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Teaching with Historic Places has developed more than 130 classroom-ready lesson plans that together cover major themes of American history. All are available on the Web. For more information on our lessons or our program, contact TwHP. You can also view the entire collection according to location, time period, skill, U.S. History Standard, and Social Studies Standards.
African American History
Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Monroe Elementary School [now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site] is a unit of the National Park Service/Robert Russa Moton High School, Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools, Howard High School, and John Philip Sousa Middle School are National Historic Landmarks.)
Examine the history of this "city-within-a-city," a self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.
Understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans by examining how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude
toward educating African Americans in New England prior to the Civil War and investigating court cases and public opinion about desegregation in the 1950s. (Little Rock Central High School is a National Park and National Historic Landmark/Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell, and evaluate the various claims as to how and when it was cracked. (National Park)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Learn how people in Selma, Alabama, and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
Understand the importance of the Mississippi to both the North and South during the Civil War, and the differences between a siege and a regular battle. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine the historic places associated with two of America's most famous 20th century business people. (National Historic Landmarks)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Investigate early rice plantations in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation transformed the native environment and promoted the South's dependence on a plantation economy.
Agriculture
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand the experience of early Asian immigrants and the obstacles they encountered as they struggled to make a living and find a place in American society. (Locke is a National Historic Landmark)
Examine the inextricable connections binding railroads, North Dakota wheat fields, and Minnesota flour mills during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park/Includes Pillsbury A Mill, a National Historic Landmark)
Investigate early rice plantations in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation transformed the native environment and promoted the South's dependence on a plantation economy.
American Indian History
Learn how the Civil War created fierce conflicts among American Indian nations who had been moved across the Mississippi River.
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century and learn how these conflicting views ultimately affected the Creeks. (National Park)
Learn how New York's Mohawk Valley became the setting for a fierce Revolutionary War battle that pitted residents of the area, including the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, against each other.
(National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the 1804-1806 expedition effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation about the West. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Explore a group of 18th-century missions in modern San Antonio to learn about Spanish influence on native peoples and the patterns of Texas culture. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Understand the factors that contributed both to the forced removal of the Cherokees off their homelands and to painful divisions within the tribe. (The Trail of Tears is a National Historic Trail./The Major Ridge House and John Ross House are National Historic Landmarks.)
Archeology
Learn how transportation routes affected a local inn, how archeology revealed the inn's use over time, and how preservation efforts saved the historic site from suburban sprawl.
Discover why this British settlement was built and how it functioned as Great Britain and Spain each struggled to control land from Charleston to St. Augustine. (National Park)
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Unearth the remains of colonial America's first fully integrated ironworks, and consider what reconstruction of the site reveals about daily life for some early European settlers. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Art
Learn about the life and work of the sculptor, Daniel Chester French, and about the important role public sculpture played in turn-of-the-20th century America. (National Historic Landmark)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Meet one of America's premier artists, a creator of public monuments, and evaluate the importance of art and sculpture in society. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
View the world through an artist's eye and learn how an important art movement was established in America. (National Park)
Asian American History
Understand the experience of early Asian immigrants and the obstacles they encountered as they struggled to make a living and find a place in American society. (Locke is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn what led the U.S. government to confine nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to relocation centers in remote areas of the country during World War II. (Manzanar is a National Park and National Historic Landmark. Rohwer is a National Historic Landmark.)
Aviation
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research
institutions across the country cooperated to develop
and implement the complex technology that enabled man
to land on the moon. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and
the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key
mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane. (National
Park/The Wright Cycle Company building is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (National Park)
The United States Air
Force Academy: Founding a Proud Tradition (114)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated. (National Park)
Building Styles and Methods
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Learn why Moravians immigrated to the New World and how the towns they established embodied their religious beliefs.
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park)
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Evaluate several centuries of dramatic changes to an adobe ranch house and its surroundings in suburban Long Beach to analyze the interaction between Spanish and Anglo culture in California.
Inspect a recreational demonstration area (RDA) in western Maryland, created as part of a Great Depression government relief program. (National Park)
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Discover how Spanish fortifications on the island of Puerto Rico helped protect Spain's expanding interests in the New World. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
La versión en español Los Castillos del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes del Caribe
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Discover why this British settlement was built and how it functioned as Great Britain and Spain each struggled to control land from Charleston to St. Augustine. (National Park)
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Understand the ways in which ranchos in northern New Mexico provide evidence of the ability of Hispano culture to adapt to new influences while still maintaining its traditional character.
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the
Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Consider how simple, functional cabins, like those built by the Finns in Idaho, became symbols in American politics and folklore.
Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of
the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National
Historic Landmark)
The Penniman House:
A Whaling Story (112)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling
in southeastern Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's
family and life. (National Park)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his
abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician
to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American
republic. (National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how their lifestyle influenced business, culture, architecture, and society in ways that still affect us today. (National Park)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
Examine continuity and change in this rural Virginia town from its founding as a Quaker agricultural community and mill town in the 18th century to today.
(National Historic Landmark)
Civic Engagement
All Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans have activities that promote civic action by getting students involved in their own community. Here we have selected just a sampling of lessons demonstrating some of the different ways in which citizens in the past took individual or collective action.
Learn how residents of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York volunteered to serve in a militia that helped determine whether the American colonies would become an independent nation. (National Historic Landmark)
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from
caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Learn how the National Historic Preservation Act has affected your community in this lesson, prepared for the History Channel's Save Our History initiative.
