PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Frontier Life: Recreation and Leisure Time on the Frontier
Read about how the homesteaders on the American frontier added a little levity to their otherwise harsh frontier life, and in particular how women, how spent much time at home, worked to add variety to their lives. From a companion essay...
Virtual Museum of Canada
Virtual Museum of Canada: Community Stories: Settlers' Effects Brought to Craik and Aylesbury
This exhibit features images of household items that were brought by settlers to the Canadian prairies between 1890 and 1930. Each item is accompanied by a description.
Orca Book Publishers
Orca Book Publishers: Secret Signs Teaching Guide [Pdf]
In Secret Signs, a novel by Jacqueline Guest set in the Depression, a young boy runs away from home to look for his father. He learns that he shouldn't take home for granted. This teacher's guide includes a book summary, teaching ideas...
Yale University
The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper
Quotes from Grace Hopper, a pioneer in computer programming.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Eric Cornell
Born in Palo Alto, California, and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts - homes to Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively - you could say Eric Cornell was destined to become a renowned scientist. And while he...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Carl Edwin Wieman
Carl Edwin Wieman is one of three physicists credited with the discovery of a fifth phase of matter, for which he was awarded a share of the prestigious Nobel Prize in 2001. The recognition capped a distinguished career that began deep...
Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor: What Kids Did on the Western Frontier
An interesting article addressed to students discusses the life of children on the western frontier, about the time of the "Little House" stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Our Story: Life in a Sod House
Imagine moving into a house made out of sod that you and your family had to build in the middle of a prairie! Find great information and activities that will help you understand how it felt to live on the prairie.
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies: Building a Sod House
Here's great information on building sod houses. You can even watch a video of a famous two-story sod house that stood until 1967.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts: Elihu Thomson House
Elihu Thomson (1853-1937) was an inventor and pioneer in the field of electrical engineering. Along with Thomas Alva Edison he founded General Electric. This 1889 Georgian Revival house was Thomson's home for many years; it now serves as...
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in New York: Vassar College Observatory
Workplace and home of Maria Mitchell, important 19th century astronomer and pioneering woman in the science.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: Natl Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts: General Rufus Putnam House
Rufus Putnam (1738-1824) was a Continental Army officer in the American Revolutionary War. After the war he pioneered the settlement of the Northwest Territories, serving as its first Surveyor General. This house, built in the early...
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Maryland: Clara Barton House
Home of Clara Barton; American pioneer teacher, nurse, and humanitarian; founder of the American Red Cross.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Vermont: Emma Willard House
Home of Emma Willard, an influential pioneer in the development of women's education in the United States.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut: Nathaniel Palmer House
Home of the pioneering Antarctic explorer and seal hunter Nathaniel Palmer.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts: Reginald A. Daly House
This Queen Anne style house was the longtime home of geologist and Harvard University professor Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871-1957). Daly was a pioneer in the application of physics and chemistry to the field of geology.
Curated OER
Wikipedia: National Historic Landmarks in Maine: Wickyup (Richard E. Byrd House)
This house was the summer home of pioneer aviator and explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd from 1937 until his death in 1957. Here he planned three Antarctic expeditions, wrote, and drafted what became the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Wickyup was...