Explore This Park

Teaching History and Culture

1920s hiking party on Sperry Glacier

NPS Archive/T.J. Hileman

Resources to Bring History Alive in Your Classroom

 

Land of Many Stories Trunk contents

NPS

Traveling Trunks
Among our educational trunks, the Land of Many Stories option focuses on human history in the area now known as Glacier National Park. The trunk contains authentic uniforms and souvenirs, photos, books, DVDs, and everything needed to teach a 2 week, curriculum-based unit.

 

Great Northern Railway advertisement circa 1920

NPS Photo

Museum and Archive Collection
If your students are researching historic events or artifacts in Glacier you'll want take a tour of our museum collection! Or take an e-tour of the Land of Many Stories exhibit on display at the Montana Historical Society Museum in Helena, Montana.

Check out Teaching With Museum Objects for a list of lesson plans from parks nationwide.

 

Going-to-the-Sun Road, looking east from above the Loop

NPS

"Going-to-the-Sun Road: A Model of Landscape Engineering" Lesson Plan
This secondary level lesson is based on Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Going-to-the-Sun Road has been designated a National Landmark.

Take an eTour of "Building the Going-to-the-Sun Road".

 

Superintendent's house, built in 1923

NPS

Headquarters District Historic Walking Tour
Students at Whitefish Independent High School created this audio tour in 2010-2011. Listen to or download the files to hear students share information about the historic buildings. If you visit the park, the map will guide you to each stop.

 

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

PBS Educators Page
The wealth of themes explored in THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA offer an extraordinary educational opportunity for your classroom. The lessons and activities developed around the film look at the rich history of the national parks, the art and photography of the breath-taking geography that inspired so many people and the human story of politics and policy that shaped and continue to shape the parks today.

 

Tipi at sunset

NPS

At Home in the Place video series
Blackfeet, Kootenai, Salish, and Pend d'Oreille perspectives on Glacier National Park in a series of nine short videos.