American History
Here are online American history resources the Newpapers in Education department has discovered. They are listed below – however, some sites may cover more than one area. If you know a site we don’t, feel free to contact us!
Smithsonian Museum of American History
Our Story, a Web site developed by the Smithsonian Institution, focuses on American History stories and activities to use in the classroom. Subjects include “Life in a WWII Japanese-American Internment Camp,” “A Puerto Rican Carnival,” and “Great Women of Our Pasts.” Museum also has an extensive suggested reading list.
National Gallery of Art: 19th Century America in Art & Literature
Use paintings as primary sources. Students can see contemporaneous views on technology, geography, economics, and politics in daily nineteenth century American life. This museum selected works of art – all viewable online – and developed student activities and printable worksheets. (Web site has other activities in other subject areas.)
White House 101
Web site hosted by the White House – the Executive branch of government — includes biographies on all 44 presidents, a slide show on presidential pets since World War II, and a blueprint view of this famous house.
America’s Story from America’s Library
Discover the stories of the American past via the Library of Congress. Web site features biographies on activists, musicians, writer, scientists, industrialists and more from the pages of American history. Web site includes games and state-by-state facts.
Webrangers: National Parks Online
If you love your National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites, this Web page is for you. Play more than 50 games and learn about your National Parks – including the animals that inhabit them!
Department of the Interior for Kids
Learn about the Bureau of Reclamation, the Office of Surface Mining, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Minerals Management Service (includes a Gulf of Mexico Kid’s Page!) – all from a kid’s perspective! Includes a butterfly site, a page on astrogeology, and a page on earthquakes.
CIA Kids
For Kindergarten through fifth-graders, sixth- through twelfth-graders and parents and teachers. Includes a bird’s eye view of the history of the CIA, information on how to work for the CIA and games! Includes links to the CIA factbook.
