The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest and oldest education information system in the world. The ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education (ERIC/ChESS) is one of sixteen subject-oriented clearinghouses that compose the ERIC system. The heart of this system, the ERIC database of education-related literature, contains nearly one million citations with abstracts, drawn from a variety of disciplines. Citations to journal articles, teaching and curriculum guides, bibliographies, research reports, and conference papers are included. The ERIC database is available free in many large public and university libraries and on the Internet.

The listings below are drawn from the ERIC database and include both teaching materials and general background information on the Gilded Age. The key to obtaining the full text of the materials cited below is the unique ERIC number assigned to each item in the database. Journal articles, denoted by “EJ” numbers (for example, EJ549890), can be copied at most academic libraries, borrowed through interlibrary loan, or purchased from article reprint services such as UnCover, UMI, and ISI. Research reports, conference papers, and other materials besides journal articles are denoted by “ED” numbers (for example, ED398110); paper or microfiche copies of most of these documents can be purchased from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS), 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield, VA 22153-2852; (800) 443-3742; (703) 440-1400; <edrs@inet.ed.gov>; <http://edrs.com>; or copied from an ERIC microfiche collection, available at many libraries.

ERIC/ChESS welcomes requests for general information or sample database searches on topics within the social studies, social sciences, and music and art education. Contact ERIC/ChESS by telephone at (800) 266-3815 or (812) 855-3838, or by e-mail at <ericso@indiana.edu>.

“A Hundred Years Ago: Crusaders vs. Conservatives in a Furious Campaign.” Social Education 60 (October 1996): 361-64. EJ536733. The editors of Social Education investigate the issues, candidates, and political climate of the 1896 presidential election. Democratic Party candidate William Jennings Bryan espoused a Populist platform attacking big business, protectionism, and the gold standard. William McKinley, the Republican Party candidate with a pro-business platform, easily won the election. The article includes samples of contemporary political cartoons and campaign posters.

Young, Michael. “Activity: The Wizard of Oz and the Populist Movement.” Perspectives (1989): 19-31. EJ387908. Young presents an activity, compiled from a variety of sources, in which students examine the allegorical content of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Students are required to use the inquiry method to relate symbols from the story to elements in the political and economic environment of the Populist movement. The article includes a bibliography of suggested resources.

Cryan-Hicks, Kathryn T. W. E. B. DuBois: Crusader for Peace. With a Message from Benjamin L. Hooks. Discovery Enterprises, Ltd., 134 Middle Street, Lowell, MA 01852, 1991. ED339663. This book for young children presents a biography of W. E. B. DuBois, the prominent African-American intellectual. A great scholar and advocate for African Americans, he was the first black American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University and was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. DuBois was also very concerned with the situation of blacks from other parts of the world. He helped to initiate a movement, Pan Africanism, to unite people of African descent and gain independence for African colonies.

Koman, Rita G. “Servitude to Service: African-American Women as Wage Earners.” OAH Magazine of History 11 (Winter 1997): 42-49. EJ546605. Koman presents a lesson plan that examines the changes in the employment position of African-American women due to southern economic policies established after emancipation. The lesson uses primary documents to allow students to analyze social and economic discrimination against African-American women in the workforce.

Mack, Jay, Paul DeKock, and Dave Yount. Gateway: A Simulation of Immigration Issues in Past and Present America. Interaction Publishers, Inc., DBA Interact, 1825 Gillespie Way, 101, El Cajon, CA 92020, 1993. ED419731. This simulation allows students to experience how their ancestors felt when they decided to emigrate to this country. The basic activity is a core simulation in which students roleplay either an immigrant or an immigration processor at Ellis Island in 1900. Additional enhancement options offered in the packet allow the activity to be expanded to create more detailed learning units.

Havercamp, Beth and Wynell Schamel. “Photographs of Ellis Island: The High Tide of Immigration. Teaching with Documents.” Social Education 58 (September 1994): 303-07. EJ492069. For generations of immigrants, the federal immigration station at Ellis Island, New York, left an indelible first impression of life in the United States. Photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island and two poems about immigration form the basis of the lesson.

Pferdehirt, Julia, et al. One Nation, Many Peoples: Immigration in the United States. A Resource Book. Knowledge Unlimited, Inc., PO Box 52, Madison, WI 53701-0052, 1997. ED414224. This resource book provides historical summaries, primary source documents, reproducible activities, creative project suggestions, and research ideas for the study of immigration to the United States. The book is divided into units on immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, West Africa, the Caribbean, and Mexico and Central America. Suggestions for enrichment are offered along with a resource guide to recommended fiction and nonfiction books, articles, films, and other study resources.

Anderson, Vicki. Immigrants in the United States in Fiction: A Guide to 705 Books for Librarians and Teachers, K-9. McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640, 1994. ED371931. This annotated bibliography identifies fiction books whose theme is the social life and customs of immigrants to the United States. Over sixty different nationalities and ethnic groups are covered, with the most entries pertaining to Mexican immigrants. Examples of other ethnic groups include Africans, Belgians, Puerto Ricans, Chinese, Poles, Italians, Russians, French, Germans, and Vietnamese. Copyright dates range from 1965 to 1993, with some earlier classic titles included. Each entry provides author, bibliographic information, grade level, and a brief annotation.

