U.S. Era 6

Primary Sources

• African-American Pamphlets from The Daniel A.P. Murray Pamphlet Collection, 1820-1920 [Eras 4-7]

• Common School Period: digital images and essays about American education from 1840 to 1880, including Horace Mann, controversial anti-Catholic textbooks, McGuffey Readers, and the development of kindergartens. [Eras 4-6]

• Moving Uptown, 19th-Century Views of Manhattan: annotated exhibition of 19th-century images that explore New York City’s urban growth from 1800 to the construction of Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge. [Eras 4-6]

• The Gentleman’s Page: digital collections of photographs and etiquette books about the behavior and attire expected of “gentleman” from 1860 to 1900.

• Letters from Yosemite: full texts of 19th-century accounts about Yosemite Valley.

• The Great Chicago Fire: explores urban industrialization by offering photos and contemporary accounts of the Chicago fire of 1871.

• Anarchy Archives: digital versions of major anarchist texts, including the works of Emma Goldman, and information and graphics about the Haymarket Riot of 1886.

• Gilded Age Mansions Digital Tour: virtual tours (video podcasts) of 19th-century Rhode Island mansions and teacher resource guides to accompany the tours.

• Cartoons in the 1896 Campaign: 100 political cartoons from the Presidential campaign between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan and also offers teaching guides along with information about the campaign themes, key leaders, and parties and platforms.

• Andrew Carnegie: photographs and historical information about Andrew Carnegie and the libraries he funded.

• 1893 World’s Fair: a virtual tour of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago along with essays about reactions to the fair and its legacy for American society.

• Early Motion Pictures, 1897-1916: several hundred early movies and 11 collections. In addition to the three groups of films listed in 1st Edition, other collections include “America at Work, America at Leisure, 1894-1915;” “Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment;” and “The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures."

Lesson Plans

• National Archives: Teaching With Documents

• Alexander Graham Bell’s Patent for the Telephone and Thomas Edison’s Patent for the Electric Lamp

• Maps of Indian Territory, the Dawes Act, and Will Rogers’ Enrollment Case File

• Affidavitt and Flyers from the Chinese Boycott Case

• Photographs of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor

• Teaching with Historic Places: provides more than 130 place-based lessons about Lessons for historic places 

• Adeline Hornbek and the Homestead Act: A Colorado Success Story

• The Old Mormon Fort: Birthplace of Las Vegas, Nevada

• Californio to American: A Study in Cultural Change

• The Emerald Necklace: Boston’s Green Connection

• Calisphere’s “California Cultures”: digitized photographs, written documents, oral histories, and artifacts which reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history. All collections are accompanied by discussion questions, historical and image overviews, and lesson plan activities that support the California Content Standards  in History-Social Sciences and English-Language Arts. 

• Chinese Exclusion Act

• The Transcontinental Railroad

• Native Americans and Contact

• Preservation of the West

• Everyday Life