Visually rich history published by Guy McLain, Director of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. Provides a rare glimpse into the evolution and history of western Massachusetts. Topics explored include European Settlement of the Valley, the Revolution and Shays’ Rebellion, Development of Transportation and Trade in the Valley, and Expansion of Business and Industry.

In the following lesson plan, students will look at the way in which events are reported on in history and how bias in the media affects peoples’ understanding of current events and history by analyzing both modern and historical newspaper articles. Throughout this unit, students will read and analyze Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath in relation to migrant workers and explore the conflict between political policy and the humane realities, as well as whether or not civil disobedience is necessary to create societal changes.

Incarceration in a variety of contexts and settings has been deeply ingrained in American society for centuries. The experience and processes of incarceration takes many forms including criminal detention, imprisonment in wartime, and immigration detainment. This primary source set contains a range of items tracing the history of incarceration in the United States and includes images, maps, political cartoons, and reports–all from the digital collections of the Library of Congress.

The following primary source set and resources were compiled to illustrate the economic growth in both the northern and southern United States between 1800 and 1860. Such areas as industry, the market economy, and transportation are included in the set. Completing the set are two exhibits featuring the Industrial Revolution, including one produced as a part of the Emerging America program at the Collaborative for Educational Services. 

During the American Industrial Revolution the lives of individual citizens, as well as the overall structure of society, underwent a fundamental transformation. Some of these changes included: the pace of work, the availability and quality of goods and products, the development of complex urban centers, the introduction of technological advancements, and the implementation of a fast and reliable transportation network.

The Industrial Revolution sparked remarkable and permanent changes in the United States. The tremendous increase in the availability and variety of manufactured goods combined with the massive need for factories and workers to revolutionize American society generated a profound impact on American society. The following set offers a rich range of primary sources, exploring these changes and the extent of their impacts on workers, homes, communities, and the environment.

The following primary source set explores documents depicting life and events during the Cold War Era. A few topics, such as Civil Rights, have been organized by the Library of Congress to readily offer many primary sources online. Sections below will reference those resources. The CES primary source set draws upon diverse collections to offer a few high quality illustrations for discussion and to prompt inquiry. 

The demand for women’s suffrage began in the 1840’s and culminated in 1920 with the passage of the nineteenth amendment. Two competing organizations were established in 1869 and eventually merged in 1890 to become the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Cartoons, newspaper articles, and marches demonstrate the urgency with which women sought this basic democratic right. In the following primary source set, these materials are made available for instruction and research.

The Library of Congress holds the best collection of primary sources anywhere on the Civil War and Reconstruction. (See especially the exhibitions under “d” below.) Therefore, the great challenge is to choose the most significant yet engaging and classroom-friendly from among hundreds of thousands of photos, drawings, newspaper articles, speeches, maps, and songs. Each item in this set focuses on a vital point in the conflict and its aftermath. Each item offers clear and meaningful opportunity for students to dig deeper.

The following immigration flow map is a valuable resource both to further understanding of the progression of the immigration experience and as an example of a flow map for virtually any topic or lesson plan. Tracing the origins of the immigrant decision to leave their homes through their settlement into a new environment, this flow map provides visual clarification through primary source materials from the Library of Congress. In addition, educators may use the flow map as an example of how to produce a flow map and how to incorporate primary source documents into sequential order.