Menarche, or the onset of menstruation, generated much advice and many attempts to manage girls' bodies in a public w
Museum Artifacts

Grade Range:
8-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/2/2020
"This black t-shirt, which says “Silence = Death” with a pink triangle, symbolizes the struggle against AIDS. Six activists – Avram Finklestein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Soccaras – founded the “Silence = Death” project in New York City in 198

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/3/2020
Associate Chief Joseph A. Banco Jr. is a highly decorated, 22-year-veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. During his long and distinguished career, Mr. Banco served on our Nation’s southwestern, coastal, and northern borders as well as internationally.This uniform was worn during the late 1990s betwee

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/30/2009
General Charles Conrwallis was so mortified by his defeat that he dispatched his second-in-command, Brigadier General Charles O'Hara, to surrender his forces. When O'Hara offered Cornwallis's sword to George Washington, Washington, in keeping with the rigid hierarchies of military protocol, asked

Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/22/2010
This is the type of jacket that would have been worn by a Confederate medical officer.

Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/23/2010
The Confederate States of America’s first national flag was also known as the “Stars & Bars.” This flag flew from 1861 to 1863. Each of the eight stars represented a Confederate state in March 1861 when the flag was adopted.

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/3/2008
In January 1917, members of the National Woman's Party (NWP) became the first people to picket the White House. Protesting the government's failure to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising women, NWP members, led by Alice Paul, began picketing the White House. Their purple, white, and gol

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/6/2008
The Global Positioning System (GPS) consists of NAVSTAR satellites in earth orbit that send signals to receivers on land, sea, or in the air. The system became operational in 1978. Its military usefulness was demonstrated during Operation Desert Storm (1991), when coalition troops with receivers

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/11/2008
In 1980, Namco released Pac-Man, an extremely popular video game designed by Toru Iwatani and distributed in North America by Bally/Midway. It was the first video game to spawn a marketing phenomenon, including licensed books, clocks, radios, a Saturday morning cartoon, and gadgets like this comb

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/6/2008
On a Sunday morning in December 1941, a chaplain had his most difficult assignment — to say a prayer to sailors aboard a U.S. navy ship actively under low–flying attack by the enemy firing from all directions. He quickly realized the best he could do was walk the ammunition line saying, “Pr

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/12/2012
This upright transposing piano was made in 1940 by Weser Brothers, New York, for Irving Berlin (1888–1989). Like many Tin Pan Alley pianists, Berlin was self-taught, preferring to play on the black keys. “The key of C,” he once said, “is for people who study music”. The transposing mech