In 1926, the United States celebrated its sesquicentennial, and a number of special projects were organized to document the country's people, history, culture, and folkways. One such project was "The Pageant of America: A Pictorial History of the United States", published by Yale University Press from 1925 to 1929. Professor Ralph Henry Gabriel edited the work, and all told, it contained 15 volumes that addressed themes like exploration, arts and leisure, industry, commerce, and politics. This digital collection from the New York Public Library contains over 7000 of the published and unpublished photographs and prints used in these extravagant volumes. It's great just to look through the "Source Title" headings found by clicking on "Collection Contents" near the top of the page. Here visitors can meander through sections like "In defense of liberty", "American idealism", and "The American spirit in architecture". One can imagine that this collection could be used in American studies classroom, or in a setting that addresses the history of photography.