389 items
In the wake of World War II, American servicemen helped Jewish refugees come to the United States. Join us as we learn more about the servicemen’s work through primary sources. Who were these people? What are their stories? On...
The Boston Massacre: Paul Revere and Captain Thomas Preston, 1770
Click here to download this three-lesson unit.
Inside the Vault: The Surrender of Robert E. Lee
“I ask a suspension of hostilities pending the discussion of the Terms of surrender of this army.” —Robert E. Lee, April 9, 1865 Shortly before noon on April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee sent a message to Union General...
Free Speech in US History, 1917-1988
Click here to download the middle school lesson unit. Click here to download the high school lesson unit.
Environmentalism, Love Canal, and Lois Gibbs, 1953-1997
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President Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation, 1961
Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Inside the Vault: The Overland Trail
What was life like along the Overland Trail in the 1820s? What hardships did travelers face? On March 7, 2024 our curators were joined by Dr. Sarah Keyes (University of Nevada, Reno) to discuss letters from people on the Trail. View...
How to SAQ, Part I | AP US History Study Guide
How to SAQ: Part I Learn how to respond to Short-Answer Questions about secondary and text-based primary sources.
The US Government and Indigenous Peoples before the Trail of Tears, 1770-1839
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Theodore Roosevelt and the Trusts
Background Thick dark smoke billowing out of smokestacks several stories high proliferated across city skylines, heralding America's rise to world prominence and industrial supremacy. After the Civil War, Americans embraced the smog...
Nineteenth-Century Technology in Twenty-First-Century America
Introduction The nineteenth century was marked by a period of innovation, invention, and a huge spurt of growth known as the industrial revolution. Many inventions from the nineteenth century never caught on or have become obsolete,...
Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Immigration and Migration: Pairing Text and Visual Materials
Click to download this five-lesson unit.
Understanding Lincoln: First Inaugural Address (1861)
Watch this close reading of a document by Abraham Lincoln, with Dickinson College historian Matthew Pinsker.
Evaluating Lyndon B. Johnson’s Character and Efforts during the Civil Rights Era
Background Information In 1969 Thomas Baker conducted an interview with Roy Wilkins, executive directory of the NAACP, based on Wilkins’s experiences with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. This abridged version of the...
Inside the Vault: Lincoln’s Refusal to Pardon Nathaniel Gordon
“It becomes my painful duty to admonish the prisoner that, relinquishing all expectation of pardon by Human Authority, he refer himself alone to the mercy of the Common God and Father of all men.” —Abraham Lincoln, February 4, 1862...
Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story
Essential Question What conditions created the need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, and what did that march achieve? Background Throughout American history, African Americans have struggled to gain...
“A City upon a Hill” from John Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity,” 1630
Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
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