Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom
Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom is a new, National Endowment for the Humanities–funded project at the American Historical Association. The digital Object Library helps teachers identify material culture sources for classroom use and includes ready-made resources and materials that teachers can use to craft lesson plans to fit their curriculum. Teaching Toolkits offer plug-and-play resources featuring object-based lessons across fields, time periods, and geographic spaces.
This section is currently under construction. More toolkits, objects, and resources will be added soon.
A Case for Objects: Material Culture in the History Classroom
In this module in the American Historical Review's #AHRSyllabus, Sarah Jones Weicksel provides an easy-to-use method and set of activities for exploring history through objects. She shows how using material culture can promote a collaborative, inclusive space for students to craft historical questions and consider how people in the past interacted with and were shaped by their material environments.
Teaching Toolkits
Teaching Things offers a range of entry points to bringing material culture into the classroom. In some lesson plans students consider objects alongside the visual and textual sources with which they are more familiar.
Perspectives on the Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam, fought in Maryland in September 1862, was the single deadliest day of the American Civil War, with more than twenty-two thousand casualties.
Objects of Trade and Transport in the Ancient Mediterranean
This object lesson explores the trade, transport, perceived value, and authenticity of ancient and modern food products.
Silk Roads and Beyond: Trade, Exchange, and Travel in Ancient and Medieval Afro-Eurasia
Sericulture—the cultivation of silkworms for the production of silk goods—features prominently in this toolkit. The focus on silk also extends beyond the manufacturing process.
Object Library
Coming soon! Discover objects and activities to incorporate into lesson plans.
Activities & Resources
Coming soon! Additional resources to help orient history instructors to teaching with material culture.
August 24, 2024
Doing History with Found Objects
May 15, 2024
Object Analysis Worksheet
Acknowledgments
Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom has been made possible in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Project Director
Sarah Weicksel
Teaching Resource Developers
Krista Grensavitch
Corinne Kannenberg
Brandon Schechter
Project Contributors
Machal Gradoz
Katie Knowles
Alexandra Levy
Caitlin Monroe
Resource Library
Check out the AHA’s Resource Library for teaching and learning resources, AHA Online recordings, professional development, and much more.