Essays

Development of the West

The essays in this section have been written by leading scholars of American history. They provide additional depth on events and ideas referred to in the introductory essay and, in some cases, different interpretations by historians looking at the same events. These essays are particularly useful in introducing your students to one of the most exciting aspects of studying history—understanding the past from a variety of perspectives.

Born Modern: An Overview of the West

Author: Richard White Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Joining of the rails, May 10, 1869, by Andrew Russell (GLC04481.04)

Transcontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space

Author: Richard White Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Justice of the Plains: The Movement Westward, John S. Curry (LC-DIG-highsm-02850

Women of the West

Author: Virginia Scharff Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essays from Other Sub-Eras

The Empire Builders, by Bernarda Bryson, the Resettlement Administration (LOC)

Entrepreneurs and Bankers: The Evolution of Corporate Empires

Author: Robert W. Cherny Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:
Teenager operating machinery, 1913, by Lewis Hine. (LC-DIG-nclc-04898)

History Times: The Industrial Revolution

Author: Gilder Lehrman Institute Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Mary E. Lease in an illustration from Puck, 1896. (LC-DIG-ppmsca-28845)

Mary Elizabeth Lease: Populist Reformer

Author: Kelly A. Woestman Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels:

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America

Author: Martha A. Sandweiss Curriculum Subjects: Art, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Cornelius Vanderbilt, ca. 1865. (GLC05151)

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry?

Author: T. J. Stiles Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Proclamation by the Mayor, San Francisco, CA, April 18, 1906 (GLC 04967.01)

San Francisco and the Great Earthquake of 1906

Author: Robert W. Cherny Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Patent signed by James Buchanan, May 28, 1846. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

Technology of the 1800s

Author: Brent D. Glass Curriculum Subjects: Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Letterhead from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, 1910, detail. (GLC)

The Myth of the Frontier: Progress or Lost Freedom

Author: John Mack Faragher Curriculum Subjects: Art, Economics, Geography, Literature Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+
Teddy Roosevelt in the Rough Riders, ca. 1898. (GLC07002.39)

Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Progressive Reformer

Author: Kathleen Dalton Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Government and Civics Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+