As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…"
Museum Artifacts
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
7/8/2008
The Apple Macintosh introduced a graphic user interface (GUI) to the Apple line of computers. The idea had originated at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s, but Xerox was slow to commercialize it. Apple proved far more successful when it introduced the Macintosh in January 1984, with
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/20/2009
Mariachis, groups comprised of vocalists, trumpeters, violinists, and various bass and guitar players, are today considered Mexico's traditional musical ensemble. Originally from the state of Jalisco, mariachi music transformed itself from a regional to a national music between the 1930s and 1950
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
5/11/2012
In 1794, Eli Whitney patented a new kind of cotton gin. His invention, using rotating brushes and teeth to remove the seeds from cotton, was quickly pirated by others.
Southern plantation owners depended on slaves for labor-intensive crops such as rice, sugar, tobacco, and especially cotto
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/31/2010
This gold-mounted, engraved Henry rifle was presented to Abraham Lincoln in an effort to obtain his influence in their purchase for the war effort. This rifle was awarded the National Rifle Association Collectors Society Gold Medal as an outstanding historical firearm.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/25/2009
The evolving civil rights movement of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s revolutionized the consciousness of young people across the United States. As in African American communities, a new sense of mobilization spread among Mexican Americans. Many adopted a more political identity—chicano an
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/21/2010
One of a pair of flintlock pistols Andrew Jackson presented to Major Lemuel P. Montgomery following the battle of Talladega. Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, would take its name from the major.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/14/2008
This circular slide rule describes the effects of a nuclear explosion on people. After World War II, scientists at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory prepared a report on forms of damage associated with the explosion of atomic bombs. These included physical damage, fire and heat, and nuclear ra
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
6/4/2009
The Battle of the Sewing Machines" was composed and arranged by F. Hyde for the piano, and was published in 1874 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of 547 Broadway, N.Y., N.Y. The lithograph by R. Teller of 120 Wooster St., N.Y., N.Y., illustrates a "battle" of sewing machines. The Remington "army" is marc
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/21/2010
Trade tomahawks were generally made in Europe and used by settlers to trade with the Indians.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/19/2009
This variety of maracas, made of cow leather and sinew, is used in musical genres like guaracha, son, and salsa. They are of different sizes, so that one is pitched higher and the other, lower. In contrast, the Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition known as bomba uses a larger, single
