Examine a collection of primary source documents about trolleys and streetcars in American history.

This collection assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition. It includes nearly 200 selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division; 74 books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from the General Collections, along with selections from 34 consumer and trade journals; 181 photographs from the pictorial materials of the National Photo Company Collection held by the Prints and Photographs Division; and 5 short films and 7 audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. The collection is particularly strong in advertising and mass-marketing materials and will be of special interest to those seeking to understand economic and political forces at work in the 1920s.

The New Deal and World War II unit features lessons ranging from Social Security to the dropping of the atomic bomb. It includes a Structured Academic Controversy examining whether the New Deal was a success, and an Inquiry into Japanese-Americans internment during the war. In the Social Security lesson plan, students evaluate historical claims and examine primary documents from the period. Students explore causes of the Zoot Suit Riots in California, and take part in a structured role-play where groups are asked to choose an image that commemorates the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

These lessons focus on events surrounding the Cold War. The first is an inquiry into its causes, comparing Soviet and American perspectives. Opening Up the Textbook lessons ask students to question textbook accounts of the CIA's covert operations in Guatemala, and compare how North and South Korean textbooks cover the Korean War. Students analyze declassified government documents about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and try to determine whether the U.S. intended to escalate military operations in Vietnam before the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. In the lesson on Truman and MacArthur, students gauge public response to MacArthur's dismissal by analyzing memos and letters sent to President Truman.

In this unit, students explore social, cultural, and political events that helped define America in the decades following the Second World War. The lesson on the Civil Rights movement revolves around the question: Why did the Montgomery Bus Boycott succeed? In another, students compare speeches by JFK and John Lewis regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the Women in the 1950s lesson plan, students use secondary sources and popular images to explore whether "the happy housewife" was reality or perception. Finally, students will encounter opposing views on whether the Great Society was successful, and what led many Americans came to oppose the Vietnam War.

The American Imperialism Unit covers the Spanish-American War and the War in the Philippines. The lessons approach historical inquiry from different angles: one asks students to contrast newspaper accounts of the explosion of the Maine, while a more elaborate inquiry lesson delves into the causes of the Spanish-American War. In a third lesson students examine pro- and anti-imperialism political cartoons of the period. Finally, students are asked to interpret some of the brutal actions that took place in the Philippines.

This unit explores perspectives on the central issues of the Progressive Era. Students examine the middle class reformers' attitudes towards immigrants; draw inferences about historical context by analyzing documents that relate to segregation of San Francisco schools in 1906; and question the reliability of Jacob Riis's photographs as accounts of the past. The unit includes cognitive modeling lessons - one that compares the perspectives of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Dubois, and one that juxtaposes muckracking journalist Lincoln Steffens with political boss George Plunkitt. The Background on Woman Suffrage prepares students for the Anti-Suffragists lesson plan on why Americans opposed woman suffrage.

The World War I and 1920s unit explores political, social, and cultural tensions that gripped a rapidly modernizing America. Lessons ask historical questions about key events: Why did the U.S. enter the First World War? Why did Congress reject the League of Nations? What caused the Palmer Raids? Were those who criticized U.S. involvement in World War I anti-American? Why was Marcus Garvey a controversial figure? What was life like for Mexican and Mexican-American laborers during the 1920s? Why was the Butler Act controversial? What led to the 18th Amendment? Included is an Opening Up the Textbook lesson on the causes of the 1919 Chicago Race Riots.

Following their eventful and highly successful morning, the Wrights had an unhurried lunch and then walked the few miles to the town of Kitty Hawk to send a telegram to their father. With their machine wrecked by the wind and flying done for the season, the Wrights immediately thought of going home for Christmas. The only telegraph equipment in Kitty Hawk was a government wire at the weather bureau office connected to Norfolk, which passed the message on to Western Union. The telegraph operator at Kitty Hawk was John T. Dosher, with whom the Wrights had corresponded more than three years before. Two errors in transmission were made: Orville's name was misspelled and the time of their longest flight was incorrect (fifty-seven instead of fifty-nine seconds). The telegram reached Dayton, Ohio, at 5:25 P.M. and the brothers returned home with their broken machine on the evening of December 23.

Spanning from the mid 1920s through the 1950s, the Theodor Horydczak collection documents the architecture and social life of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential, and government buildings, as well as street scenes and views of neighborhoods. A number of Washington events and activities, such as the 1932 Bonus Army encampment, the 1933 World Series, and World War II preparedness campaigns, are also depicted.

Stories, essays, letters, poems, biographies, journals and tidbits from Wisconsin history. Many first hand accounts - profusely illustrated.

The heritage of women represents one-half of the history of the United States; for that reason alone it is worthy of closer scrutiny than it has received in standard history courses. The movement of women for social, political, and economic equality represents the longest and most far-reaching civil rights movement in U.S. history, yet it is a movement that has received minimal space and attention in standard history courses. This class is an attempt to bring to the foreground a history that we all share but perhaps have until now lacked the opportunity or information to focus on. It is a history that I find both maddening and inspiring, and one whose study is challenging, difficult, and ultimately so rewarding that it is worth every bit of effort, and then some.

Among the materials the Wright Brothers estate gave the Library of Congress in 1948 were 300 glass plate negatives and two nitrate negatives, most taken by the Wright brothers themselves between 1897 and 1928. About 200 views from 1900 to 1911 document their successes and failures with their new flying machines. The collection provides an excellent pictorial record of the Wright brothers laboratory, engines, models, experimental planes, runways, flights, and even their accidents. The collection also contains individual portraits and group pictures of the Wright brothers and their family and friends, as well as photos of their homes, other buildings, towns, and landscapes.