Resource Kits

Resource Kits are digitized objects arranged into activities and organized by theme. Searchable by grade, subject, media, and museum, these resource kits are carefully curated by museum professionals using the objects in their collections so your students are able to engage with primary sources!

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Resource Kit

Paths of Life Tour: The Pascua Yaqui, an Indigenous Nation in Arizona and Mexico

Miss Mae introduces you to Pascua Yaqui history and culture on this virtual exhibit tour at the Arizona State Museum. ASM Muse2You Paths of Life video tours created by Larea Lewis and produced by Larea Lewis and Lisa Falk, 2021. Museums for Digital Learning ASM Paths of Life resource kits produced by Sarah Willwater and Lisa Falk, 2022.

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Resource Kit

Paths of Life Exhibit Tour: The O'odham, an Indigenous Nation in Arizona and Mexico

Miss Mae introduces you to Tohono O’odham and Akimel O’odham history and culture on this virtual exhibit tour at the Arizona State Museum. ASM Muse2You Paths of Life video tours created by Larea Lewis and produced by Larea Lewis and Lisa Falk, 2021. Museums for Digital Learning ASM Paths of Life resource kits produced by Sarah Willwater and Lisa Falk, 2022.

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Resource Kit

Arizona in the Late Pleistocene Era

13,000 years ago Arizona was very different from today. Huge mammoths roamed the landscape and the people who lived here hunted them for food. Follow along as we learn about this exciting chapter in Arizona's history and discover what archaeology can tell us about the past. (Resource kits produced by Sarah Willwater and Lisa Falk for Museums for Digital Learning, 2022.)

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Resource Kit

Understanding Climate Change through Indigenous Basketry

This resource kit explores how climate change impacts Native American basketmakers and their communities, and will help students reflect on the impacts of climate change in their own lives. Baskets are an important part of many Native American cultures, but climate change is impacting the resources used to make baskets. Basketmaking practices from Hopi, Western Apache, Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham communities are highlighted in this kit. (All discussion questions for this kit can be found in the Educator Materials). Kit developed by Arizona State Museum student interns Kat Moore, Will Martin, Kayleigh Heffelmire under the guidance of Dr. Ruth Jolie, and with the support and editing of Lisa Falk and Sarah Willwater.

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Resource Kit

Paths of Life Tour: The Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos, and Tonto)

Miss Mae introduces you to Western Apache history and culture on this virtual exhibit tour at the Arizona State Museum. The Western Apache tribes of Arizona are the White Mountain, San Carlos, and Tonto. (All discussion questions can be found in Educator Resources.) ASM Muse2You Paths of Life video tours created by Larea Lewis and produced by Larea Lewis and Lisa Falk, 2022. Museums for Digital Learning ASM Paths of Life resource kits produced by Sarah Willwater and Lisa Falk, 2024.

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Resource Kit

A Roman Frontier Fort in Scotland

Welcome to the very edge of the Roman Empire. The Scottish Borders have a rich history dating back to ancient times. The Roman Iron Age in the region presents a complex history of invasion, occupation and enslavement, but also of trade, cultural exchange and diversity. Guiding Questions; 1. How do different cultural groups affect the natural and cultural environments around them? 2. What characteristics made someone a Roman/what characteristics define people's cultural identities? 3. What are the human stories behind archaeological artefacts?

Created by: Trimontium Museum

Resource Kit

Colorado Borderlands

Welcome to the Borderlands of Southern Colorado, an ancient crossroads. They have a violent history of conquest and enslavement, but also traditions of beauty and diversity. A place where Indigenous cultures blend with Spanish, Mexican, and American traditions to create a unique identity unlike any other in the world. This identity lives within the people of the Borderlands, and it goes with them wherever they move. Borderlands people don’t stay still. By choice, by force, or by necessity, they have moved a lot. They are mobile people who have lived beyond boundaries and between languages. They are people who live "sin fronteras" - without borders.

Created by: History Colorado

Resource Kit

Little Town on the Plains: Keota, Colorado

It’s flat, windy, and dry--the middle of nowhere. The Eastern Colorado prairies look pretty bleak to most people. But to new homesteaders, they look like heaven. A family can prosper here and build for the future. There’s plenty of land (it’s free--just stake a claim), a railroad, a good school, and a strong community. So let's go to Keota, Colorado!

Created by: History Colorado

Resource Kit

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-High School

Over 100 years ago, the 19th Amendment was passed. Our collective understanding of what this means to us as citizens and a nation have shifted throughout time. In this kit we will explore changing perspectives on, citizenship and exclusion, and the legacies of this moment in our state and federal history.

