Objects and Images

offer a window into the past, providing both context for, and critique of, the history we teach.

This section is currently under construction. More objects will be added soon.

All Objects

August 24, 2024

Cage Crinolines

Everything Has a History

The Everything Has a History section in Perspectives on History provides a deep descriptive dive into a single object (broadly construed) and its history. These pieces can serve as a jumping-off point for classroom discussion.

Black and white photograph. A boat on a canal with a man wearing a bowler hat standing at the tiller. A donkey walks ahead of the boat on the canal towpath, connected to the left side of the boat by a rope. The boat has a sign labeling it "Morris Canal Reg." Wooden crates fill the center of the boat.

May 28, 2025

The Morris Canal
A brown accordion file, wrapped with brown string.

March 26, 2025

A Personal Archive
A stone church with red tile root, surrounded by trees. A man sits in a chair at the front of the church.

March 19, 2025

All Saints’ Church, Bangalore
Yellowed paper with an illustration of three batteries wired together. Urdu text is included in the image.

February 11, 2025

Poetic Battery Manuals
A silver bracelet decorated with a snake sits atop of a small green jewelry box.

January 14, 2025

Snake Bracelet
A piece of paper with four stamps descending the left side.

December 12, 2024

Papel Sellado

Teaching Things: 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.

Access the Toolkits