"This black t-shirt, which says “Silence = Death” with a pink triangle, symbolizes the struggle against AIDS.
Museum Artifacts

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
4/16/2018
The glass ballot jar became a symbol of democratic self-government. This 1884 glass ballot jar is typical of the transparent devices used to secure paper ballots.

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts
Date Posted:
8/12/2021
Costume worn by Lin-Manuel Miranda portraying Alexander Hamilton in the original Broadway production of Hamilton: An American Musical. The costume consists of a white shirt with ruffles, green coat, green waistcoat with small gold metal decoration on proper right side, green breeches, a pair of blac

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
7/31/2008
Abraham Lincoln's interest in canal building, river commerce, and internal improvements not only drew him to the Whig and later Republican Party, but also led him to try his hand at designing a device for raising boats off sand bars. Undertaken while he was a 40-year-old lawyer in Illinois, Linco

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/13/2010
Physical Description
Blue wool coat with gold trim on cuffs. Cap with wool body and gold-colored band. Naval insignia.
Specific History
Service coat and cap worn by Captain Charles V. Gridley at the Battle of Manila Bay.
General History
An Annapo

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/17/2009
This intricate handmade lace baby cap dates from the turn of the 20th century and was probably worn for a baby's christening. The baptism of newborns is both a religious and a social ceremony, strengthening ties among members of a community. Compadrazgo, the special relationship between

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
12/17/2010
Physical Description
Oxidized metal bugle.
Specific History
This bugle was salvaged from the wreck of the USS Maine.
General History
USS Maine was a second-class battleship built between 1888 and 1895. It was sent to Havana, Cub

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
9/18/2009
This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485 1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico in 1521. Cortés had spent time in Cuba killing and enslaving its indigenous inhabitants and administering the n

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
5/6/2010
This oval lady's compact is made in the shape of a telephone dial. On the dial appears "I LIKE IKE," with a map of the United States in the center. The point is that anywhere you might dial over the country, everybody likes Ike!

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/13/2008
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected President in 1904 and needed an inaugural medal, he gave the commission to scupltor Augustus Saint-Gaudens after rejecting the standard, unmemorable medal typically produced for this occasion by the United States Mint.

Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
11/6/2008
Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until some