“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

The Resettlement Administration was created in an effort to curb rural poverty among farmers. It purchased small, economically unviable farms and set up government-monitored cooperative homestead communities. These farm families received educational aid along with supervision. A community called Sky

Tell the story of early American science with an online exhibition and digital reproduction of the oldest surviving Anglo-American star map. This hand-drawn star map, created in 1780, reflects a story of scientific curiosity and the practical applications of astronomy in colonial America. Simeon

Aladdin Industries profited from the success of The Jetsons television cartoon series in the fall of 1963 by introducing a domed lunch box featuring that space-traveling suburban family and their robotic maid. American notions of family life in the 1960s traveled effortlessly outward to

The astrolabe is an astronomical calculating device used from ancient times into the eighteenth century. Measuring the height of a star using the back of the instrument, and knowing the latitude, one could find the time of night and the position of other stars. The openwork piece on the front, ca

This post helps teachers understand how to both memorialize September 11 and contextualize the history of the day through five essential questions. Targeted toward secondary students, the questions can help teachers and students compare aspects of September 11 to other events in American his