Resources by Period
General American History
- Teacher Resources
General History
- Resources
- Nonfiction
- The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky
- Cod by Mark Kurlansky
- An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage (adult)
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (adult)
- Locust by Jeffrey Lockwood
- Salt by Mark Kurlansky
Early Civilizations
- Resources
- Interactives
Nonfiction
- Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and the Recovery of the Past by James M. Deem
- Confucius: The Golden Rule by Russell Freedman (elementary/middle school)
- Collapse: How Socities Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (adult)
- Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba (young adult)
- Historical Fiction
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (adult)
- The Striped Ships by Eloise Jarvis McGraw - England 1066 (young adult)
- Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff - Norse (young adult)
Middle Ages and Renaissance
- Primary Sources
- 1085 - Domesday Book
- 1215 - Magna Carta
- 1360 - Treaty of Calais (artifact)
- 1497 - John Cabot's Voyage to America
- 1602 - Confession of Guy Fawkes
- 1665 - The Black Death
- Teacher Resources for UK
- Resources
- Nonfiction
- A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance by William Manchester (adult)
- The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa by Pat and Fredrick McKissack (middle school)
- Historical Fiction
- Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett - 11th century (young adult)
- Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman - 12th century (young adult)
- Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli - 16th century (young adult)
- Dead Reckoning by Laurie Lawlor - 16th century (young adult)
- Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer - 16th century (young adult)
- Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer - 16th century (young adult)
- Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (middle school)
- Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple - 14th century (young adult)
- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parker - Korea (middle school)
- Will Sparrow's Road by Karen Cushman (middle school) - 1599
- Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (adult)
The Americas to 1620
- Primary Sources
- 1562 - America map (map) Diego Gutierrez (explanation)
- 1584 - Arthur Barlowe (narrative)
- Teacher Resources
- Resources
- 1492: An Ongoing Voyage
- American Journeys: From Vikings to Mountain Men
- Discovery and Exploration
- Exploring the Early Americas
- France in America
- Hispanic Exploration in America
- Images of Christopher Columbus and his Voyages
- Parallel Histories
- Sir Francis Drake
- Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography
- Interactives
- Nonfiction
- 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies (adult)
- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (adult)
- 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann (adult)
- Sir Walter Raleigh and the Quest for El Dorado by Marc Aronson
- Who Was First? Discovering the Americas by Russell Freedman (elementary/middle school)
- Historical Fiction
Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
- Primary Sources
- 1755 - Defeat of General Braddock (wood etching)
- 1826 - The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (fiction) (also available in audio LibriVox)
- Teacher Resources
- Resources
- Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands
- The First American West: The Ohio River Valley 1750-1820
- George Washington, Surveyor and Mapmaker
- Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase
- Pictorial America: French and Indian War
- Pioneering the Upper Midwest
- Probing the Past
- Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
- Virginia 400
- Nonfiction Books
- Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer (elementary/middle school)
- Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland by Sally M. Walker (elementary/middle school)
- Historical Fiction Books
- A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi - Salem Witch Trials (young adult)
- Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre by Ann Rinaldi - 1770 (young adult)
- Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons by Ann Rinaldi - 19th century fictionalized biography (young adult)
- Pirates! The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates by Celia Rees - 18th century pirates (young adult)
- The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (middle school)
- Trouble's Daughter by Katherin Kirkpatrick - 1643 (young adult)
- Witch Child by Celia Rees (young adult) - 1659
- The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac - 1759 French & Indian War (young adult)
- Interactives
American Revolution (1763-1783)
- Primary Sources
- 1754- Join or Die (cartoon) by Benjamin Franklin: warning to British colonies in America to unite against the French and Native people.
