Picturing US History -

Picturing United States History is a digital project based on the belief that visual materials are vital to understanding the American past. This website provides online essays, lectures, and reflective classroom lessons to help teachers incorporate visual evidence into their classrooms.

Theodor de Bry (after John White), Towne of Pomieooc, engraving

Essays

Overview of approaches to using visual or material culture in teaching. These essays cite examples of compelling visual evidence, raise critical questions about historical method and pedagogy, and provide links to valuable online resources.

Image: Theodor de Bry (after John White), Towne of Pomieooc, engraving

Theodor Kaufmann (artist), Senator Revels, 1870, Chromolithograph (Boston Public Library, Print Department)

Lectures

Presentations from recent NEH Summer Institutes on the Visual Culture of the American Civil War. These lectures show how visual evidence illuminates key issues, developments, and events in U.S. history and model instructional methods for analyzing archival visual materials.

Image: Theodor Kaufmann (artist), Senator Revels, 1870, Chromolithograph (Boston Public Library, Print Department)

Jacob Riis, Trench at Potter¹s Field, 1888, photograph

My Favorite Image

Scholar reflections on visual resources (paintings, prints, photographs, cartoons, sculpture) found useful in teaching major themes in U.S. history.

Image: Jacob Riis, Trench at Potter¹s Field, 1888, photograph