<p><em>Thinking About History</em> contains resources that provide teachers with useful tools for helping students think about the past and multiple ways for accessing information about history, ranging from photographs to literature. This curriculum pack was produced by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and includes sources  and materials  (be sure to click on the paper clip and/or info icon on each item to find out more about it). </p>

<p><em>By using this collection, learners will . . .</em></p> <ul><li>Use primary sources to understand a range of perspectives on the Space Race. </li><li>Understand why the United States was concerned about the Soviet space program. </li><li>Be able to analyze the Cold War era context of the Space Race and draw their own conclusions about the success of the Space Race. </li></ul>

<p>The Darkest Month contains activities, primary sources, and other information to help teach students about the effect of transportation in western Pennsylvania  (be sure to click on the paper clip and/or info icon on each item to find out more about it). </p><p><br />This resource was originally created to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Darr and Monongah coalmining disasters – two of the worst coalmining disasters in American history. Occurring in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania, and Monongah, West Virginia, these devastating mine explosions revealed the overly hazardous conditions faced by immigrant coalminers drawn to the Pittsburgh Coal Seam by the prospect of work. The story of the miners who perished in December of 1907, known at the time as the “dreadful month” because of a string of mining disasters nationwide that left nearly 3,000 miners dead, affords a long overdue opportunity to discuss the historical impact of coalmining on the greater Pittsburgh region. It also illuminates larger social history themes including the interrelationship of immigration, industry, capitalism, and organized labor. The fact that these industrial disasters occurred in 1907, the peak year of immigrant arrivals to Ellis Island, underscores the centrality of immigration to the American coalmining story. With heavy attention on ethnic life, these resources show how European immigrants modeled their Old World lives within their new industrial homes and used these institutions to survive their day to day work in an extremely dangerous industry.</p>

<p>First formed in 1951, the Allegheny County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (ACC-PARC) was established as a grassroots organization comprised of the parents of people with disabilities. The aspect of ACC-PARC’s daily activities most represented in these records are the efforts of the association to investigate the treatment of people with disabilities at residential care facilities in Western Pennsylvania during the 1960s and 1970s.</p> <p>This Learning Lab collection is designed to highlight the specific steps taken by the parents and members of ACC-PARC as they advocated for change in residential care facilities in this region. Each document illuminates a specific step or tactic used by the parents as they attempted to raise awareness of poor treatment of people with disabilities, stop overcrowding and under-staffing in facilities, and push for legislation to ensure the well-being of residents.</p> <p>This archival collection and the materials presented in this Learning Lab collection are housed at the Detre Library and Archives at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, PA:</p> <p><strong>Title: Bob Nelkin Collection of Allegheny County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (ACC-PARC) Records</strong> </p> <p><strong>Dates: 1953-2000</strong> </p> <p><strong>Creator: Nelkin, Bob</strong> </p> <p><strong>Catalog Number: MSS 1002</strong> </p> <p>#socialchange #disabilityhistory #advocacy #changemaker</p>

<p>This collection contains resources for the teacher guide to the Pittsburgh CLO's performance of <em>Arriba Arriba!</em>. </p> <p><br /></p>

<p>This collection was created to share out digitized political cartoons to teachers attending the <em>Read Between the Lines: Exploring Political Cartoons </em>teacher professional development program offered by the Heinz History Center on July 21, 2021.</p>

<p>This collection was created to support a workshop on integrating primary sources and student writing for teachers at Peters Township High School. These resources can be used to design a document-based question to answer the following inquiry:</p> <p>Were Pittsburgh's urban renewal programs in the 1950s and 60s ultimately helpful or harmful?</p> <p>Teachers may want to excerpt the documents included in this collection before giving them to students to use. You may also want to introduce students to the concept of "purposeful annotation" as they read through the documents (resources included).</p> <p>Finally, an articles on urban renewal today and a lesson plan from Global Oneness Project on gentrification and urban renewal in Seattle provide additional resources for teachers.</p> <p>Tags: C3, Inquiry, urban renewal, demolition, construction, slums, Teenie Harris, Charles Olmstead, Pittsburgh</p>

<p>This activity uses a restitution document and graphic organizer to help students understand who perpetrated the actions of the Holocaust, particularly as it affected the Weikers family. The Weikers family papers are held in the Detre Library and Archives at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. The archive document comes from the Weikers Family  collection, and the accompanying graphic organizers were created by Heinz History Center education staff. More images and documents connected with this family story are available on the <em><a href="http://www.jewishfamilieshistory.org/entry/weikers-family/">Generation to Generation: Family Stories Drawn from the Rauh Jewish Archives</a> </em>website. </p>

<p>This collection connects the 2021 National History Day theme of "Communication in History" to the history of KDKA radio station. During the early 1900s, radios were used only by amateur radio operators.  KDKA was the first commercial broadcasting station that reached the public and changed how many people would receive news and entertainment. This collection can be used as an idea for an NHD project or as a resource for an existing project.</p>

<p>This curriculum pack was produced by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and includes everything you need to teach about the Great Strike of 1877 in Pittsburgh.  The five lessons can be used as a group or individually, and guide students towards creating their own documentary about the subject--click on the paperclip to find the activities that make up each lesson. Primary sources  are also included (be sure to click on the paper clip and/or info icon on each item to find out more about it). </p>

<p>This is a collection of resources detailing a local Western Pennsylvanian amusement park, Kennywood, and their responses to civil rights issues throughout the early-mid 20th century. <br></p> <p>The Learning lab is designed to be used by educators to implement local primary sources into their classroom curriculum. All Kennywood source material found here is housed in the <a href="https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/search?type=dismax&f%5B0%5D=mods_relatedItem_host_titleInfo_title_ms%3AKennywood%5C%20Park%5C%20Records%2C%5C%201895%5C-2018%2C%5C%20MSS%5C%20141%2C%5C%20Detre%5C%20Library%5C%20and%5C%20Archives%2C%5C%20Senator%5C%20John%5C%20Heinz%5C%20History%5C%20Center">Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center</a>. </p>

<p>This Learning Lab collection is designed to accompany the Heinz History Center's Innovation and Invention virtual program. In the program, students learn the story of Alcoa and the contributions this Pittsburgh company made to the world. This activity dives deeper into one particular Alcoa innovation - the legs of the lunar module that first landed men on the Moon. <br></p> <p>The activity is based on <a href="https://pbskids.org/designsquad/build/touchdown/">"Touchdown," created by PBS Kids Design Squad.</a> It was adapted by the Heinz History Center to include the story of the Alcoa aluminum innovation used for the legs of the Lunar Module. </p>