- 1768 - Cook's First Voyage (letter)
- 1770 - Bloody Massacre in Boston (drawing)
- 1774 - Join or Die and Liberty figure (masthead in newspaper) by Paul Revere: warning to join the movement
- 1774 - The Bostonian's paying the excise-man (cartoon)
- 1776 - Common Sense by Thomas Paine (essay): argument for independence
- 1776 - Lee Resolution
- 1776 - Declaration of Independence
- 1777 - Articles of Confederation
- 1778 - Treaty of Alliance with France
- 1782 - Original Design of the Great Seal of the United States
- 1783 - Treaty of Paris
- 1787-88 - The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madson (essays): argument for ratification of the Constitution
-
- Primary Source Sets
- 1740-1860 - Revolutionary War Frakturs (flickr image set)
- Constitution Set
- Teacher Resources
- Constitution
- Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 (Teacher Resources)
- Early Virginia Religious Petitions (Teacher Resources)
- James Madison Papers (Teacher Resources)
- Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
- The Rochambeau Map Collection (Teacher Resources)
- Resources
- James Adams and the Boston Massacre Trial of 1770
- American Revolution and its Era, Maps and
- American Revolution and New Nation =
- Benjamin Franklin.. In His Own Words
- A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation, 1774-1875
- Creating the United States
- Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents
- The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
- Thomas Jefferson Papers
- Thomas Jefferson Exposition
- George Washington Papers
- Rochambeau Map Collection
- Nonfiction Books
- 1776 by David McCullough (adult)
- Bushnell's Submarine by Arthur Lefkowitz (adult)
- Lafayette and the American Revolution by Russell Freedman (elementary/middle school)
- The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin (middle/high school)
- Real Benedict Arnold by Jim Murphy (middle school)
- The Signers: The 56 Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence by Dennie Brindell Fradin (elementary/middle school)
- Summer of 1787 by David O Stewart
- Historical Fiction
- Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson - 1793 yellow fever epidemic (young adult)
- Finishing Becca by Ann Rinaldi - 1778 (young adult)
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes (young adult)
- Just Jane by William Lavender - 1776 (young adult)
- Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara (adult)
- Wood Runner by Gary Paulsen (middle school)
- The Fighting Ground by Avi (middle school)
- My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier (young adult)
- The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation series) by M.T. Anderson (young adult)
- A Ride into the Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- The Year of the Hangman by Gary L. Blackwood - 1777 (young adult)
- Interactives
- Activities
- Literature Circles: Revolutionary War Wiki
The New Nation (1783-1815)
- Primary Sources
- 1787 - Virginia Plan
- 1787 - Northwest Ordinance
- 1787 - Constitution of the United States
- 1787-1788 - Federalist Papers, No. 10 & No. 51
- 1789 - Mutiny on the Bounty (logbook)
- 1789 - President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech
- 1789 - Federal Judiciary Act
- 1791 - Bill of Rights
- 1794 - Patent for Cotton Gin
- 1796 - President George Washington's Farewell Address
- 1798 - Alien and Sedition Acts
- 1803 - Jefferson's Secret Message to Congress Regarding the Lewis & Clark Expedition
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase Treaty
- 1803 - Proclamation to the people of New Orleans
- 1803-1806 - Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (journals)
- 1803 - Marbury v. Madison
- 1814 - Treaty of Ghent
- Teacher Resources
- Resources
- Benjamin Franklin.. In His Own Words
- The Church in the Southern Black Community 1780-1925
- Creating the United States
- Imaging the French Revolution
- French Revolution
- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827
- Thomas Jefferson Exhibition
- Thomas Jefferson's Library
- Lewis and Clark
- Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase
- James Madison's Treasures
- Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
- Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation
- The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress
Historical Graphic Books
- Lewis & Clark by Nick Bertozzi - click the image on the right to see example pages from the book
- Nonfiction Books
- Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
- Fiction Books
- North by Night by Katherine Ayres - underground railroad (middle school)
- Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (French Revolution)
- The Second Bend in the River by Ann Rinaldi - Techumseh (young adult)
- Slave Dancer by Paula Fox - slavery (middle school)
- Steal Away by Jennifer Armstrong - 1855 underground railroad (middle school)
- A Stitch in Time by Ann Rinaldi - Northwest Territory
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea: A Novel of Sacagawea by Scott O'Dell (middle school) (young adult)
- Interactives
- Activities
- Writing is about sharing. We can experience events through journals. This writing can include words, drawings, maps, and other elements to convey meaning. Reading can often jumpstart an experience. For instance, the graphic history Lewis and Clark by Nick Bertozzi isn't intended to replace the journals, instead it provides a way to experience the adventure.
- Involve students in reading the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, then writing their own journals.
- Involve students in reading the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, then read graphic history Lewis and Clark by Nick Bertozzi. How do they compare. What's the fact and fiction?
