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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: History of Railroads and Maps: Railroad Maps 1828 1900

For Students 9th - 10th
This history of the American railroad from the Library of Congress also provides an understanding of how maps and mapmaking were so closely related to the growth of our railway system.
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Lesson Plan
Other

Amon Carter Museum: Texas Transportation

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this lesson, students will analyze the effects of transportation on the settlement of Texas.
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Article
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Montgomery Bus Boycott

For Students 9th - 10th
Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks along with other early protestors sparked a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery bus system that culminated in the desegregation of public transportation in Alabama and throughout the country.
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Website
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Business and Transportation

For Students 4th - 8th
Looks at the many features of the Texas economy that make it one of the healthiest in the country, including, the financial sector, the oil industry, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, and various natural resources.
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Handout
Gabriel Dumont Institute

Virtual Museum of Metis History and Culture: The Red River Cart

For Students 9th - 10th
The Red River Cart, an invention of the Metis, played an important role in the settling of the West by improving transportation of goods. Cart making became an industry for the Metis later on. This article explores the history of the Red...
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Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Cta Car 6719 From Scrap to History

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow the story of Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) rapid-transit car 6719 from the day it was delivered to the transit agency in 1959 to the day it was placed in the Smithsonian's new transportation exhibition, America on the Move in 2003.
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Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: American Railroads in the 20th Century

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief history of the last century and more of American railroads, from the early locomotives from the mid 1800s to today's fast passenger trains.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Transforming the Waterfront: San Francisco and Oakland, Ca.

For Students 9th - 10th
Containers-steel boxes stuffed with goods-and the systems for transferring them between ships, trucks, and trains transformed commercial shipping. Containerization streamlined freight handling and slashed the cost of transporting cargoes...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Roadside Communities: Ring's Rest, Muirkirk, Maryland

For Students 9th - 10th
The exhibition explores historical moments in the area of transportation. As more people took to the road, clusters of roadside businesses sprang up to accommodate motorists' needs including roadside cabins. Ring's Rest, located about 20...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Suburban Strip: Sandy Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 1949

For Students 9th - 10th
Exhibition focusses on the relationship between transportation and suburbia in the mid 1920s until after World War II when many grocery stores, car dealerships, and other businesses moved out of the city to the suburban strip.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Postal Museum: Fifteen Objects That Changed Postal History

For Students 9th - 10th
Useful information about the history of the postal system and about the changes in postal and transportation technologies that have made the U.S. Postal Service what it is today.
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Article
Henry J. Sage

Sage American History: American Economic Growth 1820 1860

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Article outlines the boom in early American economic growth as a result of Northern industry in manufacturing, steam power, transportation and the role of government between 1820 and 1860.
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Website
Other

National Museum of Industrial History

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Explore these exhibitions, previously located in the Smithsonian Institute, which feature the great Americans who contributed to the industrialization of the United States beginning with the nation's centennial celebration. Plan a trip...
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Unit Plan
Other

Big History Project: Chapter 5: The Modern Revolution and the Future

For Students 9th - 10th
Big History Project, Chapter 5, picks up after the development of agriculture and the rise of cities and powerful civilizations and looks at industrialization, transportation and modern global interactions of today and asks, "what next?".
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Handout
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Freedom: A History of Us: Wake Up, America!

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource covers the changing of America due to the Industrial Revolution which brought in not only new technology but also opened the door to reform movements. From the series by Joy Hakim, "A History of Us." Includes a teacher's...
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Activity
Other

Sachem Central School District: Your History Site: The Muckrakers [Pdf]

For Students 7th - 8th
Excerpts from the writings of Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis on early industrial America. Topics include the horrors that went into the making of sausages, the problem of transportation and the Standard Oil Company, and life...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Where's Everyone Going?

For Students 9th - 10th
A great resource from the National Museum of American History that shows various modes and uses of transportation in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Interactive
New York Times

New York Times: Crossword Puzzle: Transportation

For Teachers 9th - 10th
The New York Times Learning Network has developed interactive & printable crossword puzzles. The theme of this one is Transportation.
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Article
State Library of North Carolina

N Cpedia: Improvements in Transportation: Post American Revolution to Civil War

For Students 9th - 10th
From the earliest days of European exploration, the land and waterways seemed to do their best to frustrate growth and movement in what was to become North Carolina. In its natural condition, the area was just not an easy place to get...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Americans Adopt the Auto

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibition explores the role of transportation in American history focusing on the way the automobile went from being a plaything of the rich to a major factor in the American transportation landscape.
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Activity
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Chicago, the Transit Metropolis

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the role of public transportation in Chicago, from the 1890s through the 1950s.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Marine Patent Models

For Students 9th - 10th
View the Smithsonian's collection of patent models that demonstrate marine inventions from the 1770s to the 1950s that attempted to change and improve the challenges Americans encountered working and traveling on the water.
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: On the School Bus: Martinsburg, Indiana 1939

For Students 9th - 10th
It's an early winter morning in rural Indiana, and Russell Bishop is getting ready to drive his school bus route. His daughter Mary Lou is with him, and his double-deep orange school bus is parked outside the family farm's barn. An...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Family Camping: York Beach, Maine

For Students 9th - 10th
The Cate family is on vacation at Decatur Motor Camp, York Beach, on the southern coast of Maine. It's late afternoon and the Cates are settling down after their day. Mrs. Cate and her daughter are preparing dinner in the trailer; Mr....

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