"One hundred years ago Marie Curie stood among the rose bushes, the press, and a crowd of White House guests, holding a golden key. The key opened a box that contained a gram of radium. Could it also unlock a cure to cancer? Women across America were led to believe as much, rising to the call sent

Students will learn how laws and customs led to separate and unequal education for people of color in the United States and the efforts made by citizens to guarantee equal education in the century before the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The Battleground: Separate and Unequal Educatio

This Butsudan-Buddhist altar was made from scrap lumber in Jerome Relocation Center in Arkansas. Buddhism was among the religions that was practiced in the internment camps. However, it was not formally recognized in the camp or marked with a specific house of worship within the internment camp g

On this page, students will find some of the methods historians and curators used to learn about the house at 16 Elm Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Students will learn how to use primary source documents, photographs and architectural clues to answer questions such as: Who lived in a hous

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

Physical Description Light khaki jacket with blue facings with epaulettes and gold-colored buttons. Wool felt hat with cotton braids and gilt threads. Specific History Jacket and hat worn by Colonel Leonard Wood in Cuba. While serving as an assistant su

This bassinet quilt with a framed center design is made of high quality plain blue and white cotton feed sack fabrics. Mrs. Dorothy Overall of Caldwell, Kansas, a contestant in many sewing events in the 1950s and 1960s, pieced and appliquéd this quilt on a Pfaff sewing machine she had won in a c

This historical investigation is aligned with the C3 Framework and is from C3teachers.org. This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the perennial power struggle between federal and stat

Life on America's farms in the 1920s and 1930s meant hard work and frugal habits. Farm families were used to "making do" with what they had, wasting nothing that could be recycled or reused. With feed sacks and flour bags, farmwomen took thriftiness to new heights of creativity, transforming the

In addition to artifacts and background information on the first ladies, this website features thematic overviews of the many roles of the first ladies, a timeline of first ladies, and behind-the-scenes details on the history of the first ladies exhibitions at the Smithsonian. The Smithsonia