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Museum Artifacts
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
8/10/2009
The steam locomotive "John Bull" was built in 1831 and ran for 35 years, pulling trains of passengers and cargo between the two largest cities of the time, Philadelphia and New York. The locomotive propelled trains at 25 to 30 miles per hour...
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/20/2009
This medal accompanied Lewis and Clark on their epochal journey West. The medal is hollow, consisting of two thin, embossed silver plates, one for each side of the medal. The two were held together by a silver ring, running around the entire circumference of the piece. The medal was created
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/4/2016
This Coca-Cola bottle from 2002 contains brown liquid inside that it sealed with a metal cap. The greenish glass is marked with a painted Coca-Cola logo around the middle, repeated twice. On one side, a barcode is placed next to the image of a Coca-Cola bottle with condensation over it, and under
Grade Range:
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/25/2018
From the moment when, in 1963, Julia Child whisked up an omelet on the pilot for her new cooking show, The French Chef, Americans wanted that whisk for their kitchens, just as they came to want any tool or utensil that Julia used. Certainly, egg beaters of all sorts were common in American kitche
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/3/2020
A U.S. Border Patrol official reviews a bracero's documents while others wait in line to be processed at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/19/2010
During his thirteen seasons with the Boston Celtics, Bob Cousy (b. 1928) played in thirteen consecutive All-Star Games and earned two All–Star MVP awards, among many other accolades. This “Houdini of the Hardwood” introduced speed and flamboyant ball-handling skills previously unseen in pro
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/17/2009
The civilizations of pre-Hispanic Mexico recorded their histories, religious beliefs, and scientific knowledge in books called codices. Codices are folded pieces of hide or bark that depict both mundane and spiritual scenes with images, symbols, and numbers. Scribes and painters busily recorded d
Grade Range:
6-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/5/2009
This Thai passport was seized in the well-publicized 1995 El Monte, Calif., sweatshop raid. The passport is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation (72 workers were discovered working as slaves). With a legit
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/23/2010
US Army private's uniform from approximately 1840.
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
7/21/2008
In the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis began to purchase scientific and mathematical instruments for a pending expedition into the northwestern region of North America. Among the items he purchased from Philadelphia instrument maker Thomas Whitney were three pocket compasses and this silver