Meet Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, whose public service led the court to prominence and power in the early 19th century. His opinions, formed during his early years as an attorney participating in social debates about federalism, helped shape the way the U.S. Constitution is interpreted today. (National Historic Landmark)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Consider the impact of Hoover's boyhood years on his desire to help starving children as the administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell and understand how different movements used the bell to promote their cause and fight for rights. (National Park)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn how a family of social activists helped obtain equality for women in their efforts to improve society. (National Park)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how people in Selma, Alabama, and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American republic. (National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how philanthropic efforts still affect us today. (National Park)
Civil Rights Movement
Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Monroe Elementary School [now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site] is a unit of the National Park Service/Robert Russa Moton High School, Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools, Howard High School, and John Philip Sousa Middle School are National Historic Landmarks.)
Understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans by examining how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude toward educating African Americans in New England prior to the Civil War and investigating court cases and public opinion about desegregation in the 1950s. (Little Rock Central High School is a National Park and National Historic Landmark/Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell, and evaluate the various claims as to how and when it was cracked. (National Park)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how people in Selma, Alabama, and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
Commerce and Industry
Learn why Moravians immigrated to the New World and how the towns they established embodied their religious beliefs.
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Examine the history of this "city-within-a-city," a self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Examine how the discovery of gold in the Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever. (National Park/Includes Pioneer Building, a National Historic Landmark) See also Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike (75) another lesson plan on the discovery of gold in the Klondike.
Explore how Hopewell functioned as a productive work unit and how work defined social relationships in this early National period community. (National Park)
Tour Edison's West Orange complex, where his creative combination of research, production, and marketing revolutionized the business of invention. (National Park)
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how early settlers survived on Maine's coastal islands despite harsh living conditions. (National Park)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Examine how the advent of industrialization in 19th-century America impacted the workforce in New England's Blackstone River Valley. (Mechanics Hall is included in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the causes and effects of a famous silk industry strike and how it affected those who were involved.
(National Historic Landmark)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Unearth the remains of colonial America's first fully integrated ironworks, and consider what reconstruction of the site reveals about daily life for some early European settlers. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark) See also Gold Fever! Seattle Outfits the Klondike Gold Rush (55), another lesson plan on the discovery of gold in the Klondike.
Examine the complex and often dangerous daily routines at the Thurmond train depot, and learn how rail workers were immortalized by some of the people they served. (National Park)
Examine the historic places associated with two of America's most famous 20th century business people. (National Historic Landmarks)
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how their lifestyle influenced business, culture, architecture, and society in ways that still affect us today. (National Park)
Examine continuity and change in this rural Virginia town from its founding as a Quaker agricultural community and mill town in the 18th century to today.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine the inextricable connections binding railroads, North Dakota wheat fields, and Minnesota flour mills during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park/Includes Pillsbury A Mill, a National Historic Landmark)
Investigate early rice plantations in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation transformed the native environment and promoted the South's dependence on a plantation economy.
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Community Planning and Development
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Learn how transportation routes affected a local inn, how archeology revealed the inn's use over time, and how preservation efforts saved the historic site from suburban sprawl.
Learn why Moravians immigrated to the New World and how the towns they established embodied their religious beliefs.
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Examine the history of this "city-within-a-city," a self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.
Learn about a famous landscape artist and his efforts to promote conservation and an appreciation for the native plant life of the United States.
Learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and his philosophy about parks and cities as well as city life during the Industrial Revolution. (Includes Arnold Arboretum, a National Historic Landmark)
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Discover why this British settlement was built and how it functioned as Great Britain and Spain each struggled to control land from Charleston to St. Augustine. (National Park)
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Examine how the discovery of gold in the Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever. (National Park/Includes Pioneer Building, a National Historic Landmark)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and
chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Understand the experience of early Asian immigrants and the obstacles they encountered as they struggled to make a living and find a place in American society. (Locke is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Explore the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public that spawned the development of other rural cemeteries, public parks, and designed suburbs.
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National Historic Landmark)
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Learn about James Oglethorpe and his enduring city plan from the colonial era. (National Historic Landmark)
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his
abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician
to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American
republic. (National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
Examine continuity and change in this rural Virginia town from its founding as a Quaker agricultural community and mill town in the 18th century to today.
(National Historic Landmark)
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Conservation
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Inspect a recreational demonstration area (RDA) in western Maryland, created as part of a Great Depression government relief program. (National Park)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Education
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Monroe Elementary School [now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site] is a unit of the National Park Service/Robert Russa Moton High School, Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools, Howard High School, and John Philip Sousa Middle School are National Historic Landmarks.)
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans by examining how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude
toward educating African Americans in New England prior to the Civil War and investigating court cases and public opinion about desegregation in the 1950s. (Little Rock Central High School is a National Park and National Historic Landmark/Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American republic. (National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Entrepreneurs
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane. (National Park/The Wright Cycle Company building is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Examine the historic places associated with two of America's most famous 20th century business people. (National Historic Landmarks)
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how their lifestyle influenced business, culture, architecture, and society in ways that still affect us today. (National Park)
Family Life
Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service.
Understand the violence of the Civil War through the eyes of young women whose homes were in the midst of an important battle and continuing conflict.
Visit JFK's birthplace and consider the effects of culture and community in shaping character and personality. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn why this home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was a center of military activity, and consider the impact the war had on those whose property became part of the battlefield. (National Park)
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Meet John Marshall, who led the U.S. Supreme Court from obscurity and weakness to prominence and power in the early 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. (National Park/Includes Harry S Truman Historic District, a National Historic Landmark)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Meet Bill Keys, a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. (National Park)
Discover how early settlers survived on Maine's coastal islands despite harsh living conditions. (National Park)
Meet the people and learn of events that influenced the development of Abraham Lincoln's character and personality as a youth on the Indiana frontier. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's belief in freedom and democracy, his eloquence, and the support of family and community propelled him to the White House and uplifted him through the turbulent Civil War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how their lifestyle influenced business, culture, architecture, and society in ways that still affect us today. (National Park)
Health and Medicine
Understand how battlefield medical care developed during the Civil War, particularly in the Union Army. (National Historic Landmark)
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans beginning with the creation of soldiers' homes and national cemeteries during and after the Civil War.
