Smithsonian's History Explorer Resources Related To "Object Portraits"

Autobiography Through Objects

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:26:08 GMT

Students will analyze images and objects relating to Celia Cruz then create an autobiographical exhibition using personal objects. This lesson is a resource included in the online exhibition entitled ¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.

Guide to Doing History with Objects

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:23:00 GMT

This essay will tell students how to look closely at artifacts and how to think about the ways they shape and reflect our history. Artifacts—the objects we make and use—are part of American history. If we know how to look at them, they can be sources for better understanding our history. While textbooks focus on the great documents of the American past, or the important events, artifacts can show us another kind of history, another way of approaching the past. It is included in The Object of History, a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and George Mason University's Center for History and New Media.

The Object of History

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:54:31 GMT

This resource includes an introductory essay entitled Looking at Artifacts, Thinking about History, 6 sections that each focus on an object from the collections of the Museum, an archive of curator commentary, and an online tool with which students can create virtual exhibits. Also included is a section of teacher's materials, lesson plans and resources revolving around the themes that are highlighted throughout the website.

The Object of History is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and George Mason University's Center for History and New Media.

The following objects are included in The Object of History: Thomas Jefferson's desk, the gold nugget that launched the Gold Rush, Mary Todd Lincoln's dress, a voting machine, a short-handled hoe from the Braceros migrant worker program, and a segment of the lunch counter from the sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The materials on the site are designed to improve student's knowledge of standard topics in U.S. History and to improve their ability to understand material culture objects as types of historical evidence.