"Mitchell's travellers guide through the United States : a map of the roads, distances, steamboat & canal routes &c (1834)"This hand-colored, steel-engraved map illustrates principal traveling routes in the United States during the early 19th century, including canals, steamboat routes, and railroads. It also shows major cities, towns, forts, and Native American settlements.
In the 19th century, travel in the United States became much easier due to steamboats and railroads. Steamboats used steam engines to power paddle wheels, enabling them to move swiftly along rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. With this invention, boats no longer needed wind or river currents to move, making them faster and more reliable. This revolutionized transportation, especially along the Mississippi River.
Like steamboats, railroads transformed transportation in the United States in the 1800s. Railroads allowed for faster transportation of items like raw materials and agricultural goods across the country. They also heavily contributed to westward expansion, making the journey from the east to the west quicker and easier for settlers.
This source is part of the TSLA Map Collection and has recently been added to our education site! It can be used when teaching about the development of roads, railroads, canals, and steamboats.
It is relevant to Tennessee State Social Studies Standards 4.20 and 8.40.
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Historians in Training: Jr. Archivist Summer Camp 2026
Do you know an aspiring historian? Are there any future librarians or archivists in your classroom? If so, they may be interested in registering for the Tennessee State Library & Archives’ annual Historians in Training: Jr. Archivist Summer Camp!
This full-day summer camp is open to 8-12-year-olds and will run from June 8-12, 2026. During this week-long adventure, campers will learn how history is preserved through hands-on activities, games, and field trips to local historical sites. More information and registration paperwork are on our website’s Summer Camp page. We hope to see your students this summer!
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2025-2026 Educator Workshop Series
Join us for this free professional development experience, where we will collaboratively explore strategies for teaching topics such as Prohibition, the Scopes Trial, popular culture, the causes of the Great Depression, and more through activities aligned with the Tennessee social studies curriculum standards.
Our final workshop takes place in Memphis on Saturday, April 11. To register, please click here!
For more information on our workshop series, please visit our website.
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Registration for the 2026 TN250 Teacher Institute Now Open!
Registration is open for the 2026 TN250 Teacher Institute. It will be held at the Tennessee State Museum and the Tennessee State Library & Archives on July 15-17, with an evening reception on July 14. Teachers can apply to attend here. The application window is open until March 31.
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In-Service PresentationsGena and Molly had a great time participating in teacher development at the Bradley Central High School Mini Summit and at the Hamilton County Social Studies In-Service back in January. They presented sessions and shared resources, including the new American Revolution DocsBox.
If you are interested in having us speak at an in-service in your county, please send us an email at education.tsla@tnsos.gov.
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Opportunity: Help Guide our Field Trip Program Growth!As the field trip program at the Tennessee State Library & Archives continues to grow, our team wants to ensure that we are meeting the needs of teachers and students across the state.
Please take a few minutes to complete a brief questionnaire about our field trip program (even if you didn’t know we offered field trips!). Your feedback is invaluable to the success of our program, and we appreciate your time and expertise. The questionnaire can be accessed here.
Please feel free to reach out to fieldtrips.tsla@tnsos.gov if you have any questions about field trip programming at the Library & Archives.
If you are interested in scheduling a field trip, please complete and submit this request form.
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TEL UpdatesWhat is TEL? The Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) is an online library that gives students and teachers access to resources such as magazines, journals, newspapers, essays, e-books, primary source materials, test preparation, homework help, genealogy records, and more!
Beginning January 5, 2026, there will be three specific TEL access portals for Elementary, Middle School, and High School that make it easy for students, teachers, and parents to find the recommended resources for each grade level. These changes will help with IP login issues and allow schools and districts to see TEL usage of their middle and high school resources.
Please update your links to TEL using that link!
Links to TEL4U.org do not need to change – the site will now require a password.
Please contact the TEL Administrator at tel.tsla@tnsos.gov to request the password for your school. If your school needs to be added to the list of schools or needs a correction, please email your request to tel.tsla@tnsos.gov.
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Teaching with Primary Sources - Southern Regional ConferenceTeaching with Primary Sources Southern Region is hosting its first regional conference at the Tennessee State Library & Archives! It is open to anyone interested in learning more about the program and will feature presentations from their funded 2025-2026 project partners.
The conference is May 12-13 at the Library & Archives.
To register, fill out this form.
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