Hispanic American History
Evaluate several centuries of dramatic changes to an adobe ranch house and its surroundings in suburban Long Beach to analyze the interaction between Spanish and Anglo culture in California.
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Discover how Spanish fortifications on the island of Puerto Rico helped protect Spain's expanding interests in the New World. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
La versión en español Los Castillos del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes del Caribe
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Understand the ways in which ranchos in northern New Mexico provide evidence of the ability of Hispano culture to adapt to new influences while still maintaining its traditional character.
Explore a group of 18th-century missions in modern San Antonio to learn about Spanish influence on native peoples and the patterns of Texas culture. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Historic Preservation
Although the following lesson plans were chosen to highlight activities that allow teachers and students to consider the role preservation plays in a community, at least one activity in all of the TwHP lesson plans directs students to research local history and most ask them to look for, and think critically about, historic places in their community. In this way, these activities help students gain an appreciation for local historic resources and promote civic action by getting students involved in their own community. The Fortieth Anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act lesson guides students to discover the impact of the Act on their communities.
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research institutions across the country cooperated to develop and implement the complex technology that enabled man to land on the moon. Also determine whether equipment such as the launch tower for Saturn V should be considered historic and therefore worthy of preservation, and identify a structure or place in your community associated with a special event and determine its historic value. (National Historic Landmark)
Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service. Also recognize how building usage may change over time and create a photographic display demonstrating these changes for a local historic site.
Explore the natural wonders of Bryce Canyon and learn how it became a popular tourist destination and finally a national park. Also debate whether to develop or save (to create a park) a piece of land, and research local resources (a park, historic site, monument, etc.) to find out when and how it was created or set aside for public use, how it's used today, and then develop "advertising" for it. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Examine the history of this self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s. Also understand what makes a place "historic," and nominate a local historic place for a local, state, or national, register of historic places.
Learn about a famous landscape artist and his efforts to promote conservation and an appreciation for native plant life. Also design a park or garden for your school or community using native plants and materials and research a historic or natural site, which is endangered, explain what threatens it, and why it is worthy of being preserved in the form of a skit/play or masque (outdoor play).
Learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and his philosophy about parks and cities as well as city life during the Industrial Revolution. Also preserve green space by designing a park or park system in your own community with detailed design elements and submit it to the "Park Commission" for approval. (Includes Arnold Arboretum, a National Historic Landmark)
Study personal accounts of soldiers who fought in the first battle of the Civil War, and debate whether the U.S. should maintain historic sites where few substantial remains exist. (National Park)
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Learn how the National Historic Preservation Act has affected your community in this lesson, prepared for the History Channel's Save Our History initiative.
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also identify buildings in your community related to a town founder, and learn how to determine if community sites are of historical significance.
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community. Also role-play a citizens' group who just bought (or were given) 5 acres of land on which the abandoned but historic Freeman School is located and decide for their community what to do with this building. (National Park)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement to a national park. Also create a history of a popular gathering place in your community, and locate successful examples of adaptive reuse. (National Park)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. Also debate whether parks should restrict the number of visitors to better conserve land and preserve its resources or let visitors (who are taxpayers funding the parks) use the facilities when and how they choose. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. Also understand why Truman felt strongly about preserving history in states, towns, and neighborhoods, and identify and research historic places in your own neighborhood.
(National Park/Includes Harry S Truman Historic District, a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Consider how simple, functional cabins, like those built by the Finns in Idaho, became symbols in American politics and folklore. Also understand why it was important to list them on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource.
Also identify a site in your community, one that ought to be preserved, but is not yet protected, and devise a conservation plan for that site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Examine how the advent of industrialization in 19th-century America impacted the workforce in New England's Blackstone River Valley. Also compile a list of historic structures in your community, research their history, and volunteer as a docent at one of the sites. (Mechanics Hall is included in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and work with a local historical society to develop a special exhibit for the community on a historic site in your area.
(National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans and write a biography of a local soldiers life from birth through war to his, or her, final resting place and donate it to the local historical society.
Compare historic events that took place at St. Louis's handsome Courthouse. Also identify older public buildings in your community and research their purposes and usage over time, and learn how preservationists determine what should and should not be preserved. (National Park)
Learn about the causes and effects of a famous silk industry strike and how it affected those who were involved. (National Historic Landmark)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life. (National Park)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture. Also investigate the ways in which automobiles changed your community, and find an example of fanciful, vernacular architecture and research what is being done to preserve it.
Determine how environmental management, technology, and the actions of 19th-century industrialists contributed to a disaster in Pennsylvania that shocked the nation. Also understand why a community spent funds to restore a railway built to save lives. (National Park)
Learn about James Oglethorpe and his enduring city plan from the colonial era. Also debate whether your town's historic area could be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. (National Historic Landmark)
Understand how newly developed technologies affected two military engagements
and one tiny town in Mississippi during the Civil War. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike, and develop a promotional brochure or walking tour from histories of buildings that illustrate your community's development. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. Also research a local WPA project in your local community. (National Park)
Examine how Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States and how he modernized the presidency. Also make a time line with information about a historic structure in your area at various times in its history, including important events that occurred in the United States during that same time. Donate the completed project to the local historical society so others may benefit from your research. (National Park)
Examine the historic places associated with two of America's most famous 20th century business people. Also research successful local businesses in your community, and understand the importance of preserving buildings as part of a community's history. (National Historic Landmarks)
Examine continuity and change in this rural Virginia town from its founding to today. Also write a history of your town or neighborhood by researching when it was founded and why, as well its occupational history. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine the inextricable connections binding railroads, North Dakota wheat fields, and Minnesota flour mills during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park/Includes Pillsbury A Mill, a National Historic Landmark)
Immigration
Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service.
