| California Content Standards |
| California History Social Science Project homepage |
| Historyteacher.net |
| Humanities Out There (HOT) |
| National History Standards |
| Online writing lab |
| Standards-aligned course models and lessons |
| UCI Department of Education |
| UCI History Department |
| BBC Website Includes world and U.S., modern and ancient resources. The site features articles, primary sources, and interactive games to enrich any history classroom. |
| Calisphere This site represents the digitized collection of all UC libraries and includes a wealth of primary sources. |
| Facing History This website is aimed to teachers who want to increase student engagement and awareness of human rights issues through lessons of the Holocaust and other examples of genocide, so that students make the essential connection between history and the choices they confront in their own lives. |
| Library of Congress Great resources for teachers. Of particular interest are the “American Memory” and “Learning Page” sites. The site provides teachers with lesson ideas, primary sources, and strategies for world and U.S. history. |
| New York Public Library This is an especially great site for quality reproducible images and primary sources, especially for U.S. history. |
| PBS U.S. and world history lessons, primary sources, and interactive strategies. |
| The China Beat A website created by China scholars and journalists that examines media coverage of China and provides context and criticism. |
| The Perry Castaneda Map Site Provides teachers access to a wealth of world and U.S. maps, both current and historical. |
| American Historical Association |
| California Council for History Education |
| California Council for Social Studies |
| National Council for the Social Studies |
| World History Association |
| Calisphere Resource of the UC Libraries that offers a wealth of images and some documents related to United States, and California, history, in particular. |
| Center for History and New Media This incredible site out of George Mason University sponsors many fascinating projects, including a September 11 Digital Archive. Amazaing "tools" for teachers. Dedicated to digital history. |
| César Chavez lesson plans |
| Colonial Williamsburg: Life in the 18th Century Subject: Colonial Virginia/America Historical Era: 18th Century Description: Although situated in Colonial Williamsburg’s tourist information website, this is an impressive educational resource that offers a rich historical collection about life in eighteenth century America. A comprehensive list of subjects –People, Places, Life, Clothing, etc.-- are further categorized by subjects like Race, Gender, Occupation, etc. and include myriad sub-categories under each with secondary information (biographies, essays and articles) as well as primary source information. Despite its focus on Colonial Virginia, the site nonetheless offers a broader look at Colonial America-- which can be useful for teachers anywhere. The classroom tools are particularly helpful and include excellent lesson plans (linked to ABC-CLIO Lesson Plans) with primary sources as well as great interactive games, quizzes and fun activities online. |
| Conner Prairie Subject: 19th Century America/Indiana History Historical Era: 19th Century Description: Conner Prairie is a Smithsonian Museum Institution affiliate in Indiana that serves as both an interactive history park and a rental/banquet location. Despite the site’s extensive promotional information, there are also select historical resources that includes information on a variety of nineteenth century subjects—some of which are related to the broader United States, and many that are specific to Indiana history. Although the interactive map is pretty useful, this website offers very few primary sources and scant classroom resources (with the exception of a few articles and quizzes for students.) |
| Crafting Freedom Subject: The African American Experience Historical Era: 19th Century Grade: 3-8th grade Description: Based around the experience of nine African Americans (“freedom crafters”), the site’s stories are designed for students in 3-5th grade and 6-8th grade (which can be modified for high school students as well) and are aligned with national standards for social studies and language arts. The website offers 36 lesson plans with accompanying videos, PDF slide shows, handouts, web-links and bibliographies. The website is limited in focus, yet offers rich lessons with a variety of teacher tools. |
| Emergence of Advertising in America: 1880-1920 A searchable database of over 9,000 images, with database information, relating to the early history of advertising in the United States. The materials, drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, provide a significant and informative perspective on the early evolution of this most ubiquitous feature of modern American business and culture. |
Encyclopedia Virginia & My Virginia |
| Exploring the West Subject: History of the American West Historical Era: 19th & 20th Century Grade: 9-12 Description: Created through the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West at Stanford University, Exploring the West is designed to expand understanding of the mythic region for students grades 9-12. Organized into three broad units—Urban Growth, Maps, and Cowboys-- the site offers both lesson plans (7-10 for each unit) and over 100 worksheets (based on primary sources) that align with national standards for history, geography and science. Although the subject matter is limited, the site is visually appealing and very useful for the classroom. |
| FDR Cartoon Archive Collection of political cartoons creating during and about FDRs administration—good resources for New Deal legislation; also includes a section of teacher resources |
| Free Speech Movement Digital Archive Documents the role of Mario Savio and other participants in the Free Speech Movement (University of California, Berkeley, September-December 1964), as well as its origins in political protest and civil rights movements and its legacy of political activism and educational reform |
Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia |
| History is Fun/ Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Subject: American colonial history Historical Era: 17th & 18th Century Description: The “History is Fun” website focuses on both the first 1607 Jamestown settlement and the ensuing colonial history up to the Revolution in 1776. Although part of the actual Jamestown visitor site, the on-line museum offers a rich “virtual” history of the town with very comprehensive information about neighboring Powhatan Indians, African slaves, migrants, and more. It also provides great educational resources with lesson plans, image galleries and educational videos. The affiliated Yorktown Victory Center provides lesson plans for a more general colonial history i.e. curriculum on “Colonial Life” from Colonial Medicine to the Revolution. |
| History Matters For high school and college U.S. history teachers. Includes lesson plans, syllabi, assignments, student work, and reference materials |
| Library of Congress American Memory Extensive resource that includes primary sources, teacher-created lesson plans for all grades that draw on LOC collections, primary source exercises and activities; lesson plans and primary source collections span a huge range of U.S. history eras and topics American Memory from the Library of Congress |
