Curated OER
Early Native Americans
Students create a scrapbook illustrating the culture of Native Americans that settled in the Kickapoo Valley. Working in groups, students choose a topic related to the Kickapoo Valley Indians. Using traditional and technological...
Curated OER
Natural Hazards
Students evaluate the hazards of naturally occurring events. After watching a video concerning safety hazards, students work in groups to discuss the safety issues involved in taking a trip to a mountainous region. Recommendations are...
Curated OER
James Van Der Zee
Young scholars recognize James Van Der Zee as an outstanding photographer who documented and reflected life in Harlem during the 1920s. They identify important aspects of Van Der Zee's life and artwork and compose and shoot their own...
Curated OER
Family Picture Quilt
Learners explore family backgrounds and traditions while discussing how memories are preserved. In this patchwork quilt activity, students create a keepsake by compiling pictures, drawings, and magazine clippings of things that are...
Department of Defense
Do Dea: Digital Photography: Module 1: Past/present [Pdf]
In this first module of a course on Digital Photography, students learn about the history of photography, different styles and movements, photographers of the 20th and 21st centuries, tools photographers use for expression, and how...
George Eastman Museum
African Americans: Black History Through Photography
A collection of photographs from the Eastman House collection. They include portraits of important figures who shaped American history, as well as many other African Americans, whose names are unknown.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: George Eastman: The Wizard of Photography
American Experience offers a comprehensive look at George Eastman and his development of photography. Included are a timeline, biographies of important people in Eastman's personal and professional life, discussions in the history of...
State Library-Florida
Florida Memory: Daguerreotype to Digital: Brief History of Photography
Online history of the photographic process arranged by type and time period.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Early Photography: Niepce, Talbot and Muybridge
Photography is a controversial fine art medium, simply because it is difficult to classify-is it an art or a science? Nineteenth-century photographers struggled with this distinction, trying to reconcile aesthetics with improvements in...
The Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute Online: Motion Photography
Learn about the history of motion in photography. Eadweard Muybridge was very interested in photography and "had nothing to do but try" motion photography. Read his story here. Included are resources for the teacher and activities for...
Other
Media History Digital Library: Technical Journals Collection (1916 1965)
A large collection of original journals that focus on the technology behind motion pictures, covering cinematography, photography, projection engineering, etc.
US National Archives
Nara: Picturing the Century: 100 Years of Photography
From the National Archives and Records Administration, this online exhibit has galleries of photographs separated by time period showing a history of the United States.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Learning Lab: Every Picture Has a Story
Smithsonian Education presents "Every Picture Has a Story". Teachers can download this comprehensive teaching package in which students examine some of the millions of photographs in the Smithsonian. This amazing teaching package comes...
New York Times
New York Times: An in Depth History of Group F.64
This article is based on a book by Mary Street Alinder, who had worked with Anselm Adams. Group f.64 was a group of photographers in the 1930s who advocated for a pure style of photography.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Eadweard Muybridge's Photography of Motion
From the National Museum of American History this is a description and analysis of the photography of expatriate Englishman Eadweard Muybridge. "Freeze Frame: Muybridge's Photography of Motion" iclude's examples of Muybridge's work...
Other
Digicam History
DigicamHistory.com is an educational site for digital camera enthusiasts interested in the history of the digital camera. Click on different hyperlinked years to explore cameras through the 1800s up to today's digitals.
Other
History and Discovery of Cinematography
Self-published textbook, by film historian Paul Burns, on the history of filmmaking. Covers pre-cinematic technologies and events and ends with the discovery of motion pictures in the late nineteenth century.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Magic Lanterns, Magic Mirrors
Like fun house mirrors, motion pictures over the past one hundred years have reflected, challenged, influenced, and altered our visions of ourselves and the world in which we live. This virtual Exhibition was produced by the Photographic...
Virginia History Series
Virginia History Series: The American Civil War in Virginia [Pdf]
The state of Virginia played a pivotal role in the Civil War. Trace the war from the beginning to the battles in Virginia, and to Lee's surrender through this comprehensive slideshow. Included are charts, maps and actual photography from...
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Explore Pa History: Robert Cornelius
A concise biographical sketch examining the life and contributions of early photographer and Pennsylvania native, Robert Cornelius.
Other
The Daguerreian Society
A great resource for students or teachers interested in the history of photography, specifically the earliest method, the daguerreotype, of the 19th century.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Photography and Truth
Photography plays an essential role in anthropology. Draw from these materials to assist in illustrating this role.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: Gyotaku: The Ancient Japanese Art of Printing Fish
How did fishermen record their trophy catches before the invention of photography? In 19th century Japan, fishing boats were equipped with rice paper, sumi-e ink, and brushes in order to create gyotaku: elaborate rubbings of freshly...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's First Look Into the Camera (Daguerreotypes)
A searchable database from the Library of Congress that provides a fascinating look into the history of photography from 1839-1864. There are images from the Matthew Brady Studio and studio portraits by black photographers James P. Ball...