Learn why Moravians immigrated to the New World and how the towns they established embodied their religious beliefs.
Understand the experience of early Asian immigrants and the obstacles they encountered as they struggled to make a living and find a place in American society. (Locke is a National Historic Landmark)
Consider how simple, functional cabins, like those built by the Finns in Idaho, became symbols in American politics and folklore.
Learn about the causes and effects of a famous silk industry strike and how it affected those who were involved.
(National Historic Landmark)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Learn about James Oglethorpe and his enduring city plan from the colonial era. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn what led the U.S. government to confine nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to relocation centers in remote areas of the country during World War II. (Manzanar is a National Park and National Historic Landmark. Rohwer is a National Historic Landmark.)
International Relations
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research
institutions across the country cooperated to develop
and implement the complex technology that enabled man
to land on the moon. (National Historic Landmark)
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Examine how changing military technology and U.S. budget debates influenced the development of Fort Hancock and the U.S. coastal defense system. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how Spanish fortifications on the island of Puerto Rico helped protect Spain's expanding interests in the New World. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
La versión en español Los Castillos del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes del Caribe
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Understand the experience of early Asian immigrants and the obstacles they encountered as they struggled to make a living and find a place in American society. (Locke is a National Historic Landmark)
Examine how the escalation of the Cold War led to the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missile system and investigate the role of missileers as America's "peacekeepers." (National Park)
Learn about 18th-century warfare and the battle that was a turning point of the American Revolution. (National Park)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Delve into a superpower meeting and discover how President Eisenhower's brand
of diplomacy at this Pennsylvania farm temporarily eased the tensions of the Cold
War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine Wilson's struggle to achieve lasting world peace following World War I. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Labor History
Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service.
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Explore how Hopewell functioned as a productive work unit and how work defined social relationships in this early National period community. (National Park)
Tour Edison's West Orange complex where his creative combination of research, production, and marketing revolutionized the business of invention. (National Park)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Examine how the advent of industrialization in 19th-century America impacted the workforce in New England's Blackstone River Valley. (Mechanics Hall is included in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Learn about the causes and effects of a famous silk industry strike and how it affected those who were involved.
(National Historic Landmark)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Unearth the remains of colonial America's first fully integrated ironworks, and consider what reconstruction of the site reveals about daily life for some early European settlers. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Examine the complex and often dangerous daily routine at the Thurmond train depot, and learn how rail workers were immortalized by some of the people they served. (National Park)
Investigate early rice plantations in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation transformed the native environment and promoted the South's dependence on a plantation economy.
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
Landscape Architecture/Engineering
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about a famous landscape artist and his efforts to promote conservation and an appreciation for the native plant life of the United States.
Learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and his philosophy about parks and cities as well as city life during the Industrial Revolution. (Includes Arnold Arboretum, a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Explore the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public that spawned the development of other rural cemeteries, public parks, and designed suburbs.
Learn about James Oglethorpe and his enduring city plan from the colonial era. (National Historic Landmark)
Maritime History
Discover the important role these tiny Pacific islands played in World War II.(National Historic Landmark)
Inspect Commodore Stephen Decatur's home near the White House, a gathering place for the politically ambitious, and learn why the naval hero felt compelled to fight a fateful duel. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine how changing military technology and U.S. budget debates influenced the development of Fort Hancock and the U.S. coastal defense system. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Follow Admiral Farragut's attack on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay, and consider the human reaction to technologies such as ironclads and underwater mines. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how Spanish fortifications on the island of Puerto Rico helped protect Spain's expanding interests in the New World. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
La versión en español Los Castillos del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes del Caribe
Learn how the United States mobilized a massive construction effort to build a large merchant fleet to serve in war and peace. (The SS Red Oak Victory is part of a National Park. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the SS Lane Victory are National Historic Landmarks.)
Discover how early settlers survived on Maine's coastal islands despite harsh living conditions. (National Park)
Learn about the United States Lifesaving Service daring rescues to save imperiled lives from the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." (National Park)
Learn about two historic lighthouses that illustrate how technological advancements contributed to maritime safety and about the isolated, often routine, but sometimes heroic lives led by their keepers.(Navesink Light Station is a National Historic Landmark.)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Trace the course of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and consider the significance of the sunken USS Arizona as a war memorial. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Military & Wartime History
Revolutionary War
Learn how a battle in a tiny valley near the frontier in northern New York helped determine whether the American colonies would become an independent nation.
(National Historic Landmark)
Learn how this American Revolution battle spurred colonial unity and sparked the formation of the Continental Army. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how New York's Mohawk Valley became the setting for a fierce Revolutionary War battle that pitted residents of the area, including the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, against each other.
(National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the deceptive results of this battle in the backwoods of North Carolina helped set the stage for American victory. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Learn about 18th-century warfare and the battle that was a turning point of the American Revolution. (National Park)
Mexican War
Learn how these remote passes in the mountains influenced the course of the westward expansion of the United States. (National Park/Raton Pass is a National Historic Landmark.)
Civil War
Examine conditions of the Civil War's most notorious prison, and learn how inmates were able to cope. (National Park)
Understand how battlefield medical care developed during the Civil War, particularly in the Union Army. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how the Battle of Glorieta Pass ended the Confederacy's dream of expanding westward to the Pacific Ocean. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the Civil War created fierce conflicts among American Indian nations who had been moved across the Mississippi River.
