newshour Extra
Well-designed and presented lesson which uses historical description and primary source documents to explore the question "How does investigative journalism bring awareness to problems and help support reform efforts?"
John Quincy Adams and the Mole People Myth
The title alone should get teachers interested in following the link; it's academic click clickbait. Yet this essay describes in detail the way a story can be injected into popular understanding and take on a life of it's own, without much truth to begin with. A worthwhile read.
There is a depressing irony in the Smithsonian Institution being the chief propagator of this falsehood. The Smithsonian owes its very existence to John Quincy Adams
There is a depressing irony in the Smithsonian Institution being the chief propagator of this falsehood. The Smithsonian owes its very existence to John Quincy Adams.
Tocqueville: Book II Chapter 6
Here Tocqueville writes of newspapers in the 1830s in the way that someone could talk of the media today. They have the ability to drop the same idea into many minds at the same time
nothing but a newspaper can drop the same thought
into a thousand minds at the same moment.
A newspaper then takes up the notion or the feeling that had occurred
simultaneously, but singly, to each of them. All are then immediately guided
towards this beacon; and these wandering minds, which had long sought each
other in darkness, at length meet and unite. The newspaper brought them
together, and the newspaper is still necessary to keep them united.