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:
3/10/2009
This Mercury fuming box for developing daguerreotypes is certainly among the earliest photographic equipment used in America, dating 1839-1840. Working closely with Dr. J.W. Draper in New York, Morse was instrumental in promoting photography in America, furthering experimentation, and producing e
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/29/2008
This hand-modeled and molded, unglazed red earthenware pitcher honors Frederick Douglass, "Slave Orator/ United States Marshall, Recorder of Deeds D.C./ Diplomat."
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/13/2010
This Smith & Wesson was found loaded at the Little Big Horn Battlefield in 1883.
The Smith & Wesson Schofield revolver, .45 caliber, was manufactured from 1875 to 1878. The vast majority of the 9,000 guns went to the U.S. Army. Many saw service in the Indian Wars, though th
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/31/2010
This flag belonged to the 84th Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops. The red stripes bear the regiment's name and number and some of the battles in which the 84th fought.
The unit was organized April 4, 1864 and mustered for service on March 14, 1866. The unit fought
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/4/2016
Motorola produced this BPR 2000 model pager around 1982. Prior to the widespread availability of inexpensive cell phones many people carried telephone pagers to stay in contact with work or home. A miniature radio receiver, a pager alerted the user that someone needed to talk to them and provided
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/16/2018
This is one of the first models of Liberty cast in the United States. Often described as the American Committee Model, this statuette was produced in the tens of thousands. It was sold to subscribers to finance the construction of a pedestal for the full-size statue in New York Harbor.
Grade Range:
6-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/3/2020
Voting Education Project (VEP) raised and distributed foundation funds to civil rights organizations for voter education and registration work in the southern United States from 1962 to 1992. This was part of a shift away from demonstrations and into elections.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
8/12/2021
These shoes, worn by dancer Stella Abrera in a January 2018 production of The Nutcracker, have been pancaked to match Abrera's skin color. When they are dancing without wearing tights, dancers pancake their shoes to match their skin color.Stella Abrera joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1996 and
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/15/2010
Blue wool uniform coat, gold-colored buttons on jacket front and sleeves. Epaulettes and gold trim at neck and cuffs.
This coat adheres to the 1813 uniform regulations; single-breasted, of dark blue wool, four buttons placed lengthwise on the sleeves and skirts. A gold star is embr
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/31/2010
Cher Ami was a registered Black Check cock carrier pigeon, one of 600 birds owned and flown by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I. He delivered twelve important messages within the American sector at Verdun; on his last mission, October 4, 1918, he was shot through the breast
