Highsmith, Carol M. Library of Congress
"It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope." -Ursula K. LeGuin
Stories of American arts, cultures, and education include histories of social Institutions and movements as well as our diverse cultural values. People's cultural expressions can reveal their beliefs about themselves and the world they inhabit.
Walnut Street Theater in Pennsylvania, Louis Armstrong's house in New York City, the Chautauqua Historic District in New York, and the Cincinnati Music Hall -- all National Historic Landmarks -- reflect diverse aspects of the performing arts. The gardens and studio in New Hampshire of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of America's most eminent sculptors, and Connemara, the farm in North Carolina of the noted poet Carl Sandburg, are both National Historic Sites illustrating some ways that people communicate their moral and aesthetic values.
People express values and live their lives through a range of formal and informal structures such as schools or voluntary associations. Americans generate temporary movements and create enduring institutions in order to define, sustain, or reform their values. Boston African American Historic Site reflects roles of ordinary Americans and a facet of America's cultural landscape. Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller in Alabama, and the rural Kentucky Pine Mountain Settlement School illustrate educational currents.
Why people organize to transform their institutions is as important to understand as how they choose to do so. Thus, both the diverse motivations people act on and the strategies they employ are critical concerns of social history. Sites such as Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York, and the Eugene V. Debs National Historic Landmark in Indiana illustrate the diversity and changeable nature of social institutions. Hancock Shaker Village, a National Historic Landmark, and Touro Synagogue, a National Historic Site, reflect religious diversity.
Read more about how Arts, Culture, and Education shape American heritage in the United States.
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Arts, Culture and EducationPlacesExplore the places associated with art, culture, and education in the United States.
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Arts, Culture and EducationPeopleLearn about the people involved in arts, culture, and education.
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Arts, Culture and EducationEducation ResourcesHere you will find education resources associated with arts, culture, and education.
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Arts, Culture and EducationTheme StudyTheme studies associated with arts, culture, and education in America.
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Arts, Culture and EducationAdditional ResourcesAdditional resources for exploring arts, culture and education in America.
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- Boston National Historical Park
Mary Livermore
- Type: Person
- Locations: Boston National Historical Park
Mary Livermore dedicated her life to a variety of social causes, including: temperance, Civil War aid, and women's suffrage.
- Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
Series: Junior Ranger - Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
- Type: Article
- Locations: Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
Come paddle and float and explore ancient lava flows as you earn your Junior Ranger patch along the shores of Lake Roosevelt.
- Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument
Nina Allender
- Type: Person
- Locations: Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument
Nina Allender was the official political cartoonist of the National Woman's Party from 1913-1954. A classically-trained painter, she was recruited to become a cartoonist for the woman suffrage cause by Alice Paul. Her work helped change public opinion about what a suffragist and feminist looked like. The "Allender girl" was stylish, self-assured, and determined to claim her right to equality.
- Type: Person
Ruth Asawa is a famous artist and sculptor. This page explores her life and legacy.
- Boston African American National Historic Site
Edmonia Lewis
- Type: Person
- Locations: Boston African American National Historic Site
As the first internationally recognized African American and Native American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis overcame several barriers to achieve international recognition and acclaim as an artist.
- Type: Person
Albert Bierstadt was an American artist associated with the Hudson River school. In 1859, he joined Frederick W. Lander's survey party bound for the Rocky Mountains, taking countless photographs and making sketches which would become the studies for massive paintings immense in scale and grandiose in effect. His national and international fame was based on these large canvases depicting the sublime grandeur of the American west.
- Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens
- Type: Person
- Locations: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
The contributions of Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, activist, and member of the Cornish Art Colony, stand out in an artistic family.
- Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
Louis St. Gaudens
- Type: Person
- Locations: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
Louis St. Gaudens - Creativity and craft defined a solitary life among a community of artists.
- Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
Paul St. Gaudens
- Type: Person
- Locations: Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
Paul St. Gaudens was a pioneering ceramicist and member of the Cornish Colony. Along with his mother Annetta St. Gaudens, he created unique terra-cotta designs that incorporated Mayan, Persian and African influences.
- Type: Person
- Locations: Aztec Ruins National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park
Ann Axtell knew she wanted to study ancient cultures from the time she was six years old. It was not until much later that she quite understood what archeology was. In her words, “If there was an “ology” that told the story [of the past], and if there were “ologists” who knew anything about it, my course lay clear.”
Last updated: November 7, 2019