This course is a survey of American History from the Age of Exploration and Discovery to the present. Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, interpretation of original documents, and historiography. This history curriculum is assembled from UC college preparatory courses and students will demonstrate comprehension of a broad body of historical knowledge; express ideas clearly in writing; work with classmates to research an historical issue; interpret and apply data from original documents; identify underrepresented historical viewpoints; write to persuade with evidence; compare and contrast alternate interpretations of an historical figure, event, or trend; explain how an historical event connects to or causes a larger trend or theme; develop essay responses that include a clear, defensible thesis statement and supporting evidence; effectively argue a position on an historical issue; critique and respond to arguments made by others; raise and explore questions about policies, institutions, beliefs, and actions in an historical context; evaluate primary materials, such as historical documents, political cartoons, and first-person narratives; evaluate secondary materials, such as scholarly works or statistical analyses; and assess the historical significance and cultural impact of key literary works (e.g. Common Sense, Uncle Tom's Cabin).

In this lesson, students will read two primary source documents from Documenting the American South, a digital library collection sponsored by the University Library at UNC. One document is Child Labor in the Carolinas, a pamphlet published in 1909 by the National Child Labor Committee exposing the use of child labor in the cotton mills of North Carolina. The other document is Mill News, a weekly newsletter about the Southern cotton industry which was paid for and published by the mill companies themselves. Students will also listen to oral history excerpts from mill workers to gain a third perspective. In a critical analysis, students will identify the audiences for both documents and the motivations and intent of its authors, as well as examine the historical importance of each document.

This is a two-month team research project for 9-10th graders that uses Library of Congress resources to focus on long-term change in U.S. history. Students gather, analyze, and evaluate primary and secondary sources; develop their own conclusions; and refine their writing.

Students will examine and interpret interviews obtained by authors working for the Federal Writer's Project during the 1930s. A close study of the narratives will allow students to: Understand the specific tasks undertaken by men and women employed by one of the work relief programs of the New Deal; Obtain a more personal sense of the past by examining the lives and careers of ordinary men and women interviewed during the period of the Federal Writer's Project; Learn about the process and issues involved in doing oral history.

Learning history from real people involved in real events brings life to history. The Grandparent/Elder Project provides a means to learn about the twentieth century from real people and primary sources. A 1913 New York Times newspaper provides a view of the world on the brink of a World War. An interview with a grandparent or significant elder provides a human face for life in the twentieth century. Through researching primary and secondary sources, students become conversant with significant aspects of twentieth century history.

Historic Pittsburgh, an extensive digital resource created at the University of Pittsburgh, offers both an entry point and substantive classroom resources for teachers of American History at various grade and university levels.

This Web site enables access to historic material held by the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System, the Library & Archives at the Heinz History Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Chatham College Archives, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, and Point Park University Archives. The project represents a model of cooperation between libraries, museums and institutions of higher learning in providing centralized access to selections of their respective historic materials.

The books allows teachers to focus on historical currents, social movements and individual historical personalities, both famous and less well-known. Thousands of photographs offer students at all levels opportunities for observation, comparison and inference. The decennial census contains a wealth of information about the occupational, racial, gender, family, and residential structure of a key industrializing region, from pre-Civil War years to the Gilded Age. The chronology captures significant events that took place in Pittsburgh throughout three centuries.

This module explains the different dating conventions employed in historical documents. For example, the system of dating by reference to a religious feast day and the year of the reigning monarch has little in common with the modern calendar. Even where a recognizable date is provided, it may not be what it at first appears....

The resource includes a glossary, bibliography and translation of relevant Latin numbers/phrases. Illustrative images of items from our collections appear throughout.

This resource provides a general introduction to what archives are, where they are kept, how to find relevant material, and what to expect on a visit to an archives office. A glossary and bibliography are also provided along with numerous links to relevant external resources.
The scope of this unit principally reflects the archival holdings of the University of Nottingham and illustrative images of items from our collections appear throughout.

This module aims to identify and explain some common difficulties in deciphering units of weights, measurements, and money in historical documents. Explores English and Welsh measuring systems, predominantly those used from the late sixteenth and early 17th centuries onwards, and those in force after the Weights and Measures Act of 1824.

The resource includes a glossary and bibliography. Illustrative images of items from our collections appear throughout.

The History Engine is an educational tool that gives students the opportunity to learn history by doing the work—researching, writing, and publishing—of an historian. The result is an ever-growing collection of historical articles or "episodes" that paint a wide-ranging portrait of life in the United States throughout its history, available in our online database to scholars, teachers, and the general public.

The History Engine project aims to enhance historical education and research for teachers, students, and scholars alike. It allows undergraduate professors to introduce a more collaborative and creative approach to history into their classrooms, while maintaining rigorous academic standards. The History Engine gives students a more intimate experience with the process of history. Participants who work with the History Engine project learn the craft of an historian: they examine primary documents, place these documents in a larger historical context using secondary sources, and prepare cogent analysis of their sources for the public eye. Finally, the History Engine provides a way for professors to take advantage of digital technology in their classrooms while maintaining rigorous academic standards. The cumulative database provides all the easy-access and searchability of other websites, but also subjects its contents to a careful academic screening process on the part of library staff, archivists, professors, and teaching assistants.

This is a lesson plan where a team of middle-school students search the Library of Congress website and other resources to learn how to conduct oral history interviews.

This is a place where students can learn about the oral history interview process. The site includes examples of how to conduct interviews with people in the community and collect and analyze their life histories. The site links to life histories that were written for the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940.

The Civil War was the first American war thoroughly caught on film. Mathew Brady and his crew of photographers captured many images of this divisive war, ranging from portraits to battle scenes. This site offers 1000 annotated Civil War photographs ranging from portraits to battle scenes. Students become reporters, assigned to sort through photos to find one that will bring the war to life for their readers. They write a newspaper article based on their chosen photograph and publish it on the web. For the seventh grade; adaptable for high school.