Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Spark!lab: Make a Light Bulb
This lab shows students how to make a light bulb using 6V battery, wire, cork, and a nail. Print a form where you can record your results.
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National Postal Museum: A Student's Guide to Historical Research
This resource focuses on teaching students how to do historical research via a series of steps. Historical photos and documents are included as examples.
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National Museum of Natural History: Global Volcanism Program: Krakatau
The volcano Krakatau is in Indonesia. Learn about its background information, description, frequently asked questions, items of interest and useful links.
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National Anthropological Archives: Lakota Winter Counts
A beautifully crafted site describing the passage of time by the Lakota known as Winter Counts. Site features winter count images and a Teachers' Guide.
Smithsonian Institution
National Anthropological Archives: Lakota Winter Counts: Teachers' Guide [Pdf]
Learn about the Lakota Sioux, and their 'winter counts' pictographic calendars of a community's history. These provide a unique look into the history of the Lakota Sioux people. Winter counts represent a rich Lakota tradition of oral...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Global Volcanism Program: Volcanoes of the World
The Smithsonian Institute presents a searchable database on volcanoes of the world. Search by region, volcano name, or eruption date. There is also a chronological list of large eruptions during the last 10,000 years.
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National Museum of Natural History: Global Volcanism Program: Popocatepetl Mexico
A lot of links to Popocatepetl in Mexico. You can link to background information, graphics and images, items of interest, menu of interest and useful links.
Smithsonian Institution
Freer | Sackler Galleries
Explore the Freer and Sackler Galleries by topics including but not limited to Arts of the Islamic Worlds, Chinese Art, and Contemporary Art. An overview of the collection, online exhibit features, and teacher resources are available.
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Freer | Sackler Galleries: The Peacock Room
An exhibition site on a room in the home of Frederick R. Leyland in Liverpool, England that was painted by James McNeill Whistler. The site has a detailed biography and a virtual tour (Quicktime.) There is also information on the most...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries: Accepting Smithson's Gift: John Quincy Adams' Role
From a Smithsonian exhibition entitled "From Smithson to Smithsonian," this document relates John Quincy Adams' role in getting the US government to accept and support the gift that became the Smithsonian Institution. A transcript of...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries: Make the Dirt Fly!
This online exhibition takes a detailed look at the construction of the Panama Canal. Content explores why the canal was built, how the route was chosen, how much man power and machine power it took to move all that dirt, hazards of the...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries:drawing From Life: Caricatures and Cartoons
A website dedicated to displaying a selection of political cartoons and caricatures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Includes biographies of many famous cartoonists and commentaries on the cartoonist's style and interests.
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Smithsonian Libraries:celebrity Caricature
Online exhibit of caricatures of national celebrities from all walks of life.
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Smithsonian Libraries: Industrial Drawings
Smithsonian site enlightens users in the field of Industrial Engineering by inviting them to view samples of industrial drawings. Some are working drawings, others are more finished and still, others are printed. They visually document...
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Smithsonian Libraries: The Art of African Exploration
The Art of African Exploration is a catalog of primary sources that documents the impressions of Europeans who traveled to Africa in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century to explore and conquer. View the work of expedition artists...
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National Postal Museum: Philately
Learn the basics of philately (the study and collection of postage stamps). You can view slideshows of American and international stamps that have special value for collectors and sample the imagery used over the decades in the design of...
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National Postal Museum: Fifteen Objects That Changed Postal History
Useful information about the history of the postal system and about the changes in postal and transportation technologies that have made the U.S. Postal Service what it is today.
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National Museum of the American Indian: Indigenous Geography
Indigenous Geography helps you develop key understandings on nine different dimensions as they relate to six Native communities located in the Western Hemisphere. Learn about the creation stories, place boundaries and landmarks, calendar...
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National Museum of Natural History: Invertebrate Zoology Collections Search
A searchable database of the collections of invertebrates at the National Museum of Natural History. You can search by keyword, or in a more scientific way, such as by phylum or expedition.
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National Museum of Natural History: Department of Mineral Sciences Collections
A searchable database of minerals and gems. Search by keyword or pre-defined characteristics. A Help section is available as well for aid in searching.
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National Museum of Natural History: Red Wolf
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in a section titled "North American Mammals," offers a general overview of the red wolf. Content includes a focus on this animal's conservation status, habitat and range, and other key...
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Smithsonian Institution: Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon
The Smithsonian Institute provides a teacher's guide full of lessons to accompany its traveling exhibition "Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon". This exhibit explores the roles of barns in American society both past and future.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Africa Art: Ancient West African City of Benin
A photographic exhibit of art objects from Benin from the period of 1300 to 1897 C.E. Extensive commentary is given for each object. Requires Adobe Reader. [PDF]
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National Museum of Natural History: Department of Mineral Sciences
Useful interface and gateway into the research collections of the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Find information, image galleries, exhibits, specimens, and related resources about...