Complete an in-depth exploration of a common household item to uncover the history hidden in everyday objects. Show Me a Flowerpot By comparing and contrasting handmade and machine-made products, students will learn about the evolution of production processes in American history. Download Show Me a Flowerpot. Time in a Teakettle Students will compare and contrast More
Discover Chicago’s beginning as a fur-trade outpost in the early nineteenth century. Treasure Chest Students will read a historical fiction story called “Trading Mystery” to learn what life was like in early Chicago during the fur-trade era. Students will then analyze and share their impressions of a “treasure chest” full of early Chicago artifacts. Download More
Introduce students to historical inquiry through hands-on exploration of artifacts. Each lesson can be adapted for use with objects from any historical era. Artifact Analysis In this lesson, students will explore and analyze the items in an artifact kit, an important first step in developing historical empathy. The interpretation of these artifacts encourages students to More
History in Your Hands is an innovative, object-based instructional resource. The Chicago History Museum partnered with nineteen Chicago Public School teachers to develop classroom artifact kits and accompanying learning activities through the History Connections and Artifact Collections project. The resulting lessons span a broad range of topics and themes in Chicago and United States history and More
Explore Abraham Lincoln’s changing views toward slavery and racial equality through five of his key speeches: A House Divided (1858); his first and second inaugural addresses (1861, 1865); the Gettysburg Address (1863); and the speech on Reconstruction (1865). Use the two PDFs to help your students interpret and investigate the legacy of Lincoln’s presidency as More
In the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Founding Fathers set out to define American freedom. But they didn’t have the last word. Since then, generations have built on and challenged this foundation. Experience four ways Americans have defined freedom for themselves: defending it through armed conflict, struggling with it in respect to race and More
The Teen Chicago collection contains one hundred oral histories about growing up in Chicago during the twentieth century. This collection was created as part of the Teen Chicago Project, a multiyear initiative to expand teenage involvement at the Chicago History Museum. A fifteen-member Teen Council was hired and trained to conduct interviews between October 2003 More
Designed for children ages 6 to 12, My Chicago uses the symbols and design of the city’s flag to explore our rich and diverse history. The curriculum illustrates Chicago’s past and present by drawing on the Museum’s collections, including a variety of photographs, documents, and images of artifacts. The activities are appropriate for use in the classroom More
Inspired by the Museum’s collection, local classroom teachers wrote and tested History Lab lesson plans. They are grouped into twelve topics. Lessons from each unit may be used independently or as a set. Each lesson includes a lesson plan, student materials, and reproductions of artifacts and/or photographs from the Museum’s collection. These materials may be downloaded, More
No research project is complete without this online resource, which includes A-to-Z entries, photographs with zooming capability, rich maps, interpretive digital essays, and a wealth of historical sources. Explore the Encyclopedia of Chicago