| Massachusetts Historical Society “Coming of the Revolution Subject: American Revolution Historical era: Colonial Grade: 6-12 Grade Description: The “Coming of the Revolution Website” is designed to enhance students’ understanding of the American War for Independence. The site is organized into fifteen topics (Sugar Act, Bunker Hill, Declaration of Independence, etc.) that are introduced with a contextual essay and supported by six to twelve documents (manuscript or printed) and additional primary materials—e.g., maps, engravings, broadsides, portraits, and images of artifacts. Each document page includes several “Questions to Consider,” as well as “Further Exploration” questions that propose additional research and activities for students. The site is an exemplary resource for educators with curriculum aligned to national (and Massachusetts) standards, and designed around nine “core concepts” that cut across all lesson plans. Other supporting materials include biographical sketches, a glossary, a timeline, and additional web links |
| New York Public Library, Online Digital Archive |
| Organization of American Historians The OAH is the major professional organization of American Historians. They hold annual conferences for scholars and teachers. See the Magazine of History--a wonderful quarterly journal for teachers that includes lesson plans and short, accessible essays written by scholars and teachers |
| Plymouth Colony Archive Subject: Plymouth Settlement Historical Era: 17th & 18th Century Description: The Plymouth Colony Archives offers a rich collection of historical materials related to the early Plymouth settlement. This site provides an impressive array of primary sources that include court records, colony laws, seventeenth century journals and memoirs, wills and probates, town plans, maps, and more. It also offers background information on various subjects. Although most information relates specifically to Plymouth, there is some information on broader New England History, specifically related to architecture. Teachers will likely find both the sources and the many lesson plans quite useful for the classroom. |
| Propaganda Critic Video clips of post-WWII cartoons and films that highlight Cold War hysteria. |
| Resource for Colonial American History |
| Smithsonian National Museum of American History's History Explorer Subject: American History Historical Era: Colonial through Twentieth Century Grade: K-12 Description: The Smithsonian’s History Explorer is perhaps one of the most comprehensive and useful history websites for educators. The site offers an abundant catalog of subjects with various means of searching specific topics ( i.e. a search engine that produces results based on keywords, grade level and source type i.e. artifact, primary source lesson, interactive website.) Information is also divided by historical era. The site is rich in primary sources and also links to view museum artifacts. Educators will appreciate the varied and numerous lesson plans (aligned with national standards) as well as the many resources for professional development (links to blogs, workshops etc.) |
| University of Nebraska, Omaha - “Teaching American History for Students” Subject: U.S. History Historical Era: Colonial through 2000 Description: This is a comprehensive website devoted to U.S. History from the age of exploration to modern day. It is very easy to use and includes 106 “Learning Modules” that offer historical context, several primary source documents and accompanying questions. The site also includes multimedia sources (movie clips, images, interactive graphs) on various topics. Information and sources are likewise divided by century and can be found with a very useful search engine. The content is likely most useful for high school or middle school students. |
| The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco A collection of well organized primary sources relating to San Francisco, California and U.S. western history. Nicely indexed by year or subject. |
| Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War An amazing digital archive created by historian Ed Ayers that details life in two American communities, one Northern and one Southern, from the time of John Brown’s raid through the era of Reconstruction where you can explore thousands of original lwetters and diaries, newspapers, census documents, church records, and more. |
Welcome to Old Sturbridge Village |
| Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000, Teacher’s This University of Binghamton, New York link takes you direct to the teacher’s corner, which includes a rich array of lesson ideas, document-based questions, and primary source documents on U.S. women’s history. The teacher’s corner is one piece of an enormous digital archive on U.S. women’s history. Extremely well-organized and user-friendly |
Fred Korematsu InstituteThe Fred Korematsu Institute website is devoted to honoring the civil rights leader, Fred Korematsu who courageously protested his internment in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. Although losing his initial appeal to the Supreme Court in 1944, Korematsu was vindicated in 1983 when the case was overturned in his favor. The website provides a host of educational resources devoted both to Japanese Internment and contemporary civil rights issues. Significantly, it offers a comprehensive K-12 curriculum that includes teachers’ guides, power points, films, lesson plans and more. Japanese Relocation Digital ArchiveThis website is part of Calisphere's expanisve gallery of primary sources. Focusing on Japanese Internment in World War II, the site provides various visual and textual sources, as well as timelines, lesson plans and background context information. |
| Asia exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection of art and artifacts from various portions of Asia. This includes online lessons and games. |
| Casa Historia Curricular resources for modern history topics such as imperialism and decolonization. |
| Collection of Communist Posters Poster collection from the Soviet, Chinese, and Cuban communist regimes. |
| Exploring African History Resource for African history that includes maps, timelines, narratives, and sources that are organized by period and theme. |
| Exploring the French Revolution Resource for images, texts, and music for the French Revolution and Napoleonic period. |
| Internet History Sourcebooks Project Collection of textual primary sources organized by period and topic |
Perry-Castañeda Map Collection at the University of Texas-Austin |
| World History Connected Online journal that includes discussions about teaching world history, articles on current research in world history, book reviews, and lesson plans. |
| World History for Us All Curriculum with lesson plans, PowerPoints, and background information for world history that is aligned to the national standards |
| World History Matters Resource for world history sources for teachers. Offers links to primary source resources, teaching guides and a link to Women in World History. |
Sasanika: Late Antique Near East Project This website contains primary and secondary source documents relating to the Sasanian empire, an important empire in the first millennium C.E. |