Curriculum - Women & the American Story
From the New York Historical Society. Teachers should skim through this while planning to see how and where they can incorporate lessons, ideas and events of women's history into their planning.
10: Industrializing Society
Gold Rush California Was Much More Expensive Than Today’s Tech-Boom California
Like other periods in US history, the Gold Rush, if it is mentioned at all, is relegated to one word "forty-niners", then forgotten. This short book review shows how much more there is to the story.
Black America, 1895 – The Public Domain Review
Public understandings of the past are as much a product of entertainment as they are of education or the work of historians. Just like Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show created a false mythologized depiction of Native Americans and the west, the Black America extravaganzas in the early 20th century taught white Americans that slavery wasn't so bad after all. Late 20th century complaints that education is changing history, may be a result of these falsehoods
Pessimists Archive
This primary document collection demonstrates that every new invention strikes fear in some people.
American Capitalism: A History -- FINALS - YouTube
Professors Edward Baptist & Louis Hyman of Cornell University are featured here in 100 videos explaining various aspects of the economics history of the United States. The real value of this resource is the targeted nature of the videos, world teachers can supplement lessons on the origins of money, accounting, slavery and the spice trade. US History teachers can supplement lessons on the Virginia Company, the social impact of department stores or the automobile. Quick, targeted and replete with an accesible, yet more sophisticated than would ever be found in a textbook
American Panorama - Foreign Born
Digital tool that provides data on size, origin and location of foreign-born populations across the United States and across time. In what area of at what time were Koreans immigrating to the United States? IN what states and communities did people from Vietnam immigrate to? When? Lots of possibilities here - teachers should have students dive into the data and see what they can find
USS Samuel Gompers
Would he have ever believed that a US Navy boat would have been named for him?
The Samuel Gompers Papers
Letters and articles collected by the University of Maryland
Pryamid of the capitalist system
Political Cartoon that is not unlike those of the French Revolution except with this one there are not three estates, but rather several levels with "capitalism" rather than the king at the top. Just the same, it is the workers at the bottom, just like the peasants of the Third Estate
Man with a Plan | The New Yorker
Teachers covering social darwinism can give students an reading exercise with this article, focusing on Herbert Spencer's tour of the US popularizing his theory (which was not Darwin's). It will take some editing, but is is grade level and reading level appropriate for high school readers
Veblen: The Theory of the Leisure Class (book)
The Theory of the Leisure Class is considered one of the great works of economics as well as the first detailed critique of consumerism. In the book, Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times. Drawing examples from the contemporary period and anthropology, he held that much of today's society is a variation on early tribal life.This may have relevance for the digital age when facebook "tribes" are branded for marketeers.
Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
The American Variety Stage is a multimedia anthology selected from various Library of Congress holdings. This collection illustrates the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920. Included are 334 English- and Yiddish-language playscripts, 146 theater playbills and programs, 61 motion pictures, 10 sound recordings and 143 photographs and 29 memorabilia items documenting the life and career of Harry Houdini. From the Library of Congress
Ragtime Vaudeville Show
History of Vaudeville, some information about performers from a personal site
Edward Bellamy
Collection of resources, excerpts, and original essays dedicated to the author of the most celebrated utopian novel of the nineteenth century: Looking Backward.
Who was Henry George?
Biographical article and other information from progress.org
Charles Loring Brace, - Life of the Street Rats
Excerpt from 1872 book describing German and Irish immigrants in the city
The History of the Standard Oil Company
Full text of book by Ira Tarbell from the University of Rochester. Exposé of the Standard Oil Company, run at that time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the richest figure in America's history. Originally serialized in 19 parts in McClure's magazine, the book was a seminal example of muckraking, and inspired many other journalists to write about trusts, large businesses that (in the absence of strong antitrust law in the 19th century) attempted to gain monopolies in various industries.
Child Labor and the Building of America - (Library of Congress)
Students are immersed in primary source materials that relate to child labor in America from 1880-1920 to gain a personal perspective of how work affected the American child within a rapidly growing industrial society. This project is student-driven. Students engage in visual and information literacy exercises to gain expertise in analyzing historical data. Most importantly, students emerge from this experience with a very personal sense that children significantly and heroically affected the building of America.
How Theodore Vail Built the AT&T Monopoly
Not only does the history of AT&T destroy the myth of free markets in the United States, but the arguments of AT&T's long-time chairman, Theodore Vail provide a great source of counter-argument against open markets. In defending his monopoly and championing it as a positive good, the quotes in this article provide students with a more nuanced understanding of government regulation.
Open Collections Program: Women Working - , 1800-1930
Women Working, 1800-1930 explores women's roles in the US economy between 1800 and the Great Depression and includes documentation of working conditions, conditions in the home, costs of living, recreation, health and hygiene, conduct of life, policies and regulations governing the workplace, and social issues Check the menu on the left for digitized diaries and links to corporate and organizational records.
The Chinese Experience in 19th Century America
An entire unit from the University of Illinois; complete with lessons, primary documents and teacher materials. Some of this material addresses immigration generally and 19th century American ideas.
Ten Companies own most of the world's food brands. - Graphic
This graphic from Oxfam lists hundreds of products from life savers, chex its and M&Ms to Chex and Cheerioes. Almost all of the food products can see in a local WaWa or supermarket. Despite the variety of brands, they are only owned by ten companies. Teachers can throw this up on the screen while talking about Sherman Anti-Trust law.
Popular Music and Race - 1890s vs 1990s
This lesson has students comparing lyrics of African American sheet music of the 1890s and rap music of the 1990s. They can then think about the contextual forces that account for the many similarities.
Our Documents - Transcript of Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
The text of the first two paragraphs of the Sherman Anti-Trust act is some of the most straightforward and unobtuse in federal law, students with some support can understand it. Teachers should invest that minimal class time to lead students through understanding the law so they can then think through how it could be used to stop unions, and how it was not used to stop protected monopolies in the mid 20th century.
Newport Mansions | The Preservation Society of Newport County
Right after showing students photographs of Lewis Hines or Jacob Riis, teachers should guide students to this site and "Explore" these homes, look for virtual tours of each. Compare the two will generate interest in the wealth gap of the late 19th and early 20th century
Define American | Home
Immigration lessons could use materials and information from this site documenting the modern immigration experience
The Yellow Kid 1895 - comics or political cartoons
Instead of asking students to find the interpretation of cartoons that are already established, give them cartoons that have not been interpreted and do it together with them
LGBTQ Primary Source Sets | The History Project at UC Davis
Collection of primary sources designed for use in the K-12 classroom. Each set includes context, focus questions, further readings, and a plethora of primary sources to help teachers infuse their curriculum with LGBTQ voices.
Benjamin Tillman - Wikipedia
Even a casual look through this man's career makes one wonder why he is ignored by the taught narrative canon.
H. L. Mencken's obituary for William Jennings Bryan
Most US History students will encounter Bryan through his "Cross of Gold" speech. The students with the best grades will be able to pick his name out of a list and associate him with the coinage of silver or the populist movement of the late 1800s. Few will recognize his name when it reappears in the Scopes Trial. Having students instead read this obituary, or even if a sentence or two of its pure vitriol will introduce the historical figure to them through the eyes of someone who truly hated him - interesting approach.