Historical Documents, Museum Collections and Other Sources
Library of Congress
Online Exhibitions - hundreds of rich, well-researched, primary source-based sites (K-12, school and family)
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project - 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former enslaved Americans.
Upworthy
Voice Recordings of former enslaved Americans - ABC News Nightline / Ted Koppel Accounts of former enslaved Americans in their own words recorded in the 1930s and 1940s. Ted Koppel narrates this segment from 1999. (Note: use of word “slave” as opposed to “enslaved person.”)
National Park Service
The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks - online visits and exhibits
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Curricular Resources, lesson plans, documents, photos and other resources
Emerging America
Emerging America offers a portal to strategies, primary source collections (featuring the Library of Congress), accessible lesson plans, especially on Disability History.
The Boston Athenæum
Digital collections of visual and textual primary sources, including materials related to the study of government and civic engagement, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as:
Harriet Hayden Albums - two photograph albums featuring portraits of white and Black abolitionists, activists, soldiers, and parishioners.
Nineteenth-Century Political Ballots - collection features some state and national candidates, but majority are from Boston political elections
Broadsides - single-sheet publications; the BA’s collection includes materials related to the American Civil War, poetry, governmental proclamations, as well as a range of other political, religious, and historical subjects.
The Events Archive (book talks, lectures, panel discussions) includes recorded programs (video and podcast formats) with scholars, authors, and artists on topics across the humanities and arts.
Digital Public Library of America
Primary Source Sets - DPLA’s free primary source sets explore topics in history, literature, and culture developed by educators and include teaching guides for class use.
DPLA Search: Search to access more than 36 million images, texts, videos, and sounds from DPLA’s 4,000+ partner institutions across the country. The collection is useful for primary source research and analysis and research projects on almost any topic, as well as creating things like scavenger hunts and games for putting a little fun in e-learning.
Massachusetts Historical Society
Boston Tea Party - print materials, including broadsides and poems.
Phillis Wheatley - poetry of the first published African American writer in America
Coming of the American Revolution - primary sources and contextual essays arranged into 15 topics relating to the events leading up to the American Revolution.
Perspectives on the Boston Massacre - letters, pamphlets, diary entries, legal notes, and engravings relating to the Boston Massacre.
Fire! Voices from the Boston Massacre - view video of re-enactors portraying eye witnesses to the events of March 5, 1775.
John Adams and Abigail Adams Correspondence - John and Abigail Adams exchanged over 1,100 letters, beginning during their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career (until 1801).
54th Regiment - visual materials from the MHS relating to the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the first military unit consisting of black soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War.
African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts -historical manuscripts and rare published works that serve as a window upon the lives of African Americans in Massachusetts from the late seventeenth century through the abolition of slavery under the Massachusetts Constitution in the 1780s.
The Case for Ending Slavery - primary sources that reveal how slavery, and debates about slavery, contributed to the formation of the United States, including letters, diaries, broadsides, artifacts, songs, legal notebooks, and photographs representing a variety of viewpoints.
Images of the Anti-Slavery Movement in Massachusetts - digital images of 840 visual materials that illustrate the role of Massachusetts in the national debate over slavery, including photographs, paintings, sculptures, engravings, artifacts, banners, and broadsides that were central to the debate and the formation of the antislavery movement.
Massachusetts in the Civil War (1861-1862) - letters, photographs, and broadsides that provide examples of the great cost to families from Massachusetts in the first two years of the Civil War, 1861-1862.
Women’s Suffrage and Anti-Suffrage - learn about pro-suffrage and anti-suffrage activities and activists from Massachusetts.
MCN Guide to Virtual Museum Resources
The MCN Guide to Virtual Museum Resources offers access to a vast set of collections K-12.
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library - 19,147 captivating items from 193 countries (K-12).
National Archives
Online Exhibits (K-12)
Ellis Island
Ellis Island Virtual Tour (Grades 2-12)
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Virtual Tour (Grades 2-12)
Perkins School for the Blind
Virtual Museum (Grades 3-8)
New York Historical Society Online
Access to the New York Historical Society’s extensive collection, special exhibits and educational resources
Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC.
Online Resources, including virtual tours and experiences
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
True Justice, HBO's documentary about Bryan Stevenson focuses on Mr. Stevenson's life and career and tracks the intertwined histories of slavery, lynching, segregation and mass incarceration.
U.S. Census Bureau
New activities designed specifically for the 2019-2020 school year spotlight the 2020 Census and the importance of making sure everyone is counted, especially children. Use activities for pre-K through 12th grade today to help your students, school, and community.
The Nature Conservancy
Nature Lab - Interactive lesson plans for teachers, students and families to explore nature around the globe alongside Conservancy scientists
New York Times: The Learning Network
The Learning Network - publishes about 1,000 teaching resources each school year, all based on using New York Times content — articles, essays, images, videos, graphics and podcasts — as teaching tools across subject areas. Most of the resources are free (only lesson plans are limited to five per month for non-subscribers). Intended audience is middle and high school teachers and students.
CNN
CNN 10 (formerly CNN Student News) - news of the day in 10 minutes
CIRCLE
CIRCLE Data Tool offers a unique way to explore the relationships between voting and other forms of civic participation, and some of the conditions that shape such engagement. It features more than 40 unique indicators and includes data at the national, state, congressional district, and county levels. The classroom companion illustrates examples for teachers from many disciplines to use the data in inquiries and other projects.