Use one of the Civil War's key early battles to understand the conflicts that faced border states such as Kentucky during and after the war. (National Historic Landmark)
Understand the violence of the Civil War through the eyes of young women whose homes were in the midst of an important battle and continuing conflict.
Recall one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, which raged through the rocky cedar glades of Tennessee, as told in eyewitness and personal accounts. (National Park)
Learn why this home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was a center of military activity, and consider the impact the war had on those whose property became part of the battlefield. (National Park)
Trace the course of this Civil War battle and consider the wrenching personal choices that were made by soldiers on each side. (National Park)
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Study personal accounts of soldiers who fought in the first battle of the Civil War, and discover how the day set the tone for the many bloody battles to come. (National Park)
Follow Admiral Farragut's attack on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay, and consider the human reaction to technologies such as ironclads and underwater mines. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover why Fort Pickens was so valuable to both the Union and Confederacy, and follow the actions of the military commanders faced with crucial decisions. (National Park)
Learn how these remote passes in the mountains influenced the course of the westward expansion of the United States. (National Park/Raton Pass is a National Historic Landmark.)
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's belief in freedom and democracy, his eloquence, and the support of family and community propelled him to the White House and uplifted him through the turbulent Civil War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans beginning with the creation of soldiers' homes and national cemeteries during and after the Civil War.
Learn about the history of Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio, and about the federal government's policies guiding the marking of POW graves during and after the Civil War.
Understand how newly developed technologies affected two military engagements
and one tiny town in Mississippi during the Civil War. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Understand the importance of the Mississippi to both the North and South during the Civil War, and the differences between a siege and a regular battle. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how veteran soldiers adapted to the technological changes that had increased the deadliness of the battlefield, and understand the cost of the Civil War in human terms.
World War I
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator
of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine Wilson's struggle to achieve lasting world peace following World War I. (National Historic Landmark)
World War II
Examine military maps and photos to better understand why an isolated battle on a remote island in Alaska alarmed the nation. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover the important role these tiny Pacific islands played in World War II.(National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (National Park)
Learn how the United States mobilized a massive construction effort to build a large merchant fleet to serve in war and peace. (The SS Red Oak Victory is part of a National Park. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the SS Lane Victory are National Historic Landmarks.)
Trace the course of the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and consider the significance of the sunken USS Arizona as a war memorial. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public
as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American
history. (National Park)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Cold War
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research
institutions across the country cooperated to develop
and implement the complex technology that enabled man
to land on the moon. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine how the escalation of the Cold War led to the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missile system and investigate the role of missileers as America's "peacekeepers." (National Park)
Delve into a superpower meeting and discover how President Eisenhower's brand
of diplomacy at this Pennsylvania farm temporarily eased the tensions of the Cold
War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Other
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century and learn how these conflicting views ultimately affected the Creeks. (National Park)
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Examine how changing military technology and U.S. budget debates influenced the development of Fort Hancock and the U.S. coastal defense system. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how Spanish fortifications on the island of Puerto Rico helped protect Spain's expanding interests in the New World. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
La versión en español Los Castillos del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes del Caribe
Discover why this British settlement was built and how it functioned as Great Britain and Spain each struggled to control land from Charleston to St. Augustine. (National Park)
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans beginning with the creation of soldiers' homes and national cemeteries during and after the Civil War.
Philanthropy/Humanitarianism
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans beginning with the creation of soldiers' homes and national cemeteries during and after the Civil War.
Learn about the history of Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio, and about the federal government's policies guiding the marking of POW graves during and after the Civil War.
Discover how the Vanderbilts became one of the wealthiest families in America and how their lifestyle influenced business, culture, architecture, and society in ways that still affect us today. (National Park)
Pioneer America
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn about its evolution as a habitat for the Paiute Indians to its settlement by the pioneering Mormons to a popular tourist destination. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Meet Bill Keys, a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. (National Park)
Meet the people and learn of events that influenced the development of Abraham Lincoln's character and personality as a youth on the Indiana frontier. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Politics and Government
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century, and learn how the campaign against the Creeks increased Andrew Jackson's popularity among American citizens, which helped him win the presidency. (National Park)
Visit JFK's birthplace and consider the effects of culture and community in shaping character and personality. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Inspect Commodore Stephen Decatur's home near the White House, a gathering place for the politically ambitious, and learn why the naval hero felt compelled to fight a fateful duel. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Examine how changing military technology and U.S. budget debates influenced the development of Fort Hancock and the U.S. coastal defense system. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the National Historic Preservation Act has affected your community in this lesson, prepared for the History Channel's Save Our History initiative.
Discover why Fort Pickens was so valuable to both the Union and Confederacy, and follow the actions of the military commanders faced with crucial decisions. (National Park)
Meet John Marshall, who led the U.S. Supreme Court from obscurity and weakness to prominence and power in the early 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. (National Park/Includes Harry S Truman Historic District, a National Historic Landmark)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Independence Hall and about how the international influence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution led to the designation of the building in which they were adopted as a World Heritage Site. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Analyze the influences that shaped the symbolic meaning of the bell, and evaluate the various claims as to how and when it was cracked. (National Park)
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's belief in freedom and democracy, his eloquence, and the support of family and community propelled him to the White House and uplifted him through the turbulent Civil War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Consider how simple, functional cabins, like those built by the Finns in Idaho, became symbols in American politics and folklore.
Follow this president to the White House and Lindenwald in the rough-and-tumble world of early 19th century politics. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
Examine how the escalation of the Cold War led to the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missile system and investigate the role of missileers as America's "peacekeepers." (National Park)
Learn about the evolution of a system to honor and care for U.S. veterans beginning with the creation of soldiers' homes and national cemeteries during and after the Civil War.
Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the history of Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio, and about the federal government's policies guiding the marking of POW graves during and after the Civil War.