National Expansion and Reform (1815-1860)
- Primary Sources
- 1819 - McCulloch v. Maryland
- 1820 - Missouri Compromise
- 1823 - Monroe Doctrine
- 1824 - Gibbons v. Ogden
- 1830 - President Andrew Jackson's Message to Congress 'On Indian Removal'
- 1835 - Democracy in America by Alexis deTocqueville (essays)
- 1839 - The Great Nation of Futurity (article in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review) by John O'Sullivan: columnist introduced the idea of manifest destiny (also available as scanned article)
- 1843, 1845 - Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller (essay): women's movement (also available in audio LibriVox)
- 1844 - Treat for Annexing Texas (treaty): failed to pass senate
- 1845 - The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California by Lansford Hastings. (also available in a PDF format)
- 1845 - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (autobiography): abolition of slavery (also available in audio LibriVox)
- 1845 - The Dark Horse's Inaugural (address) by James Knox Polk
- 1845 - Annexation (article in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review) by John O'Sullivan: spoke out in opposition of annexation of Texas using the term manifest destiny (also available as scanned article)
- 1845 - Joint Resolution of Congress (resolution): admission of the state of Texas into the Union
- 1846 - Declaration of War Against Mexico (address) by James Knox Polk
- 1848 - The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Fall Conference
- 1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
- 1849 - Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (essay): civil disobedience, self-reliance, war protest, transcendentalism (also as PDF, also available in audio LibriVox)
- 1850 - Compromise of 1850
- 1852 - Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (fiction): slavery, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (also available in audio LibriVox) (also available as a scanned pages)
- 1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act
- 1857 - Dred Scott v. Sanford
- 1857 - Message of President Andrew Jackson (message)
- Teaching Resources
- Resources
- A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
- Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
- African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A .P. Murray Collection 1818-1907
- America Singing: Nineteenth Century Song Sheets
- America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views 1839-1864
- American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
- Diary of Patrick Breen of the Donner Party
- James Madison Papers 1723-1836
- Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820 - 1860 and 1870 - 1885
- National Expansion and Reform
- Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas B. Harned Walt Whitman Collection
- Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age 19th and Early 20th Century Perspectives
- Railroad Maps, 1828-1900
- Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress
- Small Town America: Stereoscopic Views from the Robert Dennis Collection 1850-1920
- Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth Century America
- The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana
- The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925
- The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
- The Church in the Southern Black Community 1780-1925
- The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
- The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals
- The Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606-1827
- Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Women Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921
- Interactives
- Web-based Resources
- Donner Party PBS American Experience
- Nonfiction
- Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
- Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species: A Graphic Adaptation by Michael Keller
- Inside the Alamo by Jim Murphy (middle school)
- Fiction
- Beyond the Divide by Kathryn Lasky (young adult)
- Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Ireland)
- Black Storm Comin' by Diane L. Wilson - 1960 pony express (young adult)
- Fortune's Journey by Bruce - 1853 to California (young adult)
- Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell - 1864 - Navajo march (middle school)
- The Voyage of the Continental by Katherine Kirkpatrick - 1866 wagon train (young adult)
Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1877)
- Primary Sources
- 1861 - Telegram announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter (telegram)
- 1861-1865 - Drummer Boy with the US Colored Infantry (photo)
- 1861 - Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter
- 1862 - Homestead Act
- 1862 - Pacific Railway Act
- 1862 - Morrill Act
- 1863 - Emancipation Proclamation
- 1863 - War Department General Order 143: Creation of the U.S. Colored Troops
- 1863 - Gettysburg Address
- 1864 - Wade-Davis Bill
- 1865 - President Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
- 1865 - Articles of Agreement Relating to the Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia
- 1865 - Mclean House (photo)
- 1865 - 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery
- 1868 - Check for the Purchase of Alaska
- 1868 - 14th Amendment (amendment): immigration, citizenship, due process, voting
- 1868 - 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights
- 1868 - Treaty of Fort Laramie
- 1870 - 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights
- 1872 - Act Establishing Yellowstone National Park
- 1875 - Channel Tunnel (diagram)
- Primary Source Set
- 1809-1865 - Abraham Lincoln (flickr photo set)
- 1861-1865 - Civil War Faces (photos)
- 1860s - Civil War - 3D Viewing (flickr photo set)
- 1860s - Mathew Brady Collections and More (flickr photo sets)
- 1863 - Empancipation Proclamation (address)
- Civil War Maps (newspaper articles)
- Emancipation Proclamation (newspaper articles)
- Harper's Weekly
- Teacher Resources
- Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana (Teacher Resources)
- Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
- The Civil War: The Nation Moves Towards War, 1850-61
- Civil War Music
- A Civil War Soldier in the Wild Cat Regiment (Teacher Resources)
- A female raid in 1863: Using newspaper coverage
- Abraham Lincoln Library of Congress
- Teaching with Documents NARA
- Resources
- Civil War Primary Documents Library of Congress
- Abraham Lincoln
- Band Music from the Civil War Era
- Brady Handy Collection
- The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925
- The Church in the Southern Black Community 1780-1925
- A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
- Civil War Maps, 1861-1865 (Teacher Resources)
- Civil War Photographs
- Civil War Sheet Music
- Civil War Treasures
- First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920
- History of the American West 1860-1920
- Letters, Telegrams and Photos NARA
- The Gettysburg Address
- Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits
- Lincoln and the Law
- The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
- The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals
- Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books From Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin ca. 1820-1910
- Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas B. Harned Walt Whitman Collection
- Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters 1862-1912
- Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and the Leaves of Grass : Wound Dresser
- Hotchkiss Map Collection, Confederate Army Maps
- Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library
- Selected Civil Ware Photographs
- Washington During the Civil War
- With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition
- Nonfiction Books
- Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship by Russell Freedman (middle school)
- America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation by David Goldfield
- Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (elementary/middle school)
- Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson (middle school)
- Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz (adult)
- Fields of Fury by James M. McPherson (middle school)
- Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (middle school)
- Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin (young adult)
- 1861: The Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart
- Manhunt by James L. Swanson (adult)
- Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz
- A Savage Thunder by Jim Murphy (elementary/middle school)
- Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley by Sally M. Walker (elementary/middle school)
- They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (young adult)
- Till Victory is Won: Black Soldiers in the Civil War by Zak Mettger
- Graphic Nonfiction Books
- The Hammer and the Anvil by Dwight Jon Zimmerman (middle school)
- Historical Fiction Books
- Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (middle school)
- Before the Creeks Ran Red by Carolyn Reeder (young adult)
- Black Storm Comin' by Diane L. Wilson - 1960 pony express by Anna Myers (young adult)
- Captured: A Boy Trapped in the Civil War by Mary Immel (middle school)
- Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (adult)
- Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (middle school)
- How I Found the Strong by Margaret McMullan (middle school)
- Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (adult)
- Last Full Measure by Jeffrey Shaara (adult)
- Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara (adult)
- Guerilla Season by Pat Hughes (young adult)
- Jayhawker by Patricia Beatty (young adult)
- The Land by Mildred Taylor (young adult)
- The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (available as an ebook, online and Librivox)
- Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells (middle school)
- The River Between Us by Richard Peck (middle school)
- Sarah's Ground by Ann Rinaldi (young adult)
- Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen (middle school)
- Surprise Attack by Larry Hama (middle school)
- The Tamarack Tree by Patricia Clapp (young adult)
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (available as ebook, online and Librivox)
- Which Way to Freedom by Joyce Hansen (young adult)
- Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (elementary/middle school)
- Web-based Resources
- Civil War National Park Service
- Civil War: 150 Years National Park Service
- Civil War PBS
- Civil War
- The Valley of the Shadow
- Interactives
- Background Videos
- Activities
- Provide students with examples of how speeches can be visualized. Show Gettysburg Address. Rather than a traditional PowerPoint presentation. Ask students to use PowerPoint or Prezi to "visualize" a famous speech.
