Museum Artifacts

These two minie balls from opposing sides met head-on during fierce fighting at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862.

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

This lighter, smaller-caliber Navy model was popular with ranking army officers, including General George McClellan.

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

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

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

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

Immokalee Statue of Liberty, by Kat Rodriguez, 2000 The statue’s original pedestal (not shown) features a simple message borrowed from African American poet Langston Hughes: “I, too, am America.” This Lady Liberty holds

In this handheld, small booklet carried and distributed by Union soldiers, it contained the brief but powerful words of the Emancipation Proclamation. Some of those Union soldiers were African American, and they carried and read this message granting freedom to those enslaved. Have students think ab

General Information: Commemorative coin made by the US Mint for Breast Cancer Awareness. Coin is gold with a pink hue. This is the first gold coin with a pink hue that the U.S. Mint has issued.This commemorative coin was minted by the United States Mint for a fundraising program for the Breast Cance