Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Enslaved African Americans and Expressions of Freedom
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learners will examine African American slave spirituals, a painting, and a personal narrative to analyze the underlying messages of these materials.
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Japanese Internment
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson delving into the reasoning behind interning the Japanese-Americans following the Pearl Harbor attack. Young scholars will explore primary source documents to draw their conclusions.
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Decoding the Civil War
This is a rich learning module where students explore the use of telegraphs and of Union codes during the Civil War. Both topics have an "Explainer" to introduce it, pre- and post-activities, and primary and secondary source materials to...
University of Iowa
Bringing History Home: My History at School
This unit introduces children to the concept of history as a story. By focusing on their experiences at school, students connect history concepts with personal experience and learn history using primary sources from their own lives. This...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries: Library & Archival Exhibitions on the Web
This index of links offers the opportunity to explore important and interesting topics. Visiting links on the desired topic is most likely to provide primary sources or at least point students in the right direction.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall?
Why did great civilizations fall? War, disease, overpopulation or natural disasters? Interactive content and activities allow you, by sifting through archaeological evidence, to investigate the collapse of the Mayan civilization, the...
Kentucky Educational Television
Ket: A State Divided: Exploring the Civil War Through Images
A State Divided: Exploring the Civil War Through Images includes 75 images related to the Civil War in Kentucky, ranging from medals and photographs to portraits and weapons. The goal is to provide images of artworks, artifacts,...
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History: If Trash Could Talk
What does your trash say about you? Take a close look inside your trash can and think about the clues it offers about your life.
Thinkport Education
Thinkport: The 1960s: A Decade of Human Rights Struggles
Students analyze and evaluate an author's use of reasoning and evidence to support his or her claims in order to convince others to agree and to support the cause the author supports.
Library of Congress
Loc: Primary Source Investigation
Choose from a list of photos from the Civil War, Reform, Harlem Renaissance, and Campaign to study and record observations.
Digital History
Digital History: Watergate
This site is a comprehensive overview of the Watergate break-in and investigation that would eventually result in Nixon's resignation.
Digital History
Digital History: The Clinton Presidency
Short, but comprehensive, synopsis of Clinton's two terms as president. Included in the article is the 1992 campaign, successful and controversial legislation, and the scandals that would eventually become part of his presidential legacy.
Digital History
Digital History: The Civil Rights Movement Moves North
Summers of the late 1960s was a time of widespread violence and rioting in the nation's major inner cities. What was previously thought of as a problem of the South had spread nation-wide and was now demanding immediate attention.
Digital History
Digital History: Social Class in Colonial America [Pdf]
By examining primary sources such as diaries and tax records, and a chapter from a secondary source, learn about the social classes apparent in colonlial America. Suggested student exercises guide crtitical thinking assessment of the...
Other
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum: Herbert Hoover: Gram's Trunk
A lesson in how to conduct historical research using family photos and doing interviews, and newspaper stories from the past. The second part of the lesson is a photo analysis exercise using a photo of children and a cow.
Cynthia J. O'Hora
Mrs. O's House: Mystery Object Challenge
With a brief story and photo of an image, students will do some digging to figure out how old the object pictured is and the history behind it.
University of California
Uc Berkeley Library: Finding Historical Primary Sources
Got a research project? Read this site from the UC Berkeley Library. A great guide on finding the best primary sources for your research. Defines both narrow and broad ideas of primary source, links to online archives of primary sources,...
Ohio Test Prep
Ohio Test Prep: Theses and Evidence
Three videos selected to help students prepare for the Ohio State test in Social Studies in which they learn or review how to develop a thesis and use evidence to support or refute a position.
Ohio State University
Ohio State University: Cold Cases: Lessons in Historical Skills and Methods
Lessons using primary sources to figure out what happened in the past allows students to examine and perhaps crack the mysteries that swirl around Byrd and his expedition to Antarctica to this day. Primary sources are available on the...
Ohio State University
Osu: Cold Cases: Lessons in Historical Skills and Methods: Cook or Perry?
The controversy still is hotly debated! Who reached the North Pole first? Students can use primary documents and put on a mock trial to discuss the claims of Cook and Peary. Using the 21st-century skill of critical analysis, they can...
Other
The Dbq Project
Teach students how to read with understanding, think straight, and write clearly using document-based questions.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Letters: Use Your Document Detective Skills
Read three letters, one at a time, about events of historical significance. Identify the region and era particular to each letter, and answer additional questions about the information it contains.
University of California
History Project: Process of Historical Investigation [Pdf]
Outlines the process of historical investigation for students by teaching them the steps of research, analyzing evidence, and making interpretations.
The History Cat
The History Cat: Roanoke: The Mystery of the Lost Colony [Pdf]
Read about the lost colony of Roanoke, examine the evidence, and devise theories as to what may have happened to the colonists in 1590.