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Learn how people in Selma, Alabama, and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Delve into a superpower meeting and discover how President Eisenhower's brand of diplomacy at this Pennsylvania farm temporarily eased the tensions of the Cold War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Examine the circumstances under which Theodore Roosevelt first became President of the United States and how his policies and actions modernized the presidency. (National Park)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
Examine Wilson's struggle to achieve lasting world peace following World War I. (National Historic Landmark)
Recreation/Leisure/Tourism
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Inspect a recreational demonstration area (RDA) in western Maryland, created as part of a Great Depression government relief program. (National Park)
Learn about a famous landscape artist and his efforts to promote conservation and an appreciation for the native plant life of the United States.
Learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and his philosophy about parks and cities as well as city life during the Industrial Revolution. (Includes Arnold Arboretum, a National Historic Landmark)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Tour Edison's West Orange complex where his creative combination of research, production, and marketing revolutionized the business of invention. (National Park)
Tour the world's longest cave, a geological wonder, and assess the ways it has been used and preserved as a historic resource. (National Park/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Examine how the advent of industrialization in 19th-century America impacted the workforce in New England's Blackstone River Valley. (Mechanics Hall is included in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.)
Explore the country's first large-scale designed landscape open to the public that spawned the development of other rural cemeteries, public parks, and designed suburbs.
Determine how environmental management, technology, and the actions of 19th-century industrialists contributed to a disaster in Pennsylvania that shocked the nation. (National Park)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Regional Studies
The South
Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Examine conditions of the Civil War's most notorious prison, and learn how inmates were able to cope. (National Park)
Understand how battlefield medical care developed during the Civil War, particularly in the Union Army. (National Historic Landmark)
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century and learn how these conflicting views ultimately affected the Creeks. (National Park)
Understand the violence of the Civil War through the eyes of young women whose homes were in the midst of an important battle and continuing conflict.
Recall one of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, which raged through the rocky cedar glades of Tennessee, as told in eyewitness and personal accounts. (National Park)
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. (Monroe Elementary School [now Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site] is a unit of the National Park Service/Robert Russa Moton High School, Sumner and Monroe Elementary Schools, Howard High School, and John Philip Sousa Middle School are National Historic Landmarks.)
Learn why this home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was a center of military activity, and consider the impact the war had on those whose property became part of the battlefield. (National Park)
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Study personal accounts of soldiers who fought in the first battle of the Civil War, and discover how the day set the tone for the many bloody battles to come. (National Park)
Follow Admiral Farragut's attack on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay, and consider the human reaction to technologies such as ironclads and underwater mines. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover why Fort Pickens was so valuable to both the Union and Confederacy, and follow the actions of the military commanders faced with crucial decisions. (National Park)
Discover why this British settlement was built and how it functioned as Great Britain and Spain each struggled to control land from Charleston to St. Augustine. (National Park)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Meet John Marshall, who led the U.S. Supreme Court from obscurity and weakness to prominence and power in the early 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia. (National Historic Landmark)
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Discover how Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina and how the design of the capitol building reflected state pride as well as democratic ideals. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn about James Oglethorpe and his enduring city plan from the colonial era. (National Historic Landmark)
Understand how newly developed technologies affected two military engagements
and one tiny town in Mississippi during the Civil War. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Learn how people in Selma, Alabama, and national civil rights organizations worked together to end the unconstitutional denial of voting rights to African Americans in the South.
(Brown Chapel AME Church and the First Confederate Capitol are National Historic Landmarks)
Understand the importance of the Mississippi to both the North and South during the Civil War, and the differences between a siege and a regular battle. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how veteran soldiers adapted to the technological changes that had increased the deadliness of the battlefield, and understand the cost of the Civil War in human terms.
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Investigate early rice plantations in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation transformed the native environment and promoted the South's dependence on a plantation economy.
Discover how immigrant cigar makers in this section of Tampa, Florida, adapted to life in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century while maintaining their ethnic identity. (National Historic Landmark)
The West
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Discover how the Battle of Glorieta Pass ended the Confederacy's dream of expanding westward to the Pacific Ocean. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the Civil War created fierce conflicts among American Indian nations who had been moved across the Mississippi River.
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Evaluate several centuries of dramatic changes to an adobe ranch house and its surroundings in suburban Long Beach to analyze the interaction between Spanish and Anglo culture in California.
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Learn how a tradition of outlawry developed in Kansas and how people in Coffeyville fought back.
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Learn how these remote passes in the mountains influenced the course of the westward expansion of the United States. (National Park/Raton Pass is a National Historic Landmark.)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Examine how the discovery of gold in the Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever. (National Park/Includes Pioneer Building, a National Historic Landmark)
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Understand the ways in which ranchos in northern New Mexico provide evidence of the ability of Hispano culture to adapt to new influences while still maintaining its traditional character.
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Meet Bill Keys, a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. (National Park)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Consider how simple, functional cabins, like those built by the Finns in Idaho, became symbols in American politics and folklore.
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike.
(National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Religion
Learn why Moravians immigrated to the New World and how the towns they established embodied their religious beliefs.
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Examine the changing lifeways of the inhabitants of this village from the 7th century to the arrival of the Spanish in the early 17th century. (National Park)
Examine the influence of Reverend Joseph Bellamy, a leading preacher in New England from 1740-1790, in colonial American religion, and learn about the role of religion in 18th-century life as well as the resurgence of religious fervor known as the Great Awakening.
