The Civil War ended in 1865. From 2011-2015, Civil War sesquicentennial events took place around the nation. The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium used the opportunity to feature two exhibits on the critical role that the river played during the Civil War. Both exhibits highlighted contributions to the war effort by the surrounding…

Designed to help Illinois teachers bring local history into the secondary social studies classroom, this manual contains reproductions of 38 county records from the years 1818 to 1880. Each document, which is reproduced in an original and typewritten form, is accompanied by a teacher's guide containing an outline of the historical context of the…

The essays and annotations in this publication provide an opportunity for citizens and students to consider not only the history of the Northwest Ordinance but also basic and enduring issues in U.S. political life. The book is divided into three main parts. The first part provides a background to the Ordinance and its passage by the Confederation…

Presents an excellent lesson plan discussing the repressive racial legislation that remained enforced in Illinois even after the repeal of slavery. Background material also covers the black communities' response to these racist laws. Includes teaching suggestions, handouts, and activities. (MJP)

Intended as an example of the kind of material that a student doing research on the Progressive Era might find at a local historical society or in the files of a hometown or city newspaper, this article details the philanthropic efforts of women living in the Chicago area in the early 1900s. (JDH)

This document consists of six lesson plans and primary source materials on the history of black people in the Illinois cities of Bloomington and Normal. The plans were developed for the Bloomington-Normal Black History Project which concentrates on recovering and recording the history of blacks in those two cities. These pilot editions are…

This document sets forth guidelines for teaching and testing public school students on the principles of democratic government as expressed in the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois. Identification is made of ways of making the examination required by the state of Illinois not only an integral part of…

This curriculum considers the social history of Illinois during the years of 1836-1861 by studying Abraham Lincoln's legal papers from his time as a lawyer. Nearly 100,000 documents have been discovered in the archives of local, county, state, federal courts, libraries, and other repositories. The documents include detailed information about the…

This book discusses women's roles in Illinois history from the Indian period and the frontier through the Civil War, the Progressive Era, world wars and depressions to the 1970's. It relates these roles to the larger process of historical development. The authors wrote the book for all those seeking to enlarge their understanding of Illinois…

The publication provides guidelines for local school personnel to use in the development of programs of study. In the preparation of this resource, the objectives were: 1) to detect and correct historic distortions, fallacies, commissions and omissions in the teaching of the history of the United States and the State of Illinois; 2) to examine…

This booklet offers a census of course offerings and enrollments in social studies in junior and senior high schools in Illinois. It is part of a series of reports surveying statewide basic curriculum data. Data were collected in 1977 from 459 public junior high schools and 704 public high schools. The document is intended for use by school…