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Politics and Government

20th Century, Collection Essays

The Jungle and the Community: Workers and Reformers in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago

Black-and-white photo of white men and boys processing sausage. A man removes the sausage from a processing machine, and the boys hang it over a long rod.

Dr. John Hawkins with Hana Layson and James R. Barrett
August 20, 2025

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Chicago Workers during the Long Gilded Age

Hana Layson with Leon Fink, revised by Dr. Sebastian Wuepper
April 22, 2025

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Left-Wing Political Radicalism in Chicago, 1880-1960

Political cartoon of an immigrant entering the US, represented as a wall with an open door. The immigrant has a bomb for a head and carries a suitcase labeled "undesirable." The open door to the US is a labeled "immigration restrictions."

Hana Layson with David Krugler, revised by Dr. Sebastian Wuepper
April 22, 2025

19th Century, Activities, High School, Lesson Plans, Middle School

Nineteenth-Century Currency

$1 bank note with illustrations (clockwise from top) of industrious white farmers, stateman Daniel Webster, and three Indigenous people.

Hilary Mac Austin
November 18, 2024

19th Century, 20th Century, Classroom Materials, College Prep, Lesson Plans

Causes and Impacts of the United States’ War with the Philippines

Postcard with image of Emilio Aguinaldo and short handwritten message

Janice Lobo Sapigao, Skyline College
September 13, 2024

19th Century, 20th Century, Classroom Materials, High School, Lesson Plans

US Imperialism in the Philippines

Sketch of the stern of ship with a large hole from an interior explosion in the side just above the waterline. Captioned "McCutcheon/Manila Bay/June 29-98"

Janice Lobo Sapigao, Skyline College
September 13, 2024

20th Century, Classroom Materials, High School, Lesson Plans, Middle School

Women’s Suffrage

Illustration of a woman (Lady Liberty) sweeping across the United States west to east. The illustration suggests women’s suffrage extended gradually across the United States over decades before the 19th Amendment was ratified in August 1920.

Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
April 6, 2022

19th Century, 20th Century, Classroom Materials, Elementary School, Middle School, Skills Lessons

Skills Lesson: Political Cartoons

A black-and-white line drawing of a giant, wheeled machine fronted with two outstretched hands pushes crowds of people off a cliff into a valley labeled "Unemployment Dump." The machine is labeled "Modern Machinery."

Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
March 7, 2022

18th Century, 19th Century, Collection Essays

Latin American Independence in the Age of Revolutions

Will Hansen
August 25, 2021

20th Century, Collection Essays

Decision 1920

This pocket-sized map, produced by the Rand McNally company of Chicago, encourages viewers to use the results from the 1916 presidential election in making a prediction for the results in 1920.

Dr. Paul Durica
December 2, 2020

19th Century, 20th Century, Collection Essays

Riots and Protest: Chicago’s Legacy of Conflict

A born-digital image of people protesting with signs collected by the Newberry Library as part of its contemporary Chicago Protest Collection.

Dr. Rachel Boyle, Omnia History
December 2, 2020

16th Century, 17th Century, Collection Essays

Religious Wars in Early Modern Europe

Image of a battle field. Jacques Callot, the engraver of this map, was not present at the siege, and had to rely on written accounts for his depiction.

Christopher Fletcher, The Newberry
August 31, 2018