- Hold literature circles: Civil War Wiki
Rise of Industrial America (1877-1900)
- Primary Sources
- 1880 - Thomas Edison's Patent Application for the Light Bulb
- 1881 - A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson (essay): mistreatment of the Indians, leads to Dawes Act of 1887. Compare with Uncle Tom's Cabin
- 1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act (act): anti-immigration, discrimination
- 1883 - Pendleton Act
- 1883 - Railroad Map (map): shows expansion of railroad
- 1885 - Our Country by Josiah Strong (essay): racism, imperialism, anti-immigration
- 1887 - Interstate Commerce Act
- 1887 - Dawes Act
- 1887 - Sherman Anti-Trust Act
- 1888 - Jack the Ripper (letter): London
- 1890 - The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783 by Alfred Thayer Mahan (essay): naval arms race, Imperialism
- 1890 - How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis (essay): urban slums, reform, poor living conditions in tenement district of New York City
- 1890 - Plessy v. Ferguson
- 1893 - The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner (essay). shift from frontier to urban life
- 1896 - De Lôme Letter
- 1898 - Joint Resolution to Provide for Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States
- 1898 - Col. Theodore Roosevelt of the "Rough Riders" (photo)
- 1898 - Roosevelt's Rough Riders (video clip)
- 1899 - No trifling with filipinos (newspaper article)
- 1900 - If they'll only be good (cartoon)
- 1900 - Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines, Kingston, Pa (photo): child labor, mining
- 1901-1912 - No lack of big game (cartoon): industrial trusts
- 1902 - The Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens (essays): progress reform, muckrakers, urban corruption
- Primary Source Sets
- Statue of Liberty Under Construction
- Spanish American War (newspaper articles)
- Teaching Resources
- Resources
- Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress
- America at Work: America at Leisure 1894-1915
- American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
- Cabinet of American Illustration
- California as I Saw It: First Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900
- The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
- Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry
- Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection
- History of the American West 1860-1920
- Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
- The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898-1906
- Panoramic Maps
- Panoramic Photographs: Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
- Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age 19th and Early 20th Century Perspectives
- Railroad Maps, 1828-1900
- Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History 1884-1934
- Small Town America: Stereoscopic Views from the Robert Dennis Collection 1850-1920
- The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
- The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region ca. 1600-1925
- The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
- The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
- The Historic American Sheet Music collection
- Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair 1886-1887
- Inside an American Factory: Films of Westinghouse, 1904
- The Spanish-American War: The United States Becomes a World Power
- The Spanish American War in Motion Pictures
- Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
- Nonfiction
- Devil in the White City by Erick Larson (adult) (murders set against the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago)
- Fiction
- The Devil's Paintbox by Victoria McKernan (middle school)
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (middle school)
Progressive Era to New Era (1900-1929)
- Primary Sources
- 1903 - The Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. DuBois (essay): education for blacks, plight of blacks
- 1903 - Platt Amendment
- 1904 - The History of the Standard Oil Company (Volume 1), (Volume 2) by Ida Tarbell (essay): muckrakers, antitrust (also available in audio LibriVox Volume 1, Volume 2)
- 1905 - Theodore Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
- 1906 - The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (fiction): muckrakers; corporate abuse; Chicago meat-packing industry, led to Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (also available in audio LibriVox)
- 1907 - Gentlemen's Agreement (agreement): Japanese immigration, segregation, discrimination, racism
- 1909 - The Promise of American Life by Herbert Croley by Herbert Croly (essays); progressive political movement, new nationalism, government regulation
- 1909 - Men who shared the perils and hardships of Peary's trip to the pole, but little of the glory (newspaper)
- 1909 - Photograph of the North Pole (newspaper)
- 1912 - Wilson's suggestion for a cartoon (cartoon): industrial trusts
- 1913 - 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Federal Income Tax
- 1913 - 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators
- 1916 - Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916
- 1917 - Zimmermann Telegram
- 1917 - Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany
- 1917 - Our Flags (poster)
- 1917 - Patriotic Parade (photo): WWI
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points
- 1919 - Wilson's New Freedom by Woodrow Wilson
- 1919 - Redrawing Europe (cartoon)
- 1919 - Awaiting the Decision from Paris (cartoon)
- 1900 - Breaker boys (photo)
- 1920 - 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote
- 1920 - Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (fiction): small town America, intolerance, provincialism (also available in audio LibriVox)
- 1924 - Immigration Act of 1924 (act): immigration
- 1928 - Boulder Canyon Project Act
- Primary Source Sets
- 1910s - News in the 1910s (flickr image set)
- 1916 - Eight Hour Day (newspaper articles)
- 1919 - War of the Nations, 1919 (flickr image set)
- 1919 - Prohibition (newspaper articles)