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

Resource Kit

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-Middle School

Over 100 years ago the 19th Amendment was passed. It was the largest expansion of voting rights in US history and continues to be relevant today. How did women gain the right to vote and why does it matter? How was voting different then vs. today? Who was excluded from voting over time? Who were key leaders in the national and Colorado suffrage movement? How did Colorado passing women’s suffrage in 1893 help lead to national women’s suffrage in 1920? What was the long term impact?

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

Resource Kit

Women's Voting Rights in Colorado-Elementary School

In 1893, Colorado passed a law that expanded voting rights to some women nearly 25 years before a national law was passed. This changed the course of history in Colorado and continues to inspire social, economic, political and cultural advancements today. This resource kit explores the Women's Vote Movement in Colorado.

Created by: History Colorado, Denver Public Library, Special Collections and Archives

Resource Kit

Water Quest

From Mesa Verde to the Dust Bowl, and to the changing contemporary landscape of the Rocky Mountains, discover the important role water has played in Colorado history — and the environmental challenges people faced in the past and present.

Created by: History Colorado

Bipes biporus

Harvard MCZ database entry for specimen MCZ Herpetology R-145394

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Chthonerpeton perisodus

Harvard MCZ database entry for specimen MCZ Herpetology A-19972

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis

Harvard MCZ database entry for specimen MCZ Herpetology R-176877

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum

Harvard MCZ database entry for MCZ Herpetology R-166600

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Ophisaurus attenuatus

Harvard MCZ database entry for specimen MCZ Herpetology R-175743

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Amphisbaena fuliginosa bassleri

Harvard MCZ database entry for specimen MCZ Herpetology R-45784

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Newspaper Article, SONG FOR THE TIMES

SONG FOR THE TIMES. By a Frontier Individual. Tune—"Hard Times" come again no more. There’s a crowd in every village, and every town, astir, Who are going to gather up the gold; There’s a sound in every cottage, and a wring every ear, 'Pike’s Peak’ is the land for the young and old. Chorus.—’Tis the life and the dream of the many, 'Pike’s Peak’, 'Pike’s Peak’, the land of brave and bold. Many ways we have wandered and now we are told, 'Pike's Peak' is the place to get the gold. There’s a young lovely maiden, scarce sixteen summers old, Whose thoughts over the distant prairie roam, Where the idol of her vision is digging for the gold— Pike’s Peak is the place to make your home. Chorus—'Tis the life and the dream of the many, & ‘Fare the well, says the farmer to his loving child and wife, Be merry till the day we meet again, ... happy life. Pike’s peak is the place to get the 'tin.’ ‘I am tired’ says the merchant ‘of selling goods for years' When a fortune can be made in half the time. So he takes a barrel of whisky, besides a Sweitzer cheese Pike’s Peak is the place of his design. There is youths of every nation and men from far and near, Who are going to make their fortunes quick, There goes ‘paddy with his shovel, there Yoccup with his beer— Pike's Peak is the place to raise the chink.

History Colorado

Newspaper Advertisement, Chicago and Rock Island R.R. Line

Column 5; CHICAGO AND ROCK ISLAND R. R. Line from Chicago, AND THE Platte Valley Route From Council Bluffs. FOR person seeking the most expeditious and pleasant route to the Gold Regions, the above route offers superior inducements in point of time, distance, facilities for procuring outfits, etc., etc. TWO EXPRESS TRAINS Leave Chicago daily, running through to Iowa City without change, connecting with the WESTERN STAGE COMPANY’S LINE Or Mail Coaches to Council Bluffs, then connecting with the line now running to Fort Kearney, which will be extended through to the Mines early in the spring. Parties can procure teams, provisions, mining implements, etc., etc., at Chicago, Iowa City, Council Bluffs and Omaha City at reasonable rates. [Pointing finger image] Through tickets to Iowa City, Council Bluffs, Omaha City and Fort Kearney, can be procured at all principal ticket offices in the United States and Canadas, and at the Company’s office at Chicago. JOHN F. TRACY, General Superintendent. W. L. St. JOHN. General Ticket Agent

History Colorado

Newspaper Article, OUR CENTRAL GOLD REGION-THE PIKE’S PEAK MINING DISTRICT.