Stowell, Stephen. “Building America’s Industrial Revolution: The Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. Teaching with Historic Places.” Social Education 59 (March 1995): 1-12. EJ502226. Stowell presents a high school unit about the U.S. industrial revolution featuring the Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. The unit includes student objectives, step-by-step instructional procedures, and discussion questions. Two maps, five illustrations, one photograph, and three student readings are also included.

Singer, Alan. “The Impact of Industrialization on American Society: Alternative Assessments. Classroom Teacher’s Idea Notebook.” Social Education 58 (March 1994): 171-72. EJ485678. This article describes a secondary U.S. history course in which students study the impact of industrialization on U.S. culture and society. The author contends that assignments where students create political cartoons, poetry, posters, or other visual products enhance student interest and provide diverse evaluation strategies.

Pershey, Edward Jay. “Lowell and the Industrial City in Nineteenth-Century America.” OAH Magazine of History 5 (Fall 1990): 5-10. EJ425023. Pershey documents the history of Lowell, Massachusetts, from the careful planning of the town, to the recruitment of farm families’ daughters into the labor force, to the demise of the town, and to Lowell’s subsequent regeneration as a high technology center in the 1970s and 1980s. The study of Lowell’s history illuminates the development of U.S. urban and manufacturing cities during the past century.

Gifford, Nina and Tom Ingersoll. The American Dream and the Gospel of Wealth in Nineteenth-Century American Society: A Unit of Study for Grades 9-12. National Center for History in the Schools, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 761, Los Angeles, CA 90024-4108, 1991. ED376092. The material in this unit is designed to introduce students to the origin and role of ideas in history, especially their role in the lives of ordinary people in the rapidly industrializing United States from 1850 to 1900. Unit objectives include: identifying characteristics of the late nineteenth-century success ethic using examples from biography and literature; describing the social, economic, and political circumstances that nurtured the success ethic; identifying promoters of the gospel of wealth and explaining their motivations; and examining the tension between an ethic of individual success and an ideology justifying the power of the rich.

Stinson, Jennifer. “The Suburban Frontier.” Social Studies Journal 18 (Spring 1989): 25-30. EJ387914. This essay discusses the development of the U.S. suburb as a new “crabgrass frontier,” settled by mid-nineteenth-century city dwellers seeking an escape from increasing industrialization and immigration. Revolutions in transportation and major innovations in the technology of home building are cited as factors in the development of the suburbs.

Shenton, James. “97 Orchard Street: The Biography of a Tenement.” OAH Magazine of History 5 (Fall 1990): 72-78. EJ425036. Shenton demonstrates how U.S. Census Bureau data can be used as a historical research resource through an analysis of tenement residents in New York City. The census records provide information that allows students to analyze the changing social demographics of occupancy in large city tenements. Primary documents and questions for classroom discussion are included.

Ross, Brian. “Serving the Urban Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Cleveland.” OAH Magazine of History 5 (Fall 1990): 55-57. EJ425032. This lesson plan is designed to help students understand urban poverty by studying Cleveland, Ohio’s social welfare services. The author includes learning objectives, class activities, five scenarios of family and area conditions, and a case study of the “K” family. Lesson materials describe actions taken by the local social agency, The Associated Charities.

Goldfield, David R. “The Stages of American Urbanization.” OAH Magazine of History 5 (Fall 1990): 26-31. EJ425027. Goldfield traces the development of U.S. cities from the colonial town, to the marketplace town, to the radial center, to the fringe city, and, finally, to the multicentered metropolis. The analysis argues, on the basis of U.S. Census Bureau data, that the United States is currently a suburban nation. Housing patterns of urban cities that continue to lose population are also examined.

West, Leo R. “Roads, Rivers, and Rails: A Lesson on Transportation.” Social Studies Journal 26 (Spring 1997): 1-16. EJ549888. This interdisciplinary lesson plan addresses the history and development of transportation in the United States. Activities involve students in roleplaying, simulations, research, and presentations. These activities illustrate contemporary issues of public opposition and support, economic development, and social and technological change. Also included is a forty-eight-item bibliography of transportation-related books.

Ewig, Rick. “The Railroad and the Frontier West.” OAH Magazine of History 3 (Spring 1988): 9-10. EJ381032. Ewig points out that railroad building in the West was a cause rather than an effect of the rapid development of the area. Railroads hastened the demise of American Indian autonomy and their land base, brought permanent Anglo-American settlers to the West, and provided a market relationship between East and West.

Greenwald, G. Dale. The Railroad Era: Business Competition and the Public Interest. Public Issues Series. Social Science Education Consortium Publications, 3300 Mitchell Lane, Suite 240, Boulder, CO 80301-2296, 1991. ED377085. Part of a series of units designed to help students take and defend a position on public issues, this unit discusses the changes that railroads brought to the United States economy and society. As the first big businesses in this country, the railroads had to grapple with a variety of challenges, such as raising money to launch a railroad and organizing vast technological and manpower resources. The accompanying teacher’s guide focuses on questions about the relationships between business, the public interest, private property, and government regulation. Fictional cases, primary source documents, and secondary sources are used to acquaint students with how these questions have been manifested throughout U.S. history.

David Kelly is an information specialist with the ERIC Social Studies/Social Science Education Clearinghouse. He holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in political science from Indiana University.