- 1890-1920 - World War I Panoramas (flickr image set)
- 1908-1924 - Child Labor & Lewis Hine (flickr image set)
- 1910s - The Progressive Era (flicker image set)
- 1910s - World War I (flicker image set)
- 1910s - World War I
- 1912 - Sinking of the Titanic (newspaper articles)
- Ellis Island Photos
- Carrie Nation (newspaper articles)
- World War I Armistice (newspaper articles)
- World War I Declarations (newspaper articles)
- Treaty of Versailles (newspaper articles)
- Resources
- African American Photos for Paris Exhibition 1900
- Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress
- American Leaders Speak: Recordings From WWI and the 1920 Election
- American Notes: Travels in America, 1750-1920
- Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early films of San Francisco, 1897-1916
- Cabinet of American Illustration
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
- Experiencing War: Stories from the Veterans History Project - World War I The Great War
- From the Home Front and the Front Lines
- George Grantham Bain Collection
- Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
- Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley and the Pan American Exposition, 1901
- National Child Labor Committee Collection
- Newspaper Pictorials World War I Rotogravures 1913-1919
- Origins of American Animation 1900-1921
- Panoramic Maps
- Panoramic Photographs: Taking the Long View, 1851-1991
- Photographs From the Chicago Daily News 1902-1933
- Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States
- Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy 1921-1929
- Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age 19th and Early 20th Century Perspectives
- Reclaiming the Everglades: South Florida's Natural History 1884-1934
- Small Town America: Stereoscopic Views from the Robert Dennis Collection 1850-1920
- The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
- The Dream of Flight: A Library of Congress Special Presentation Commemorating the Centennial of Flight
- The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920
- The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
- The Historic American Sheet Music collection
- The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures
- Stars and Stripes, 1918-1919
- Temperance and Prohibition
- The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress
- Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film
- Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
- Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century
- World War I Posters
- Wright Brothers Negatives
- Nonfiction
- Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal
- Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin (elementary/middle school)
- Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (adult)
- Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson (middle school)
- Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle (adult)
- Truce by Jim Murphy (middle school)
- The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman (elementary/middle school)
- Fiction
- After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski - after WWI (young adult)
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (adult)
- The Diviners by Libba Bray (young adult) - Flappers with fantasy
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (middle/high school)
- Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson (middle/high school)
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (young adult) - WWI alternative world history
- Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt (elementary/middle school)
- The Luxe (series) by Anna Godberson (young adult) - Manhattan social scene
- A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (young adult) - based on true story
- Remembrance by Theresa Breslin (young adult)
- Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
- The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry (middle school) - based on an historical photo
- A Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (adult)
- War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (young adult)
- Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix (young adult)
- Vixen (Flappers series) by Jullian Larkin (young adult)
- Activities
Great Depression and WWII (1929-1945)
- Primary Sources
- 1933 - Tennessee Valley Authority Act
- 1933 - National Industrial Recovery Act
- 1935 - National Labor Relations Act
- 1935 - Social Security Act
- 1935 - To harvest the crops (photo); migration to California
- 1936 - Dorothea Lange, photographer (photo)
- 1936 - Destitute pea pickers (photo): famous Migrant Mother
- 1936 - Eleanor Roosevelt votes (photo)
- 1936 - President Franklin Roosevelt's Radio Address unveiling the second half of the New Deal
- 1936 - Federal Theater Project (playbill)
- 1937 - Toward Los Angeles (photo)
- 1938 - I'd rather not be on relief (interview)
- 1938 - Letter from Paul Morton (letter): HG Wells radio broadcast
- 1938 - Letter from JV Yaukey (letter): HG Wells radio broadcast
- 1939 - Interviews: (overview at Chicago Meatpackers Union)
- 1939 - Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial (photo)
- 1939 - Marian Anderson's performance at Lincoln Memorial (audio)
- 1940 - Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Lyman (photo)
- 1941 - President Franklin Roosevelt's Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress (1941)
- Lend-Lease Act
- 1941 - Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry
- 1941 - Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan
- 1941 - Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (photo)
- 1941 - They Shall Not Have Died in Vain (poster)
- 1941 - Workers Service Program (poster)
- 1941 - Message to Congress Requesting Declaration of Web (transcript)
- 1942 - Executive Order 9066: Authorizing the Relocation of Japanese (executive order): discrimination, racism
- 1942 - Manhattan Project Notebook
- 1942 - Avenger Pearl Harbor (poster)
