Presented by the American Social History Project at CUNY (City University of New York), Picturing US History is a web resource founded on the belief that "visual materials are vital to understanding the American past." To that end, the site provides illustrated essays, narrated lectures, and My Favorite Image, where scholars and curators examine a single image for teaching purposes. For example, in Imaging Americans, Shawn Michelle Smith from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago takes a close look at Frances Benjamin Johnston's 1899 photograph, "Thanksgiving Day Lesson at Whittier," from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. This photograph, commissioned for the Paris Exposition of 1900, was created at a time when Johnston was a well-known photographer noted for her pictures of schools in Washington, D.C. The picture shows a group of African American students in a classroom, intent on a miniature log cabin on a table. Written on the blackboard is the day's lesson, "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers." Smith's essay points out the staged nature of the picture, and suggests discussion points for teachers to use in 21st century classroom.