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Explore a group of 18th-century missions in modern San Antonio to learn about Spanish influence on native peoples and the patterns of Texas culture. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Science and Technology
Follow 19th-century travelers as they cross the treacherous Allegheny Mountains using an innovative inclined railway. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research
institutions across the country cooperated to develop
and implement the complex technology that enabled man
to land on the moon. (National Historic Landmark)
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane. (National Park/The Wright Cycle Company building is a National Historic Landmark)
Examine how changing military technology and U.S. budget debates influenced the development of Fort Hancock and the U.S. coastal defense system. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Follow Admiral Farragut's attack on Fort Morgan and Mobile Bay, and consider the human reaction to technologies such as ironclads and underwater mines. (National Historic Landmark)
Explore how Hopewell functioned as a productive work unit and how work defined social relationships in this early National period community. (National Park)
Tour Edison's West Orange complex where his creative combination of research, production, and marketing revolutionized the business of invention. (National Park)
Explore both how tungsten was mined and used at the turn of the 20th century and also how archeologists piece the past together from artifacts and other archeological evidence. (National Park)
Learn how the 1804-1806 expedition effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation about the West. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the United States mobilized a massive construction effort to build a large merchant fleet to serve in war and peace. (The SS Red Oak Victory is part of a National Park. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the SS Lane Victory are National Historic Landmarks.)
Examine how the escalation of the Cold War led to the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missile system and investigate the role of missileers as America's "peacekeepers." (National Park)
Learn about two historic lighthouses that illustrate how technological advancements contributed to maritime safety and about the isolated, often routine, but sometimes heroic lives led by their keepers.(Navesink Light Station is a National Historic Landmark.)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Determine how environmental management, technology, and the actions of 19th-century industrialists contributed to a disaster in Pennsylvania that shocked the nation. (National Park)
Explore a group of 18th-century missions in modern San Antonio to learn about Spanish influence on native peoples and the patterns of Texas culture. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Unearth the remains of colonial America's first fully integrated ironworks, and consider what reconstruction of the site reveals about daily life for some early European settlers. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Understand how newly developed technologies affected two military engagements
and one tiny town in Mississippi during the Civil War. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Learn how veteran soldiers adapted to the technological changes that had increased the deadliness of the battlefield, and understand the cost of the Civil War in human terms.
Examine the complex and often dangerous daily routines at the Thurmond train
depot, and learn how rail workers were immortalized by some of the people they
served. (National Park)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated. (National Park)
Transportation
Follow 19th-century travelers as they cross the treacherous Allegheny Mountains using an innovative inclined railway. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Discover how NASA, private industry, and research
institutions across the country cooperated to develop
and implement the complex technology that enabled man
to land on the moon. (National Historic Landmark)
Learn how transportation routes affected a local inn, how archeology revealed the inn's use over time, and how preservation efforts saved the historic site from suburban sprawl.
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Learn how technology applied to textile mills revolutionized industry, in turn affecting mill architecture, city planning, and transportation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Discover the early influences that inspired the Wright brothers as inventors and the importance of the Wright Cycle Company Complex where they developed the key mechanical skills that profoundly impacted their invention of the airplane. (National Park/The Wright Cycle Company building is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (National Park)
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park. (National Park)
Learn about some of the practical problems of constructing roads in difficult terrain and about the added challenge of building in such a way as to enhance, rather than damage, fragile and beautiful places such as Glacier National Park. (National Park/National Historic Landmark/Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Examine how the discovery of gold in the Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever. (National Park/Includes Pioneer Building, a National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the United States mobilized a massive construction effort to build a large merchant fleet to serve in war and peace. (The SS Red Oak Victory is part of a National Park. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien and the SS Lane Victory are National Historic Landmarks.)
Learn about the United States Lifesaving Service daring rescues to save imperiled lives from the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." (National Park)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Learn about two historic lighthouses that illustrate how technological advancements contributed to maritime safety and about the isolated, often routine, but sometimes heroic lives led by their keepers.(Navesink Light Station is a National Historic Landmark.)
Assess the importance of America's early canal system and its economic and social effects. (National Park)
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Follow the highways of the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the whimsical, extravagant architecture that came with American auto culture.
Understand how newly developed technologies affected two military engagements
and one tiny town in Mississippi during the Civil War. (National Park/National
Historic Landmark)
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Spain established a New World empire based on collecting precious metals and goods from the Americas.
La versión en español Las flotas españolas de 1715 y 1733: Desastres en el mar (134)
Examine the complex and often dangerous daily routines at the Thurmond train
depot, and learn how rail workers were immortalized by some of the people they
served. (National Park)
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century
led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.
(National Historic Landmark)
Examine the inextricable connections binding railroads, North Dakota wheat fields, and Minnesota flour mills during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park/Includes Pillsbury A Mill, a National Historic Landmark)
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated. (National Park)
U.S. Presidents
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century, and learn how the campaign against the Creeks increased Andrew Jackson's popularity among American citizens, which helped him win the presidency. (National Park)
Visit JFK's birthplace and consider the effects of culture and community in shaping character and personality. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Trace the course of this Civil War battle and consider the wrenching personal choices that were made by soldiers on each side, and evaluate Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and its impact in regard to the occasion it was written to commemorate. (National Park)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn why the life of the 33rd U.S. President serves as an example of civic duty and explore the town that helped form his character. (National Park/Includes Harry S Truman Historic District, a National Historic Landmark)
Follow President Hoover from his boyhood days to his role as administrator of the Belgian Relief Commission during World War I. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Thomas Jefferson's vision of western expansion resulted in the 1804-1806 expedition which effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Meet the people and learn of events that influenced the development of Abraham Lincoln's character and personality as a youth on the Indiana frontier. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how Abraham Lincoln's belief in freedom and democracy, his eloquence, and the support of family and community propelled him to the White House and uplifted him through the turbulent Civil War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Follow this president to the White House and Lindenwald in the rough-and-tumble world of early 19th century politics. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Visit the Madisons' plantation home and their world of social prominence, and explore some contemporary views of slavery. (National Historic Landmark)
Understand how Springwood was the keystone in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's public as well as private life by playing host to some very dramatic events in American history. (National Park)
Delve into a superpower meeting and discover how President Eisenhower's brand of diplomacy at this Pennsylvania farm temporarily eased the tensions of the Cold War. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Examine the circumstances under which Theodore Roosevelt first became President of the United States and how his policies and actions modernized the presidency. (National Park)
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American republic. (National Historic Landmark/UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Understand why George Washington was so revered during his lifetime and beyond, and learn why it took 100 years to complete this famous monument in his honor. (National Park)
Examine Wilson's struggle to achieve lasting world peace following World War I. (National Historic Landmark)
Westward Expansion
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Follow 19th-century travelers as they cross the treacherous Allegheny Mountains using an innovative inclined railway. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the Civil War created fierce conflicts among American Indian nations who had been moved across the Mississippi River.
