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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Van Valen's Gold Rush Journey

For Students 9th - 10th
In this superb interactive exhibition, students explore primary resources and learn about the reasons people left their homes to search for wealth during the California Gold Rush. Van Valen, along with four other men, set out in 1849 to...
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Handout
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Ap Us History: 1865 1898: The American West: The Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the impact of the California Gold Rush of 1848 which brought hundreds of thousands of gold-seeking migrants to the region. This massive influx of people to a place with little law enforcement and no infrastructure led to...
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Primary
Calisphere: University of California Libraries

Univ. Of California: Calisphere: Gold Rush Era: Diversity in the Changing State

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore original images depicting scenes of ethnic diversity in California during the Gold Rush years.
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Article
Henry J. Sage

Sage American History: California and the Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
Article by Henry Sage explaining the history of California, how it became a state, and how President Polks desire to acquire California contributed to the Mexican-American War.
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Interactive
Other

The California Gold Country: The Mining Camps

For Students 9th - 10th
This site is based on the book The California Gold Country: Highway 49 Revisited by Elliot H. Koeppel. This page provides an interactive map showing gold mining camps that have survived and exist as towns today. Most of the place names...
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Website
Oakland Museum of California

Oakland Museum of California: Gold Rush! California's Untold Stories

For Students 9th - 10th
View a virtual tour of a real exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California that commemorates the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, and the frenzied rush to California of gold seekers from...
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Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: Fortune Smiled on Many Black Miners

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site discusses the triumphs African American's had during the California gold rush. Many blacks were able to purchase their freedom and the freedom of their families back home.
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Lesson Plan
Oakland Museum of California

Gold Rush: Curriculum

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A great site to find lesson plans, connections to state standards, and curriculum links to the California Gold Rush. Offered by the Oakland Museum of California.
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Handout
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush: On Your Mark, Get Set, Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
This CalGoldRush.com site is an article that discusses where people came from, as well as the number of people involved in the California gold rush. The article focuses on the massive migration to California.
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Website
Sacramento Bee

Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
A four part analysis of the California Gold Rush: Gold! An Era Remembered, At Work & Play, Chasing a Dream, and A Lasting Impact.
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Handout
Museum of the City of San Francisco

Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco: Gold Rush Chronology 1846 1849

For Students 9th - 10th
A nice timeline of events that occurred from 1846 to 1849 in the California Gold Rush. Hyperlinks to additional information. From the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.
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Website
Oakland Museum of California

California's Untold Stories: Gold Fever

For Students 9th - 10th
A comprehensive site that offers a look at the "Gold Fever" of the California Gold Rush, with photos.
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: "California as I Saw It"

For Students 9th - 10th
Digital collection features first-person accounts from the time of the Gold Rush and California statehood through the turn of the twentieth century. Presents detailed information about localities and people important to the state during...
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Handout
Other

Montana Junior College: Mining History and Geology of the California Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The physical characteristics, history, and mining of gold in California are examined in this thorough site.
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Handout
Other

California Gold Country: No Place for a Woman?

For Students 9th - 10th
Information about women in the California gold camps.
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Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Fantastic Facts

For Students 3rd - 8th
This resource provides information about the Gold Rush.
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Handout
Other

California State Parks: Gold Rush Overview

For Students 3rd - 8th
Get basic facts about the 1848 discovery of gold by John Marshall at Sutter's Mill and the subsequent Gold Rush in California and American history.
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Website
Other

California Historical Society: California History Online

For Students 9th - 10th
With over four hundred original images, this site covers periods in California's history from 1600 to the 1930s. Topics covered include the geography and climate of California, early aboriginal groups, the first European explorers, the...
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Interactive
Vocabulary University

My vocabulary.com: Gold Rush California

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This page has a variety of vocabulary puzzles and activities using 19 words pertaining to the Gold Rush in California. It also offers an extensive Vocabulary Word List of 286 words, and ideas for lesson plans on the topic.
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Website
PBS

Pbs: American Experience: The Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
This comprehensive site from American Experience examines many facets of the Gold Rush in California. Read a transcript of the film, find out about the many individuals and groups of people who arrived in California to try to strike it...
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Website
Ducksters

Ducksters: History: California Gold Rush for Kids

For Students 1st - 9th
Kids learn about the California Gold Rush from the Old West on this site. Thousands of people move to the west to search for gold and strike it rich.
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Interactive
Other

Object of History: The Gold Nugget

For Students 9th - 10th
Audio-pictorial overview of the story of the California gold rush.
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Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: California Gold Rush

For Students 9th - 10th
The sources in this primary set document the broad "forty-niner" experience. Includes teaching guide.
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Primary
Other

The Object of History: Behind the Scenes With Curators of the Nmah: Gold Nugget

For Students 9th - 10th
Take a look at and lend an ear for primary sources featuring the California Gold Rush. Men and women from around the world landed in the United States and flocked to the west coast in search of nuggets of gold.

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