Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

90,976 items

Lesson Plan

George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12

Background George Mortimer Pullman was an influential industrialist of the nineteenth century and the founder of the Pullman Palace Car Company. His innovations brought comfort and luxury to railroad travel in the 1800s with the...

Lesson Plan

Nineteenth-Century Technology in Twenty-First-Century America

Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Introduction The nineteenth century was marked by a period of innovation, invention, and a huge spurt of growth known as the industrial revolution. Many inventions from the nineteenth century never caught on or have become obsolete,...

Lesson Plan

Dashes and Dots: A Product of the Nineteenth Century

Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Overview Students will examine primary sources including letters, a patent, photos, and diagrams to identify and describe the technological invention and development of the telegraph that evolved during the nineteenth century....

Lesson Plan

Symbols of the 1920s: New York City Skyscrapers in Photographs and Paintings

Art

9, 10, 11, 12

Overview The roaring 1920s was an era of dramatic change. Among the most enduring manifestations of this change was the rise of the big city. The centrality of urban growth to the social, political, and economic changes of the 1920s...

Lesson Plan

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871: A Story of Human Tragedy and Triumph

4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Background Ask anyone what the greatest disaster in Chicago was and probably no one will say, "The Great Iroquois Theatre Fire of December 30, 1903." Six hundred three souls perished in that fire. They probably won’t say, "The sinking...

Lesson Plan

Philadelphia and the Constitutional Convention "Heat Up"

Government and Civics

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Background Little did William Penn know that his plans for a "Great Towne," set up in rectangular form between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, would become the site of some of the most important meetings in our nation’s founding,...

Lesson Plan

Alamo Simulation

Geography

9, 10, 11, 12

Overview Through a simulation, in which Canadians try to seize the state of Maine, students will gain an understanding of the circumstances surrounding the Battle of the Alamo, February 23–March 6, 1836, between approximately 200...

Lesson Plan

Democracy in Early America: Servitude and the Treatment of Native Americans and Africans prior to 1740

World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essential Questions How did European explorers and colonists who came to the New World for "Gold, Glory and/or God" justify their treatment of Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and indentured servants? To what extent were there...

Lesson Plan

Conflict and Captivity in the Colonies

Literature

6, 7, 8

Background The early seventeenth century was punctuated by a series of small wars between Native Americans and colonists. Many colonists were captured and taken prisoner, but two women, whose ordeals were published as books, stand out...

Lesson Plan

Differing Views of Pilgrims and American Indians in Seventeenth-Century New England

Economics, Government and Civics

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Background Wampanoags Much of what is known about early Wampanoag history comes from archaeological evidence, the Wampanoag oral tradition (much of which has been lost), and documents created by seventeenth-century English colonists....

Site Search

90,976 items

George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth-Century Technology in Twenty-First-Century America

Dashes and Dots: A Product of the Nineteenth Century

Symbols of the 1920s: New York City Skyscrapers in Photographs and Paintings

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871: A Story of Human Tragedy and Triumph

Philadelphia and the Constitutional Convention "Heat Up"

Alamo Simulation

Democracy in Early America: Servitude and the Treatment of Native Americans and Africans prior to 1740

Conflict and Captivity in the Colonies

Differing Views of Pilgrims and American Indians in Seventeenth-Century New England

Stay up to date, and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter.