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Native and Indigenous Americans

16th Century, High School, Lesson Plans

Accounts of Tenochtitlan

Hand-colored woodblock print of Tenochtitlan, showing it as a well-planned city in the middle of a lake. The core of the city is a rectangular plaza, surrounded by islands with houses. Causeways connect the city to the shore, and other settlements ring the lake.

newberry
November 4, 2025

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Exploring the History of Photography and Indigenous Peoples

Black-and-white photograph of a group of Indigenous leaders. Some wear traditional dress and some where Euro-American suits.

DCCAuthor
September 17, 2025

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Representing Indigenous Peoples in the Archive

Pencil ledger art drawing of two Indigenous people standing by a tipi on a riverbank. They are wearing colorful blankets, and there is a horse saddle and bridle nearby.

DCCAuthor
August 20, 2025

13th Century, 14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, College Prep, High School, Lesson Plans

Indigenous Chicago Curriculum

newberry
December 20, 2024

17th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Lesson Plans

Resistance in the Colonial Caribbean (Advanced)

Title page for the Book A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbados: Illustrated with a Map of the Island, as also the Principal Trees and Plants there, set forth in their due Proportions and Shapes, drawn out by their several and respective Scales.

DCCAuthor
June 11, 2024

17th Century, Classroom Materials, High School, Lesson Plans

Resistance in the Colonial Caribbean

Map of Barbados with place names and small illustrations, including pigs and cattle, men leading camels, and a white man on a horse chasing and firing a gun at two Black men.

DCCAuthor
June 11, 2024

17th Century, Activities, Middle School

Mapping Early America: Peoples, Animals, and Environments

DCCAuthor
May 28, 2024

17th Century, Classroom Materials, High School, Lesson Plans, Middle School

Early European Travel in Illinois: Land, Animals, and the Environment

Engraved illustration of a bison standing in a wooded landscape with a stork or pelican and an opossum nearby.

DCCAuthor
May 28, 2024

19th Century, 20th Century, Classroom Materials, Collection Essays

United States Expansion, Migrants, and Transportation Technologies, ca. 1810-1930

Colored map showing roads and bodies of water. Surrounded by a border of black-and-white photos advertising the local area, including photos of forests, lakes, Native people, moose and bear, and homes,

DCCAuthor
September 14, 2022

18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Maps as Heritage: Commemoration and Travel in American Cartography

Hand-drawn map, showing the country from Lake Superior and the Mississippi in the east to Pacific Ocean in the west and the Kansas River in the south to the northern boundary of the Louisiana Territory in the north. The map shows the locations of many Indigenous groups along with natural features like rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges.

DCCAuthor
August 31, 2022

19th Century, Classroom Materials, High School, Lesson Plans

Perspectives on the United States

Title page of book printed on birch bark. Title readings "The Red Man's Greeting, 1492-1892 by Chief Pokagon." In the lower right corner is an image of a white man standing on a beach with many other white men behind him. They carry flags and crosses and are disembarking from a boat." The image is captioned "Landing of Columbus."

newberry
April 6, 2022

19th Century, Activities, Classroom Materials, Middle School

The Second Great Awakening

Right hand page of a printed book. Reads, "for a minister to read his sermon--to turn over leaf after leaf, and at the conclusion say 'amen,' seemed to me like an 'empty sound and a tinkling cymbal.' I was not benefitted by his reading. It did not arouse me to a sense of my danger--and I am of the opinion that it had no better effect on the people of his charge. I liked to attend church, as I had been taught in my younger years to venerate the Sabbath day; and although young I could plainly perceive the difference between the preachers I had formerly heard and the minister at whose church I attended. I thought, as near as I can remember, that the Christian depended on the Holy Spirit's influence entirely, while this minister depended as much upon his learning. I would not be understood as saying any thing against knowledge; in its place it is good, and highly necessary to a faithful preacher of righteousness. What I object to is, placing too much reliance in it, making a god of it, &c. / Every thing went on smoothly for two or three years. About this time the Methodists began to hold meetings in the neighbourhood, and consequently a storm of persecution gathered; the pharisee and the worldling united heartily in abusing them. The gall and wormwood of sectarian malice were emitted, and every evil report prejudicial to this pious people was freely circulated. And"

newberry
April 5, 2022