Curated OER
Glidden's Patent Application for Barbed Wire
Students discuss the invention of barbed wire and how it affected various groups of peoples in the U.S. after its invention.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions 1801 1850
This site from Enchanted Learning presents several brief overviews of major early nineteenth century inventors and their inventions. The information is accessible by clicking on the corresponding link.
Other
African American Inventors and Their Inventions: Granville T. Woods
Here is a thorough biography of inventor Granville T. Woods, who is credited with improving railway safety for bot the trains and trainmen. Find out what concepts in railroad safety are still being used today.
Other
Black Inventor Online Museum: Andrew Beard
A short biography of Andrew Beard, whose invention improved the safety of railroads in the 19th century.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Granville T. Woods
Inventor Granville T. Woods is featured in this brief biography for his multiplex telegraph which was a useful invention for the railroad industry.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Special Feature: Forgotten Inventors
This fascinating site from PBS features seven inventions from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with information about the men and women who created them. Click on one of the small photos to learn more, or scroll down through the...
Other
Pioneers, Inc.: Black Scientists and Inventors
Find brief descriptions of the inventions of many African-American inventors in many fields in the 19th century.
Other
American Artifacts: The Imaginative Inventor
Just for fun. A website with a list of strange inventions by would-be entrepreneurs. Click on any to see a picture and description of the device.
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.
Vassar College
1896: Inventions
A brief recounting of the influx of inventions in the late 19th century that flooded the market. Of particular interest is the description of the use of hot air balloons.
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All Media: Nasa: The Invention Timeline
An interactive timeline of notable inventions and inventors from the 19th century to the present.
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Inventor Granville Woods Biography
A detailed biography of Granville T. Woods, who was known as "the Black Edison" because of his many inventions. He is best known for greatly improving the safety of railroads by his invention of the Multiplex Railway Telegraph.
New York Times
New York Times: 32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow
If you don't know that the incandescent light was a failure before it was a success, it's easy to write off some modern energy innovations like solar panels because they haven't hit the big time fast enough. Worse, the fairy-tale view of...
Other
New Bedford Historical Society: Lewis Temple
Biography of African-American Lewis Temple, whose toggle iron radically improved the harpoon used by whalers in the 19th century.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Technology Timeline 1750 1990
Did you ever wonder who invented something, and when it was invented? Go to this interactive timeline that highlights inventors/inventions from 1750-1990. Click on the topic to read a brief paragraph about that invention.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Who Am I?
[Free Registration/Login Required] This is a review of famous inventors and people of the Second Industrial Revolution. Activotes questions are included. There is a citation for a United Streaming video clip at the end that could be...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Technology of the 1800s
[Free Registration/Login Required] Article considers the inventions and innovations in communication, transportation, and manufacturing that drove America forward in the nineteenth century. Includes a link to an interactive history of...
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: Transportation: They Say We Had a Revolution (Part 3)
Advancements in transportation have played a key role in the growth of our nation. U.S. government policies have also had a considerable impact on the development of transport as we know it today. For this series of three lessons, the...
Council for Economic Education
Econ Ed Link: Transportation: They Say We Had a Revolution (Part 1)
Advancements in transportation have played a key role in the growth of our nation. U.S.government policies have also had a considerable impact on the development of transport as we know it today. In this series of three lessons, the...
Siteseen
Siteseen: American Historama: Industrial Revolution Inventions
The Industrial Revolution is a phrase that encompasses the massive changes in agriculture and manufacturing processes during the 18th and 19th centuries that transformed the United States from an agricultural to an industrial society....
Curated OER
Black Inventor Online Museum: Andrew Beard
A short biography of Andrew Beard, whose invention improved the safety of railroads in the 19th century.
Patsy Stevens
Garden of Praise: Biographies for Kids: Cyrus Mc Cormick
Learn about the inventor of the mechanical reaper that revolutionized American and world agriculture in the 19th century.
Have Fun With History
Have Fun With History: Science and Invention
Module with links to resources and videos on science, inventions and technology of the 19th and 20th Centuries that changed the course of American history.
Other
Granville T. Woods
Read a brief biography of Graville T. Woods, known as "The Black Edison" because of the multitude and scope of his inventions. Perhaps his most important was a way for trains to communicate with each other.