US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Glidden's Patent Application for Barbed Wire
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provides an elaborate lesson plan on Joseph Glidden's patent for barbed wire. Content includes extensive background information about barbed wire, images of the original patent...
Other
Selected Essays on Barbed Wire: Brief History of Barbed Wire
Provides information on the development and use of barbed wire. Includes biographies on Joseph F. Glidden, Jacob Haish, and Isaac L. Ellwood, who were instrumental in its invention and marketing. For more information on barbed wire,...
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Glidden's Patent Application for Barbed Wire
This article from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), describes how barbed wire was important for ranchers in the West in the 1800s and how Joseph Glidden improved the original patent for barbed wire.
Other
Kansas Barbed Wire Museum: Brief History of Barbed Wire
Find out the history of barbed wire and why it was such an advancement for farms on the prairie.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Social Studies: Grade 4: Inventions and the Great Plains
Read and study the sources about inventions from the late 1800s. As you read the three sources, think about the effects that the inventions had on the American economy.
PBS
Pbs the West: Joseph Farwell Glidden
Information about the Illinois farmer who improved fencing the plains that led to the demise of open-range cattle ranching. Glidden is credited with the invention of barbed wire.