The Blackberry is a handheld wireless Personal Data Assistant (PDA) and communication device.
Museum Artifacts
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/28/2012
This "Solar System" quilt was made by Ellen Harding Baker of Cedar County, Iowa, in 1876. The wool top of this applique quilt is embellished with wool-fabric applique, wool braid, and wool and silk embroidery. Included in the design is the appliqued inscription, "Solar System," and the embroidere
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
1/20/2011
The bread tin was designed to keep the doughboy's ration of hard bread dry; earlier bread rations were packaged in cardboard containers which became soggy and ruined the contents.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
2/18/2010
Developed in Scotland and played in the northern United States, curling debuted as a medal sport at the 1998 Winter Olympics. This curling stone belonged to 75-year-old curler Rudy Senich, of Duluth, Minn., who has been curling three nights a week for the past 35 years. According to Senich's curl
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/23/2010
These two minie balls from opposing sides met head-on during fierce fighting at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862.
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/22/2010
The Confederate battle flag, known as the “Stars and Bars,” was born of necessity at the Battle of Bull Run. Amid the smoke and general chaos of battle, it was hard to distinguish the Confederate "Stars and Bars" from the U.S. national flag, the "Stars and Stripes.” General Pierre T. Beaure
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/28/2010
This lighter, smaller-caliber Navy model was popular with ranking army officers, including General George McClellan.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/4/2008
When the Depression and resulting banking crisis hit their community, the residents of the coastal town of Pismo Beach, California picked an unusual but logical medium of exchange. Perhaps with tongue in cheek, the merchants and officials of Pismo Beach decided to make the best of a bad situation
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
1/27/2009
In the 15th century, decades before they sailed into the Caribbean, Spanish merchants, captains, and adventurers had already conquered and enslaved the people of the Canary Islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. On the western coast of continental Africa, the Portuguese had been cultivating a sla
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
6/10/2009
This one-cent piece from 1974 is perfectly normal-except for one thing. It was struck in aluminum rather than bronze. Lincoln's bust graces the obverse, just as it has done for over ninety-five years.
And the Lincoln Memorial appears on the reverse, just as it has since the closing years o
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
3/28/2016
Before 1954, so-called portable radio receivers used vacuum tubes to receive and amplify signals. The large batteries needed to power most tubes made radios large and heavy. Receivers built with subminiature tubes existed but were expensive. The invention of transistors in 1947 allowed engineers
