Group items tagged

Topics: U.S./1945 - 1991; World/Russia; Cuban Missile Crisis; Cold War;

Excellent collection of animated and interactive maps about the history of the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

'Together with the introduction of rural mail delivery, the telephone, and the automobile, farm newspapers played a key role in the modernization of rural America. The Farm, Field and Fireside collection contains historically significant U.S. farm weeklies published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Excellent source for American culture in the late 30's.

These life histories were compiled and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history.

Teaching with Historic Places has developed more than 130 classroom-ready lesson plans that together range across American history. All are available on the Web. For more information on lessons plans or our program, contact TwHP. You can also view the entire collection according to location, topic, skill, U.S. History Standards, and Social Studies Standards.

This site is run by George Something University and has material on four key events from American history, all designed to develop 'historical thinking". They have primary sources in there which I would steal and use for other purposes, but that's just me.

Welcome to Historical Thinking Matters, a website focused on key topics in U.S. history, that is designed to teach students how to critically read primary sources and how to critique and construct historical narratives. Read how to use this site.

Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount - 1774 to Present

You'll find the United States AP World & US History course documents available for download at the bottom right. They have outlines of what is covered in the courses and also example assessment items. I'm going to use them this summer as I redesign our school's work programs. Even if you don't teach in the US they might be helpful.

This is an interactive website from the Massachusetts Historical Society.

What a great site Bob. Thank you for sharing. I am certain I can use this site for ideas in the classroom!

I worked on it this summer. I especially recommend the docs for "non-consumption and non-importation" (the word boycott did not exist yet!). They are very student friendly and can be used in a U.S. history or world history class and can easily connect with boycotts today. Overall, this site could be used as an exemplar for other historical societies to follow: Intro to the whole site, intro to each topic, intro to each subtopic with questions, intro to each document with questions, a facsimile of each document, and a transcription. Fyi and fwiw, the Mass Historical Society will be hosting a Landmarks Institute this summer through NEH so U.S. teachers might want to apply: http://www.masshist.org/education/silver/crossroads-home/

"Over the past several years, History Matters has organized twenty-five online dialogues with leading historians and teachers about the the teaching of major topics in U.S. history--from early settlement to the Vietnam War. Those discussions are archived here and contain many useful teaching suggestions"

There are a couple of pages on this site which might be useful for history teachers in challenging us to reflect on our practice. I don't know about you, but too often I get so caught up in the bureaucratic paperwork and day-to-day of teaching I forget to reflect on the big picture of what teaching history is all about...

Hi! My name is Sallie Ann. I was made in Gettysburg, PA, and I'm named after the mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry from the Civil War. My job is to travel around the U.S. looking for Civil War battlefields or museums and schools learning about the Civil War. Along the way, I hope to teach kids more about the Civil War while also helping them to learn about using technology. I'll start out in Gettysburg, PA,and learn about the battle that took place there. My visit to you will last about one week, but before I leave, I hope that you will put something from the battlefield, museum or your school in my backpack so I can keep it as a memento of my visit.

Please check out my guide on how to internationalize US history.

This website offers free teaching material and quiz for the Civics test portion of the U.S. citizenship test. They offer audio as well, and free flash cards. Great site to study online the Civics test.

An interactive map showing the spread of slavery. It gives you a variety of ways to look at the date (absolute numbers, percent of population, etc.) and also includes data for the free black population.

Please note by the end of the decade radio households was up to 40%. Can you image a teenager of today transported back to a time with no smart phone! I'm not going back and I'm 72.

Slave narratives, WPA narratives, and other first hand accounts of slavery

This site from the Library of Congress explores the history of border between the United States and Mexico as part of the LOC's Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps project

Perspective on the financial transaction tax by Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts Amherst