Digital Collections for the Classroom is a free online service for educators offered by the Newberry Library. The website provides access to digital versions of primary source materials from the Newberry's collections, optimized for teaching a variety of historical topics by providing study questions, contextual essays, and full citation information for the artifacts. Some lessons are Chicago-focused, such as 1893: Chicago and the World's Columbian Exposition or Art In Chicago 1900-1935, while others branch out into other regions and the World. For example, Imagining the American West in the Late Nineteenth Century starts by asking two questions: How has the West been imagined as both America's manifest destiny and a wild frontier? and In what ways do American Indian art and literature challenge these popular narratives of the West? The unit goes on to discuss Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and images of frontier women. To contrast white settler's viewpoints versus those of Native Americans, the unit is illustrated with items such as a program cover for Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a watercolor painting of a Zuni pueblo by Seth Eastman, a soldier in the U.S. Army, and a Self-portrait by Silver Horn (Hawgone), a Kiowa leader and artist.
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