- 1943-1943 - We Can Do It - Rosie the Riverter (poster)
- 1944 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of the Day
- 1944 - Servicemen's Readjustment Act
- 1944 - Douglas MacArthur Lands
- 1945 - Surrender of Germany
- 1945 - United Nations Charter (charter): formation of United Nations
- 1945 - Surrender of Japan
- 1945 - Flag Raising on Iwo Jima (photo)
- 1945 - New York City Celebrating the Surrender of Japan (photo)
- Primary Source Sets
- 1930s-1940s in Color (flickr image set)
- 1930s - FSA/OWI Favorites (flickr image set)
- 1936-1943 - WPA Posters (flickr image set)
- 1940 - The Great Depression by Lewis Hine (flickr image set)
- 1940s - History Through the Camera Lens (flickr image set)
- 1940s - World War II Homefront (flickr image set)
- Farm Security Administration
- Holocaust Documents - transcriptions
- Teaching Resources
- Resources
- After the Day of Infamy
- America from the Great Depression to WWII
- American Life Histories, 1936-1940
- The Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress
- Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943
- California Gold: Northern California Folk Music From the Thirties
- By the People: Posters from the WPA
- Churchill and the Great Republic
- The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project 1935-1939
- Now What a Time: Blues, Gospel and the Fort Valley Music Festivals 1938-1943
- Arthur Szyck: Artist for Freedom
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: Buffalo Soldiers: The 92nd in Italy
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: China-Burma-India: WWII's Forgotten Theater
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: D Day
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: Jewish Veterans of World War II
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: The War (Companion to the Ken Burns Series)
- Stories from the Vetarans History Project: War's End: VE- and VJ-Days
- Suffering Under a Great Unjustice: Ansel Adam's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar
- Voices from the Dust Bowl
- Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song Correspondence, 1940-1950
- Women come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During WWII
- World War II Military Situation Maps, 1944-1945
- Nonfiction
- Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin (young adult)
- Black and White Airmen: Their True History by John Fleischman (middle school)
- Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles by Tanya Lee Stone (elementary/middle school)
- The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helpd Remedy a National Disaster by Martin W. Sandler
- Left for Dead by Peter Nelson (young adult)
- Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 by Karen Blumenthal (elementary/middle school)
- The Tuskegee Airmen: Heroes of World War II by Jacqueline Harris
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (biography)
- The Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman (elementary/middle school)
- When Marian Sang by Pam Munoz Ryan
- Nonfiction - World War II (World History)
- Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport (elementary/middle school)
- The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines
- Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (young adult)
- In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (adult)
- Night by Elie Wiesel (autobiography) (young adult)
- Man Overboard! by Curtis Parkinson
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (biography) (adult)
- Surviving the Angel of Death: The Story of a Mengele Twin in Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri
- Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps by Andrea Warren (elementary/middle school)
- War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust by Doris Bergen (adult)
- Graphic Nonfiction History (World History)
- Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon (middle school)
- Feynman by Jim Ottaviani
- Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Worm
- Historical Fiction
- Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (elementary/middle school)
- Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse (young adult)
- The Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle
- Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff (young adult)
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (young adult)
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (elementary)
- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (young adult)
- Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac (young adult
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker (adult)
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (elementary/middle school)
- Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (young adult)
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (adult)
- The Gadget by Paul Zindel (young adult)
- Let the Circle be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor (young adult)
- Missing in Action by Dean Hughs (young adult)
- Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (elementary)
- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (middle school) (literature ladders)
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (young adult
- Tug of War by Joan Lingard (young adult)
- Walking on Air by Kelly Easton (young adult)
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (adult)
- Your Eyes in Stars by M.E. Kerr (young adult)
- Historical Fiction - World War II (World History)
- Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow (young adult)
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (young adult)
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (elementary/middle school)
- The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (adult)
- Tug of War by Joan Lingard (young adult)
- When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park (young adult)
- Activities
- Example: CCC WebQuest, CCC Photo Starter
The photo on the right shows an integrated CCC camp in Michigan in 1934.
