Growing industries and new inventions
 
Fasttrack to America's Past
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Originating Page



Historical photo sets


1.  Water power, steam engines, and coal

2.  Inventors and inventions:


   2a.  Alexander Graham Bell - the telephone

   2b.  Thomas Edison - the light bulb

3.  Famous Captains of Industry:

   3a.  Cornelius Vanderbilt - shipping and railroads

   3b. 
Andrew Carnegie - the steel industry

   3c. 
John D. Rockefeller - the oil refining business
           
   3d.  J.P. Morgan - banking and investment


4.  Machine technology changes life in America
History food feature
Wow! Look how kitchens have changed!  (an online set of old photos and drawings from around 1870 to the 1970s)
Videos and
Internet sites



Students: Check with your parents for permission before visiting Internet links.
Inside a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts  (a short video that shows cloth weaving machinery inside an old textile factory that is now a museum.)

How a steam locomotive works  (a short video with animation)

The telephone / Alexander Graham Bell  (an old TV ad)

Telephone operators in the old days  (a short video)

Thomas Edison mini-bio  (a short video)

Yes, We Have No Bananas  (a short video demonstrating an old cylinder style Edison phonograph.  The flat disc record became more common in the 1920s - see the Edison P-1 Phonograph.)

Map - Manufacturing: Value Added by Manufacturing  (from an online, interactive historical atlas)

Maps - Railroads: Railroads in Operation 1870  (from an online, interactive historical atlas)
Also consider:
America: The Story of Us TV mini-series, Episode 7, "Cities," has good video segments about Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison.  Episode 6, "Heartland," has a short clip (it's near the end) about the start of the Sears mail order company. This widely praised production originally ran on the History Channel.  Less than $20 on Amazon for the 3 DVD set.

The Men Who Built America TV mini-series, Episode 2, "Oil
Strike," is a History Channel show with a good dramatization of John D. Rockefeller's work building the Standard Oil Company.  Start just past the open and program title.  A good cut out point is about 20 minutes in.










Copyright Notice

   Copyright 2009, 2020 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.  As a guide to the Virginia Standards of Learning, some pages necessarily include phrases or sentences from that document, which is available online from the Virginia Department of Education.  The author's copyright extends to the original text and graphics, unique design and layout, and related material.