Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Everyday Life and People

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of primary source photos from 19th-century California which portray what everyday life was like during the California Gold Rush.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era, 1848 1865: Growth of Cities

For Students 9th - 10th
Primary source images depicting the rapid growth of small settlements into big cities as people continued to come to California from all over the world during the Gold Rush.
Handout
Harvard University

Harvard Univ.: Immigration to Us, 1789 1930: California Gold Rush (1848 1858)

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the California Gold Rush and the impact it had on immigration to the United States and to the future demographics of California. Includes a high-resolution map of the gold region of California in 1851.
Lesson Plan
Other

California State Parks: Gold Rush

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
The California State Parks presents a brief unit on the California Gold Rush including three lessons which begin with the westward movement to California for gold, the actual process of mining for gold, then the effects of the rush on...
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era, 1848 1865: Disasters

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of primary source materials that highlight the risks of natural disasters associated with the California Gold Rush as people rushed in to seek their fortunes.
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Environmental Impact

For Students 9th - 10th
Original photographs depicting scenes from California during the Gold Rush. Illustrations of mines, miners at work, and the tools they used as well as the effect of the mining industry on California's landscape.
Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Staking Claims: The Gold Rush in Nineteenth Century America

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibition explores the Gold Rush, a group of related gold rushes to Western territories in the second half of the nineteenth century, and its impact on American history and culture.
Website
Oakland Museum of California

Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush! California's Untold Stories

For Students 9th - 10th
View a virtual tour of a real exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, and the frenzied rush to California of gold seekers from...
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

University of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Murder and Mayhem

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of primary source materials and informational text that looks at law and order in the "wild west" of California, identifying changing ethnicity in a growing population seeking gold and other resources.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Mother Lode Now Strikes Gold in Tourism

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site contains an article on the effects that the California gold rush has on California's tourism. Many people still come from far lands to get a glimpse of what is was like to be a gold miner.
Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Fantastic Facts

For Students 3rd - 8th
This resource provides information about the Gold Rush.
Website
Other

California Historical Society: California History Online

For Students 9th - 10th
With over four hundred original images, this site covers periods in California's history from 1600 to the 1930s. Topics covered include the geography and climate of California, early aboriginal groups, the first European explorers, the...
Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

Univ. Of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Diversity in the Changing State

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore original images depicting scenes of ethnic diversity in California during the Gold Rush years.
Website
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: The Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
This comprehensive site from American Experience examines many facets of the Gold Rush in California. Read a transcript of the film, find out about the many individuals and groups of people who arrived in California to try to strike it...
Article
Henry J. Sage

Sage American History: California and the Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
Article by Henry Sage explaining the history of California, how it became a state, and how President Polks desire to acquire California contributed to the Mexican-American War.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey

For Students 9th - 10th
In this superb interactive exhibition, students explore primary resources and learn about the reasons people left their homes to search for wealth during the California Gold Rush. Van Valen, along with four other men, set out in 1849 to...
Handout
Other

Montana Junior College: Mining History and Geology of the California Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The physical characteristics, history, and mining of gold in California are examined in this thorough site.
Website
Oakland Museum of California

Gold Rush: California on the Eve Californios

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents information about the Spanish influence in California before the Gold Rush.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Westward Expansion the California Gold Rush

For Teachers 5th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the discovery of gold along the West Coast. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
eBook
Other

Gold, Greed, & Genocide: The Story of California's 1849 Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
Use the table of contents to explore this site which recounts the plight of the Native Americans who lived in California before the Gold Rush and the impact of the gold rush on their lives.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Fortune Smiled on Many Black Miners

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the triumphs African American's had during the California gold rush. Many blacks were able to purchase their freedom and the freedom of their families back home.
Lesson Plan
Oakland Museum of California

Gold Rush: Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A great site to find lesson plans, connections to state standards, and curriculum links to the California Gold Rush. Offered by the Oakland Museum of California.
Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Chinese Transformed

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the role of the Chinese immigrants during the gold rush in California and the mark they made on history.
Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: "California as I Saw It"

For Students 9th - 10th
Digital collection features first-person accounts from the time of the Gold Rush and California statehood through the turn of the twentieth century. Presents detailed information about localities and people important to the state during...

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