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:
10/22/2008
Steve Richard Nicosia (b. 1955) played for eight seasons on four different teams, ending his career in 1985. As a rookie, Nicosia used this catcher's mask when he caught during Game Seven of the 1979 World Series. Later in his career, he set a San Francisco Giants record with eight consecutive hi
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
4/22/2010
The Environmental Movement
This button depicts the ecology symbol, a small letter “e” inside the larger letter “O,” the letters standing for “environment” and “organism.” Cartoonist Ron Cobb invented the symbol in 1969. The ecology symbol appeared in a g
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
10/27/2008
Though anchored in local Roman Catholic traditions, many of the religious beliefs and symbols of Mexican Americans have roots in indigenous notions about the soul and our universe. Between October 31st and November 2nd, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is celebrated with family, decoratin
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/3/2008
The Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in late 1957 sparked interest in the United States in science education even among elementary school children. In 1958, King Seeley Thermos produced this imaginative box evoking space travel and landings on distant moons and planets. Children provided a
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/31/2009
As the “Millennium Bug” gained media attention, some businesses used the hype to market special millennium foods. From cars to breakfast cereal, companies like the Figueroa Brothers, Inc., cashed in on the Y2K name. This bottle once contained Y2K Millennium Meltdown ¿R-U-Ready? hot sauce, a
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/7/2016
This cotton miner’s cap has a leather brim with a leather lamp bracket holding a carbide lamp. A small union pin that reads “United Mine Works of America 2 1934, Working Button” is attached to the side of the cap. Before head protection became mandatory in industrial workplaces, miner’s c
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:
1/22/2009
This small piece of yellow metal is believed to be the first piece of gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in California, launching the gold rush.
John Marshall was superintending the construction of a sawmill for Col. John Sutter on the morning of January 25, 1848, on the Sout
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
2/11/2009
Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (1914-1981) lost his first bout with Nazi Germany's champion Max Schmeling in 1936, but the return match was a triumph for America. This towel was thrown in by Schmeling's handlers at Yankee Stadium, New York City, June 22, 1938, where Louis pummeled his oppo
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/27/2012
In the early nineteenth century, lighthouses in the United States were considered inferior to those in France and England. American mariners complained about the quality of the light emanating from local lighthouse towers, arguing that European lighthouses were more effective at shining bright be
