For many students, the era of cowboys and the Great Western Cattle Trail is a romantic and interesting time in history. For teachers, it provides an opportunity to engage students in historical inquiry and help them become information literate. An important component of being an information literate student is the ability to evaluate and use…
The history of the West is all around us. It is written in our textbooks, encoded implicitly into children’s stories and Hollywood movies, and proclaimed loudly and sometimes angrily by commentators on both sides of the political spectrum. But it is a version of history that is all too often wrong. For centuries, Western historians…
Life Insurance is a type of contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the insured’s death. There are many reasons why someone might need life insurance, such as to cover end-of-life expenses, pay off a mortgage, replace lost income…
The company that we now know as western union began operations in 1851 as a telegraph business. It added money transfer services in 1871 and became a global leader in both areas. The company has been through many changes, including mergers and acquisitions. It is now a publicly-traded company with a strong presence in the…
American history is a rich tapestry of constitutional, political, intellectual, economic and competing social forces that have shaped the United States. Its beginnings can be traced to Christopher Columbus’s first voyage on September 24, 1493, when he discovered a rugged island he named Dominica and believed it was the gateway to the Orient. From the…
Western europe history is the social and cultural development of a large group of European countries. Historians use terms such as the “Romantic Era”, “Middle Ages” and “Enlightenment” to describe periods in the evolution of European societies. The USC Libraries collects materials primarily in print that support teaching, research and learning in the study of…
For over six decades the Western History Association has brought together teachers, academic historians, public historians, students, and enthusiasts to further study of the North American West in its many aspects and broadest sense. Today the WHA has over 4,000 members, including individuals and organizations in universities, museums, libraries, non profit agencies, and other institutions….
Western world history is the study of Western culture, which combines Judeo-Christian values and classical Greco-Roman thinking. It also incorporates a long lineage of European art and culture. For some people, the term “western world” has a geographic meaning – those places in the world that have a European heritage and are part of the…
A western history museum houses and showcases a wealth of artifacts from a region that is deeply embedded in America’s national culture. These institutions also serve as cultural centers that are dedicated to preserving and educating the public on the importance of the American West. From iconic figures such as Buffalo Bill to the literary…
North America is the planet’s third-largest continent, comprising 23 countries and dozens of dependencies and territories. It extends some 37,000 miles (59,000 km) from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific, and encompasses Greenland (the largest island in the world), all of Mexico and Central America, much of the Caribbean Sea, Canada, the United States, and…