In light of changing trends in education since the 1960s, archives and manuscript collections are becoming more useful as primary educational resources on both secondary and higher education levels. One reason for this is the recent emphasis on inquiry learning with the subsequent development of collections of evidence, data, and documents for…

Sometimes it is not until a piece of history is lost that its significance is recognized. In the case of the Latino arts, much of this history remains in the file drawers, storage boxes, closets, and attics of those who created it. It is not too late to save this history. Quick action to identify what remains to be saved is vital. Relatively few…

This lesson describes and discusses the impact on Carnegie Libraries in U.S. history. The lesson plan contains eight sections: (1) "About this Lesson"; (2) "Getting Started: Inquiry Question"; (3) "Setting the Stage: Historical Context"; (4) "Locating the Site: Maps" (Carnegie Libraries in the United States,…

This lesson describes and discusses the Battle of Bunker Hill (Massachusetts), which took place during the Revolutionary War. The lesson plan contains eight sections: (1) "About this Lesson"; (2) "Getting Started: Inquiry Question"; (3) "Setting the Stage: Historical Context"; (4) "Locating the Site: Maps"…

This document consists of the printed components only of a PBS curriculum package intended to be used with the 9-videotape PBS documentary series entitled "The West." The complete curriculum package includes a teacher's guide, lesson plans, a student guide, audio tapes, a video index, and promotional poster. The teacher's guide and…

International treaties have played a central role in diplomatic history since the rise of the modern nation state. Since the end of World War II, more treaties have been formed than in the preceding four centuries. The year 2001 marks the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. This unit provides students with historical knowledge of…

This publication, the second installment of the Dwight D. Eisenhower series, spans nearly a quarter century of U.S. history and Eisenhower's life from age 20 to 45. The early military period of Eisenhower's life prepared him to assume leadership roles during World War II and his U.S. presidency. Eisenhower sometimes thought his career was going…

In 1805, a U.S. Senate committee urged the building of a road that would connect the eastern United States with the western United States. The road came to be known as the National Road (or Cumberland Road). It began in Cumberland, Maryland, and eventually reached to Vandalia, Illinois. It was the first and only U.S. road built entirely with…

This report describes an instructional unit on government documents for college freshmen, implemented at the university library at Southest Missouri State University. Government documents in the federal depository library were the focus for the unit. In the introductory session to library use, the students often received only a cursory…

This lesson traces the use of Eleanor Roosevelt's retreat, Val-Kill, a "shack" (actually a stone cottage) built in 1925 on the grounds of the Roosevelt family estate at Hyde Park (New York), and how it nurtured her spirit, personal style, and humanitarian efforts. The lesson explains that Eleanor and her women friends later expanded the…

This unit of study focuses on the historic period from 1920 to 1966 when China's Mao Zedong and India's Mohandas Gandhi constructed and applied their social and moral visions to their respective nationalist movements. These leaders developed contrasting methods to achieve social change and to establish the goals set for achieving the ideal…

Editorial cartoons are useful resources for middle school and high school classrooms. They reflect multiple viewpoints about events in history and incorporate visual counterparts to literary elements, such as irony and symbolism. They appeal to visual learners and challenge students to use analytical thinking skills. The cartoons of Hugh Haynie…

After World War II the United States centered its foreign policy on the containment of communism, at home and abroad. Although it was aimed primarily at containing the spread of communism in Europe, the policy also extended to Asia. Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War. Dividing…

This instructional packet is designed to introduce students to primary source material by having them participate in an historical "what might have been." Students engage in critical thinking and document analysis, and through the process learn about Operation OVERLORD and World War II in general. This spy kit centers on Operation…

This curriculum packet contains two lesson plans about cities and architecture intended for use with students in upper elementary grades and middle schools. The first lesson plan, "City People, City Stories" (Jan Ham), states that understanding architecture and cities must begin with an understanding of the people of the city. The children create…