“There was a time—in recent memory for some of us—when posting a video on the web was all but out of reach, requiring dedicated hardware and some serious nerd skills. On April 23, 2005, YouTube, a side project created by three PayPal employees, posted its first video. Viewership skyrocketed, a

“Getting free stuff in the mail can be exciting, especially if the stuff that’s free is new and novel. On the other hand, it can be frustrating to have unsolicited stuff pouring into your mailbox. From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, households across the United States received promotional dis

Research in Motion (RIM) produced this Blackberry model 957 Internet Edition in 2000. The first Blackberry was introduced in 1999 as a two-way pager before pivoting to become a device featuring an always-connected e-mail with personal digital assistant functionality. The Blackberry 957 came with

This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter and it's importance to the Civil Rights movement. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and 3 lesson plans focused on s

This activity challenges students to think about the 1898 Standard Voting Machine and the democratization of the voting process in the United States. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and three lesson plans focused on th

This object-based learning activity revolves around the desk on which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. Students will learn how the Jefferson desk can help them understand the meaning of the Declaration, both at the time that it was written as well as to future g

This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the short-handled hoe and its connection to agriculture and the organizing of Latino farm workers after World War II. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and 3 les

This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the Lincoln-Keckley as an object that has multiple symbolic meanings. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and 3 lesson plans focused on the multiple meanings of the dress, t

This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the gold nugget that began the California gold rush as a valuable resource for understanding westward expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing hi

This object-based learning activity revolves around a dress that connects the lives of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, a popular African-American dressmaker who lived in Washington, D.C at the time of the Civil War. Students will learn how one object can tell many different stories.