From the New York Herald. OUR CENTRAL GOLD REGION-THE PIKE’S PEAK MINING DISTRICT. "We publish to-day an accurate and interesting history of the discovery of gold on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and of the subsequent operations of the gold hunters, with the latest intelligence from that region, and a carefully prepared map of the mining district. It seems that so long ago as 1848 the first trace of gold was discovered by some Cherokee hunters on the banks of the stream known as Cache-la-Poudre, one of the tributaries of the South Platte. The following summer | similar evidence of the existence of gold in | Pike’s Peak district was reported by another expedition. The facts were made known to some settlers in the Indian country who had formerly been residents of the gold mining district of Georgia, and by them they were communicated to some friends in their native State. These latter determined to explore the country where the reported discoveries were made, but were prevented from carrying out their design until 1858, when a party was formed under the leadership of one Green Russell, whose name has. been given to diggings discovered by the party. About the same time(spring, 1858) a Delaware Indian offered for sale in the town of Lawrence, in Kansas Territory, some scale gold which he said he had found on the sources of the South Platte. The news spread, and within a few months numerous companies were formed in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri to prospect the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. — The Georgia and the Lawrence companies united in the neighborhood or what is now Denver City. Gold was discovered, but in small quantities, and many of the gold seekers returned to the settlements disappointed and disheartened. "

History Colorado

Map, of the Gold Region with the routes thereto

Map showing routes of the Gold region across the Kansas territory

History Colorado

Map, Inactive Mines of Colorado

"This inventory covered approximately 900 coal mines and over 7,000 metal mines." Verso: Brief description of each mining district. -- Chart of "extreme hazards, dangerous features, environmental problems and total features encountered." Denver, Colo.: Mined Land Reclamation Div., 1982.

History Colorado

Receipt, Boulder Agency of The Boston and Colorado Smelting Co.

A paper receipt received of G.R. Williamson from the Boulder Agency of the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company on August 21st, 1879. The receipt includes 1825 pounds of Sax "Yellow Pine" Ore mined from the Sugar Loaf Mining District in Boulder County, Colorado. The ore was valued at $333.34.

History Colorado

Color a Pascola Mask

Paths of Life Tour: The Pascua Yaqui, an Indigenous Nation in Arizona and Mexico

The colors on Pascola Masks have meaning for the artists, color this mask to give it your own meaning! You can use the suggested colors or add your own but be sure and include what your color choices mean to you.

Created by: Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona

Cause and Effect

The Track to Change: How 20th Century America Shaped Thoroughbred Racing

How things happening in America effected horse racing and vice versa, this will be for guiding question 1.

Created by: National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

Tracking the Great Depression and Seabiscuit

The Track to Change: How 20th Century America Shaped Thoroughbred Racing

Follow the trajectory of both the Great Depression and Seabiscuit to understand why they have been remembered together in history.

Created by: National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

Kathy Kusner and Diane Crump becoming jockeys

The Track to Change: How 20th Century America Shaped Thoroughbred Racing

Created by: National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The Artist in the Art

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

Thomas Nast drew himself in three of the political cartoons featured in this resource kit. He drew cartoons about current events in a widely-read newspaper that many people saw. Click through the slideshow to review the images with Thomas Nast. Question to consider: What role do artists play in politics? What does that look like today?

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Student Engagement: Using Political Cartoons to Understand the 1876 Election

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

Political cartoons can tell us a lot about the time they were made. They can tell us about the attitudes of people, the knowledge people had, and how events made people feel. Pick a political cartoon from the previous slideshow and answer the follow questions about it. These questions are available as a downloadable PDF at the bottom of page.

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Victory

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

After Hayes was sworn in as the 19th President of the United States, Nast made a few more political cartoons expressing his thoughts on the results. Click through the slideshow below to learn about three of the political cartoons published after the election results were decided.

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Student Engagement: Political Cartoon Venn Diagram

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

Compare and contrast the two political cartoons, "Compromise- Indeed" and "A Truce-Not a Compromise" in the Venn Diagram. Both images are available for download in the Additional Resources section below. What is the same? What is different?

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Compromise

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Using Political Cartoons to Understand the 1876 Election

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

The months between Election Day on November 7, 1876 and Inauguration Day on March 5, 1877 were stressful for the country. Thomas Nast created political cartoons for "Harper’s Weekly" depicting the situation in the United States sometimes putting a humorous spin on this serious situation. Nast was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party at the time, though he did not like the Republican Hayes, going so far as to not depict Hayes in his political cartoons. Nast also editorially attacked the Democratic candidate Tilden. Click through the images of Nast's political cartoons on the election of 1876 on the slideshow below and consider the question: How are political cartoons useful for understanding the aftermath of the 1876 election?

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

The Election of 1876

The Country's Waiting Game: Thomas Nast Illustrates the Months After the 1876 Election

Created by: Macculloch Hall Historical Museum