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Themes
Find collections of the Museum's top resources on major themes in American history here. Additional resources on these topics may be found by using the search functions of the website.
Featured:
Explore Theme
Hispanic Heritage Month
Resource Types:
Reviewed Websites, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
9/19/2019
Explore Hispanic Heritage Month with your students using lessons, podcasts, activities, and primary sources. This image is of Cesar Chavez's Union Jacket from the collections.
Constitution Day
Resource Types:
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
9/15/2022
The Smithsonian is pleased to support teachers and students for Constitution Day and beyond, with digital curricula, online exhibitions, classroom activities, teacher trainings, and more.
Preparing for the Oath
Date Posted: 8/26/2022
Explore the different topics of the Preparing for the Oath website.
Black History Month
Resource Types:
Reviewed Websites, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted:
2/12/2020
Explore Black History Month with your students using lessons, podcasts, activities, and primary sources.
Politics and Voting
Date Posted: 9/10/2019
Explore politics and voting with your students this election year.
The Nation We Build Together
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Reviewed Websites, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
5/1/2018
Explore the history of our distinctive American Democracy and how we participate in creating a more perfect union through artifacts, exhibits and teaching resources from the National Museum of American History.
American Experiments
Resource Types:
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted:
4/16/2018
Since the founding of the American republic when the power of the nation was entrusted not in a monarchy but in it its citizens, each generation has questioned and considered how to form “a more perfect union.”
The American Experiments suite of educational games build off of this question by challenging students to think about their roles and responsibilities within their democracy.
Check out the National Museum of American History's exhibits American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith and Many Voices, One Nation for more content and resources about the nation we build together.
Image: Eagle Figure
Protest and Civic Action
Date Posted: 3/22/2018
Explore how Americans have used protest and civic action to affect change and address public issues.
This image is of a student protest t-shirt made during the Harvard University student anti-war protest and sit-in of the administration building, 1968–1969.
World War II
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Reviewed Websites, Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
2/27/2018
Investigate the events and impacts of World War II with your students using primary resources, museum exhibits and learning activities from the National Museum of American History.
Image: Remember Pearl Harbor Pin
The Great War
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
2/27/2018
Investigate the Great War using collections and teaching resources from the National Museum of American History. Check out additional collections objects and content at the museum's WWI hub.
Presidential History
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Reviewed Websites, Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
1/2/2018
Investigate American history through the lens of the presidency with your students using lessons, podcasts, activities, and primary sources from the National Museum of American History.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Reviewed Websites, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
10/14/2016
Women's History Month
Resource Types:
Reviewed Websites, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
10/14/2016
Explore Women's History Month with your students using lessons, podcasts, activities, and primary sources. This image is of the Jailed for Freedom Pin from the collections.
Teaching with Drama
Date Posted: 6/7/2016
Meet historical characters in these videos of museum theater performances.
Agriculture History
Resource Types:
Artifacts, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
5/27/2016
Find resources on farming and agriculture history here.
American Indian Heritage
Date Posted: 7/6/2015
Explore American Indian Heritage Month with your students using lessons, podcasts, activities, and primary sources. This image is of an Ambrotype of Mea-to-sa-bi-tchi-a, or Smutty Bear from the collections.
American Revolution
Resource Types:
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media
Date Posted:
10/20/2014
Explore family life in the American Revolution, debate the legacy of Benedict Arnold and more with these activities on the War of Independence.
Civil Rights Movement
Resource Types:
Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
3/12/2014
Explore the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, the Freedom Rides, and other events of the civil rights movement through lessons, videos, and activities.
National History Day
Resource Types:
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
10/4/2013
These resources are designed to help you with National History Day. Be sure to check out these websites, too, for great primary sources: Galaxy of Images from Smithsonian Libraries; Learning Lab from the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access; Smithsonian Collections Search Center (select "search" then "only return results only with online media")
STEM Resources
Resource Types:
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
8/7/2013
Explore the science in history and find science, technology, and math-integrated resources with this STEM-theme.
Immigration
Resource Types:
Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
8/3/2012
Examine immigration history from the 19th through the mid-20th century with an emphasis on the journeys of immigrants from Asia and Latin America to the American west and southwest.
Westward Expansion
Resource Types:
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted:
8/3/2012
Create a virtual exhibit around the nugget that started the gold rush, follow one man's journey to California in 1849, build a sodhouse and more with these lessons and interactives on westward expansion.
