National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Gilded and the Gritty: 1870 1912: Progress: The Meaning of the Machine
Nine primary source resources describing the way people thought about progress during the Gilded Age, 1870-1912. Includes guided reading, links to supplemental material, and timeline.
Curated OER
History Matters: Laissez Faire for Depression Woes
Read this transcript of the testimony of Yale Professer William Graham Sumner speaking before a committee of the House of Representatives in 1878. His contention was that even with the thread of depression, it was in business' best...
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: 1900 1940s: The Changing Workplace
Original photos depicting the rise of industry and the transformation of the American workplace.
PBS
Pbs: The American Experience in the 1900s
This site presents a general picture of what life was like in the United States at the turn of the century. Content includes compelling images, information, and documents about American life.
US Army Center
U.s. Army Center of Military History: Darkness and Light, the Interwar Years 1865 1898
This resource offers a good look at the reorganization and use of the U.S. military in the years betwee the end of the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Becoming Modern: America in the 1920s: Machine
Primary resource material on the way innovatons and machines have modernized and changed America in the 1920s and beyond.
Other
Bringing History Home: Industrialization History
This 3rd grade unit introduces the history of industrialization in the United States in the late 19th century. The development of mechanization and assembly line processes, reliance on unskilled labor, and geographic concentration of...
Other
Earliest Voices: Gallery From the Vincent Voice Library
This site addresses the advent of the voice recording. The introduction talks about the country at the time of this invention, the feelings of people on the topic, and early recording itself. Included are voice recordings of such...
Other
National Museum of Industrial History
Explore these exhibitions, previously located in the Smithsonian Institute, which feature the great Americans who contributed to the industrialization of the United States beginning with the nation's centennial celebration. Plan a trip...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Transformation in North 1800 50: Early Industrialization Northeast
Examines the transformation of work from artisan-centered to a mechanized workforce. Looks at the emergence of industrialization and the impact it had on production and on the worker experience, the development of the consumer society,...
C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: Inquiries: Industrialization
A learning module on the Industrial Revolution in America that includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Topics covered include how manufacturing...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Industrializing America
Comprehensive teaching unit that explores the "second industrial revolution" and the mass production of consumer goods. This, in turn, caused an increase in the labor force and immigration. Learn how these changes brought about the start...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Yearning to Breathe Free Webisode 10
This wonderful website, Freedom, a History of US, based on the series by Joy Hakim, presents the tenth webisode, Yearning to be Breathe Free. Through text, photographs, and audio segments you can get a good picture of the state of...
Other
Emazine: The "Gilded Age" in the United States
This article from a wider history of the world focuses on presidential administrations from Benjamin Harrison in 1890 through the Wilson administration. Read about the domestic policies and foreign affairs from 1890-1920.
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Ap Us History: Unit 5: A New Order
This extensive learning module examines the impact of the Gilded Age upon new cultural and intellectual movements, expansion of foreign trade, and political debates over economic and social policies, as well as the impact of the rise of...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Ninety-four primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the challenges, opportunity, and turmoil of late-nineteenth-century America. They examine the economic expansion in an America re-united...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress, the Gilded and the Gritty: America, 1870 1912
Eighteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the industrial, racial, and technological progress of the late-nineteenth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Progress: The Meaning of the Machine: Southern Stasis
A survey of the lagging Southern economy of the late-nineteenth century and two speeches, one by a black Southerner and one by a white Southerner, making the case for Northern investment in the region.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Era of Expansion and Reform
Information about the period in United States history between the Civil War and World War I. The United States was transformed from a rural republic to an urban state.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Era of Expansion and Reform
This resource, a speech by Woodrow Wilson to Congress on April 8, 1913, gives a great review of how the United States transformed from from a rural country to an urban one. It includes a review of industrialization, new inventions,...
Digital History
Digital History: The Industrial Revolution [Pdf]
This site covers both the initial Industrial Revolution in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the second revolution that highlighted new inventions and the businessmen who financed industry. Read brief...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Inventions and Resource Development
Outline of the burgeoning inventions and discoveries that characterized a second industrial revolution in the U.S. during the later half of the 19th Century.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Technology and Change
Oultine of the changes in industry and technology during the 1800s, bringing tremendous growth of big business, urbanization and railroads.
History Tools
History Tools: Spirit of Discontent: Young Woman Reflects on Factory Work [Pdf]
Historical primary source story from the Lowell Offering, 1841, which offers reflections on the pros and cons of factory work, ultimately supporting the work and the growth of industry. With modernized spelling and added page numbers.