Library of Congress
Loc: Waldseemuller's Map: World 1507
The 1507 World Map by Martin Waldseemuller is one of the world's most important maps. For the first time, this map labels America and shows the continent as a separate land mass. It is often referred to as America's Birth Certificate....
Library of Congress
Loc: The Alaska Purchase: Debating the Sale
The 1867 Treaty of Cession, in which the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian empire, marked an unusually peaceful transition. The purchase of Alaska was done under amicable circumstances, and both Russia and the U.S. felt...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Conservation Movement at a Crossroads
The debate over damming the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park marked a crossroads in the American conservation movement. Until this debate, conservationists seemed fairly united in their aims. San Francisco's need for a...
Library of Congress
Loc: World War I: What Are We Fighting for Over There?
The Great War of 1914-1918 significantly shaped the course of the twentieth century, both at home and abroad. How can this pivotal event be personalized and brought to life for students in the new millennium? Unfortunately, increasingly...
Library of Congress
Loc: Immigration and Oral History
The primary goal of this activity is to give students the genuine experience of oral history in order to appreciate the process of historiography. We identified immigrants in our community who reflect the ethnic diversity of our student...
Library of Congress
Loc: Explorations in American Environmental History
These lessons introduce students to historical perspectives of nature and the environment, drawing on the American Memory collections, other digital resources, readings, and writing exercises. Students examine materials in a variety of...
Library of Congress
Loc: Oral History and Social History
This instructional activity presents social history content and topics through the voices of ordinary people. It draws on primary sources from the collection, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project,...
Library of Congress
Loc: Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw
This lesson relates to the westward movement in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students analyze the role that gunfighters played in the settlement of the West and distinguish between their factual...
Library of Congress
Loc: Civil War Photojournalism: A Record of War
This instructional activity will analyze Civil War photographs and explore how and why the American Civil War was photographed.
Library of Congress
Loc: Change in Early 20th Century America: Doing the Decades
This unit provides a flexible investigative structure for the study of selected themes in U.S. history and culture using the American Memory collections and related resources. Core goals are the development of relationships between...
Library of Congress
Loc: Music and u.s. Reform History: Stand Up and Sing
Throughout American history, popular music has reflected the mood and opinions of the times. By exploring sheet music, students analyze issues related to industrialization and reform to answer the essential question, "How does society...
Library of Congress
Loc: 1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
To better understand the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, this interdisciplinary lesson integrates analyzing historical primary resources with literary analysis. Students work in groups and express themselves...
Library of Congress
Loc: Japanese American Internment
What was the World War II experience like for the thousands of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast? The activities in this activity are designed to provide a window into the war years. Using primary sources, students will explore...
Library of Congress
Loc: German Immigrants: Their Contributions to the Upper Midwest
Why did Germans immigrate to the Upper Midwest in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century? What contributions did they make to the region's cultural heritage? Students use American Memory photographs and documents to answer these...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Civil War: The Nation Moves Toward War
Examine the causes of the Civil War using primary source documents. This lesson plan gives background on the Civil War, includes a timeline, and a bibliography for further reading. Primary source documents include music, newspapers,...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Grapes of Wrath: Voices From the Great Depression
By examining primary sources, including songs, newspapers, interviews, and photographs of migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression, students create a scrapbook from the point of view of a migrant worker, providing...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Women's Suffrage: Their Rights and Nothing Less
Primary sources reveal the true resistance suffragists faced as they fought for women's right to vote. Through this collection of lessons, students will "understand the societal role of women from 1840 to 1920" and explore the history of...
Library of Congress
Loc: Sourcing a Document: The First Thanksgiving
In this activity, students discuss the reliability of a painting of the First Thanksgiving to introduce the idea that is crucial to consider a source's date.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Lives in Two Centuries: What Is an American?
In 1782 Jean de Crevecoeur published Letters from an American Farmer in which he defined an American as a "descendent of Europeans" who, if he were "honest, sober and industrious," prospered in a welcoming land of opportunity which gave...
Library of Congress
Loc: Baseball, Race Relations and Jackie Robinson
In this lesson, students draw on their previous studies of American history and culture as they analyze primary sources from Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s in American Memory. A close reading of two documents...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Baseball, Race, and Ethnicity: Rounding the Bases
Using primary documents as resources, students examine the connection between America's favorite pastime, baseball, and race.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Recreation Yesterday and Today
Primary texts from the 1920s and 1930s launch an exploration of entertainment and recreation popular during that time in America's history. Students will research rural and nationwide experiences from this time and, in turn, make...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Civil War Through a Child's Eye
Historical fiction and primary texts provide students with new perspectives on the Civil War era, specifically through the eyes of a child who lived during this time.
Library of Congress
Loc: Presidential Election of 1960
What made the election of 1960 so different? Some political analysts call this election a turning point in American politics. Here's a brief overview of the election and questions to answer.