Consider the complex political and cultural differences that existed between European Americans and American Indians during the early 19th century and learn how these conflicting views ultimately affected the Creeks. (National Park)
Explore the natural wonders of this once remote area in Utah and learn how it became a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century and finally a national park. (National Park/Includes Bryce Canyon Lodge, a National Historic Landmark)
Evaluate several centuries of dramatic changes to an adobe ranch house and its surroundings in suburban Long Beach to analyze the interaction between Spanish and Anglo culture in California.
Compare the Spanish and Anglo influences on settlements along the Texas-Mexico border region of the Rio Grande. (National Park)
Examine how geography and boosterism influenced the placement of rail lines, which then stimulated the growth of towns such as Chattanooga.
Learn how a tradition of outlawry developed in Kansas and how people in Coffeyville fought back.
Learn how three buildings restored and maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration illustrate the important role the federal government played and continues to play in communities across the country.
Analyze how this local landmark came to symbolize the commercial prosperity of a western town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (National Park)
Learn how these remote passes in the mountains influenced the course of the westward expansion of the United States. (National Park/Raton Pass is a National Historic Landmark.)
Examine how the discovery of gold in the Canada's remote Klondike region touched off the last great gold rush, creating an economic boom that changed the city of Seattle forever. (National Park/Includes Pioneer Building, a National Historic Landmark)
Understand the ways in which ranchos in northern New Mexico provide evidence of the ability of Hispano culture to adapt to new influences while still maintaining its traditional character.
Meet Bill Keys, a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. (National Park)
Discover the complex culture and trading economy of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes in North Dakota during the 18th century, as seen by anthropologists and artists. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn how the 1804-1806 expedition effectively opened the Northwest to the influence of the United States, established relations with numerous American Indian nations, and gathered useful scientific documentation about the West. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Meet the people and learn of events that influenced the development of Abraham Lincoln's character and personality as a youth on the Indiana frontier. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Free Frank McWorter and how archeology can help tell the story of the interracial town he founded in the years before the Civil War.
Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to free his family from slavery. (National Park)
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and consider factors that hinder or contribute to the evolution of early settlements into permanent communities, towns, and cities.
Join the stampede for gold when over 100,000 prospectors set out for the Klondike. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn about one of the nation's most important conservation laws--the Antiquities Act of 1906--and how its passage preserved important cultural sites such as Tonto National Monument, which preserves remnants of the Salado culture prior to European contact. (National Park)
Understand the factors that contributed both to the forced removal of the Cherokees off their homelands and to painful divisions within the tribe. (The Trail of Tears is a National Historic Trail./The Major Ridge House and John Ross House are National Historic Landmarks.)
Examine New Orleans's distinctive French Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and recall the city's role in American westward expansion. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Women's History
Discover how Adeline Hornbek, single mother of four, defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a successful ranch under the Homestead Act. (National Park)
Understand the "servant" experience in early 20th-century America, as well as the pros and cons for women working in factories versus domestic service.
Understand the violence of the Civil War through the eyes of young women whose homes were in the midst of an important battle and continuing conflict.
Visit JFK's birthplace and consider the influence of family culture and environment, and the role of Rose Kennedy, on the development of the future president's personality, character, and values. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Learn why this home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, was a center of military activity, and consider the impact the war had on the family whose property became part of the battlefield. Also learn about Clara Barton who cared for the wounded when this home served as a hospital. (National Park)
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from
caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)
Examine how Roosevelt's activities at home reflected her interest in humanitarianism, as epitomized by her leadership in the creation of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. (National Park)
Learn about the vital role played by naval aviators delivering aircraft to combat-bound units in the Pacific during WWII, and the women workers on the home front who helped in one of U.S. history's greatest industrial feats. (National Park)
Examine how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude
toward educating African Americans in New England prior to the Civil War, and understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans. (Little Rock Central High School is a National Park and National Historic Landmark/Prudence Crandall Museum is a National Historic Landmark)
Learn about Mary McLeod Bethune and how she and the organization she founded promoted political and social change for African American women. (National Park)
Learn why a family home in upstate New York became the site for the creation of one of the most important documents in the history of American women. (National Park)
Learn about two historic lighthouses that illustrate how technological advancements contributed to maritime safety and about the isolated, often routine, but sometimes heroic life led by Kate Walker, keeper at Robbins Reef.(Navesink Light Station is a National Historic Landmark.)
Learn how an obscure settlement created during Mormon expansion grew into a well-known and prosperous American city, and meet Helen Stewart--known as the first lady of Las Vegas--who was a rancher and influential member of the town that she helped start.
Meet Captain Edward Penniman, and learn about 19th-century whaling in southeastern
Massachusetts and how the whaling industry impacted Penniman's family and life.
(National Park)
Examine the historic places associated with two of America's most famous 20th century business people. (National Historic Landmarks)
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