Teaching Resources for Teacher Appreciation Week

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! 

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is honored to work with K–12 teachers across the globe and provide support for their invaluable work in not only bringing history to life for their students, but educating future generations of knowledgable, civics-minded citizens. 

In recognition of these efforts, we’ve highlighted some of our most popular teaching resources. Explore them by era below:

The Americas to 1620

• Primary Source: Columbus Reports on His First Voyage
• Infographic: Major European Explorers

Colonization and Settlement, 1585-1763

• Primary Source: Jamestown Settler Describes Life in Virginia
• Lesson Plan: Pilgrims, the Mayflower Compact, and Thanksgiving

The American Revolution, 1763-1783

• Primary Source: Paul Revere's Engraving of the Boston Massacre
• Lesson Plan: The Declaration of Independence

The New Nation, 1783-1815

• Infographic: Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
• Lesson Plan: The Battle over the Bank - Hamilton vs. Jefferson

National Expansion and Reform, 1815-1860

• Primary Source Readings: Lowell Mill Girls and the Factory System

Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

• Infographic: Comparing the North and South
• Primary Source: A Proclamation on the Suspension of Habeas Corpus

Rise of Industrial America, 1877-1900

• Primary Source Readings: Imperialism and the Spanish-American War

Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

• Infographic: Reform Movements of the Progressive Era
• Primary Source: The Treaty of Versailles

Great Depression & WWII, 1929-1945

• Primary Source: Herbert Hoover on The New Deal
• Teacher Read: Immigration Policy in World War II

1945-Present and Civics

• Lesson Plan: How We Elect a President: The Electoral College for Grades 10-12