Objects and Images

offer a window into the past, providing both context for, and critique of, the history we teach.

This section is currently under construction. More objects will be added soon.

All Objects

August 24, 2024

Cage Crinolines

Everything Has a History

The Everything Has a History section in Perspectives on History provides a deep descriptive dive into a single object (broadly construed) and its history. These pieces can serve as a jumping-off point for classroom discussion.

A drawing of an elocution cage, a spherical bamboo cage, with a man standing in the middle on a raised platform.

April 27, 2022

The Elocution Cage
A black and white drawing of an elevator bell signal.

March 30, 2022

Elevator Sounds
An aged bronze bell hanging in the center of a small wooden tower, with a wooden roof and white wooden ornamental details on the joints of the structure.

February 24, 2022

Bronze Bell
The Ohio River frozen over and covered in white snow, people are walking on the snow and ice. Two kids are playing in the snow, one in a red winter coat, black hat and gloves, the other is in a hooded light blue coat.

January 27, 2022

The Ohio River
Felix Moissenet, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1852.

December 28, 2021

Portrait of a Man
The cover of the book, “The Abortionist.” On the cover a woman sits on the edge of a bed in a half-off pink dress. Next to the bed sits a man in a black suit and tie hunched on a chair next to her. He stares at the woman, a stethoscope hangs from his neck, and a black medical bag is open at the end of the bed.

November 29, 2021

The Abortionist

Teaching Things: Toolkits

Teaching Things offers a range of entry points to bringing material culture into the classroom. In some lesson plans students consider objects alongside the visual and textual sources with which they are more familiar.

Access the Toolkits