Superpowers, Diplomacy, and Global Economics (1945-Present)
- Primary Sources
- 1945 - United Nations Charter (charter): formation of United Nations
- 1947 - Truman Doctrine (address): government assistance, diplomacy
- 1848 - Marshall Plan
- 1948 - Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (act): immigration, discrimination
- 1948 - Press Release Announcing US Recognition of Israel (press release): recognition of Israel
- 1848 - Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
- 1953 - Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State
- 1954 - Senate Resolution 301: Censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy
- 1954 - Brown vs. Board Education (court decision): segregation
- 1955 - Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (essay): acts of courage. (also available an audio file)
- 1956 - National Interstate and Defense Highways Act
- 1957 - Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School
- 1957 - On the Road by Jack Kerouac (autobiographical): travel, counter-culture in the 1950s, "beatniks", the "beat generation" (preview only)
- 1958 - The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith (essays): consumerism, private affluence
- 1961 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address (address): warned of military industrial complex
- 1961- President John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (address): liberty, foreign policy
- 1961 - Executive Order 10924: Establishment of the Peace Corps.
- 1962 - Transcript of NASA Communication by John Glenn (in flight communication): NASA
- 1962 - Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (essay): environmental protection reform (preview only)
- 1962 - Transcript of NASA Communication by John Glenn (in flight communication): NASA
- 1962 - Aerial Photographs of Missiles in Cuba (photos): superpowers, military offensive
- 1963 - Test Ban Treaty (treaty): banned nuclear weapons testing
- 1963 - Official Program for the March on Washington
- 1963 - Kennedy at the Berlin Wall (photo)
- 1963 - Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (essay): feminist movement, women's rights (not available online)
- 1963 - Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King (letter): Civil Rights movement, civil disobedience, racial injustice.
- 1964 - Civil Rights Act (act): civil rights movement
- 1964 - Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- 1965 - Social Security Act Amendments
- 1965 - Voting Rights Act (act): voting rights, civil rights movement
- 1965 - Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Cellar Act): immigration, nationality
- 1972 - Equal Rights Amendment (amendment): equal rights, women's movement
- 1987 - Reagan at the Berlin Wall (1987)
- 1989 - Equal Employment Opportunity (poster)
- 1990 - Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (act): equal rights, disabilities
- Primary Source Sets
- African American History Month (flickr document set)
- Korean War Images
- Teacher Resources
- Resources
- Baseball and Jackie Robinson
- Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
- Churchill and the Great Republic
- Cold War International History Project
- From the Home Front and the Front Lines
- Frontline Diplomacy: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training
- Iraq War 2003 Web Archive
- Legal Blawgs
- Omaha Indian Music
- September 11, 2001 Documentary Project
- September 11, 2001 Web Archive
- Stories from the Veterans History Project: The Global War on Terror
- Supreme Court Nominations, 1971 -- Confirmed
- Supreme Court Nominations, 1971 -- Not Confirmed or Withdrawn
- Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia
- United States Election 2000 Web Archive
- United States Election 2002 Web Archive
- United States Election 2004 Web Archive
- Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Stories
- Voices of Civil Rights
- Washington as it Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959
- With an Even Hand: Brown v. Board at Fifty, May 13-November 13, 2004
- Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress, September 7 - October 26, 2002
- Women come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During WWII
- Working in Paterson: Occupational Heritage in an Urban Setting
- Nonfiction
- 10,000 Days of Thunder by Philip Caputo
- Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone (elementary/middle school)
- We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March by Cynthia Levinson (young adult)
- Nonfiction Graphic History
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (high school): Iran
- Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang (middle school)
- Vietnam by Dwight Jon Zimmerman
- Historical Fiction
- The Best of Friends by Margaret I. Rostkowski (young adults) - Vietnam War
- The Car by Gary Paulsen (young adults) - Vietnam War veteran
- Countdown by Deborah Wiles (elementary/middle school) - 1962 (comes with documents)
- December's Stillness by Mary Downing Hahn (young adults) - Vietnam War veteran
- Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers (young adults) - Vietnam War
- Full Service by Will Weaver (young adults) 1965 in midwest
- Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes (young adults) - Vietnam War
- Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson (adult): racism in 1954
- Summer's End by Audrey Couloumbis (young adults) - draft 1965
- Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (young adults)
- The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (adult)
- Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis (elementary)
