Primary Source Learning: Industrial America Primary Source Set

Have students use the primary sources in this set to tell a story about the period 1876-1900 when industrial growth helped transform the United States, producing a new class of wealthy industrialists, a prosperous middle class, and a vastly expanded working class comprised of millions of migrants from rural areas and new immigrants from overseas. The story about this time of technological breakthroughs and cultural shifts may be in digital or print form. It could be nonfiction, fiction, poetry, or even a song. Click on each thumbnail image below to access the full size primary source. You may also use this primary set for a found poetry activity (click the previous link). Be sure to take a look at the Rise of the Industrial Era timeline as well as associated lesson plans (see below).

School on outing along C&O Canal	Chinese-American men	Family in front of farm home, Buffalo County, Nebraska
Nelson farm near Milton, North Dakota	Threshing machine, Soper Post Office, ND, first traction engine	Iowa & Nebraska land for sale on 10 years credit
Knitter in London	J. Stewart wedding party, Nekoma, ND	Custer’s last stand
Buffalo soldiers of the 25th Infantry	African American baseball players from Morris Brown College, GA	Harry and Beatrice Houdini with Welsh Brothers Circus
Letter from Helen Keller to Mabel Hubbard Bell	Lewis Hine Report: Child Labor in the Canning Industry of MD	Letter, Susan B. Anthony to Adelaide women ministers & Johnson’s sculpture
Reminiscences of Mary E. Farnsworth	The Great Railroad Strike of 1894	Circus Days and Ways