MassachusettsHISTORY EXPLORERS GRADES 3–8
Language / Idioma
Choose your path

Reading tools & my notebook
My passport
Quick glossary
evidence
Information from a source that helps us test a claim.
source
A document, object, image, or account we can examine.
inference
An explanation based on clues; it still needs checking.
migration
Moving from one place to another to live.
immigrant
A person who moves to another country to live.
estimate
An approximate amount, based on available information.
oral history
A recorded interview about someone’s memories and experiences.
community
People connected by a place, relationships, or shared activities.
ancestry
Family origins across generations.
primary source
Evidence created by someone who experienced a time or event.

Provenance & reuse

Every image has a source.

Historical objects, documentary photographs, and data-derived maps are identified here. No generated image is presented as historical evidence.

Faneuil Hall, Boston

Kevin Rutherford

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗

2020-05-04. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Massachusetts state seal, 1901 design

E. H. Garrett; vector adaptation by Wikimedia Commons user Sagredo, with Xrmap elements

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

1901 design; later vector adaptation. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Reconstructed English village at Plimoth Patuxet Museums

Tr!sie

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 3.0 ↗

2011-07-20. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Fenway Park exterior

Todd Van Hoosear

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗

2016-04-18. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Boston, its environs and harbour, with the rebels works raised against that town in 1775

Sir Thomas Hyde Page (1746–1821)

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain in the United States ↗

circa 1775 (cataloged [1775?]). Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Massachusetts and New England geographic boundaries, 2024

U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division

Source & object record ↗ · U.S. government geographic data; free reuse with source acknowledgment ↗

2024 data. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Frederick Douglass, circa 1879

George Kendall Warren

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

circa 1879. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Elizabeth Freeman

Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

1811 (Massachusetts Historical Society and National Women’s History Museum); Commons dates circa 1812. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Abigail Smith Adams

Gilbert Stuart

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

begun 1800, delivered 1815. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Wampanoag canoe making at Plimoth Patuxet

EgorovaSvetlana

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

June 14, 2008. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Nantucket African Meeting House before restoration

Jack Boucher, Historic American Buildings Survey / National Park Service

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain (U.S. federal government work) ↗

September 1968. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Massachusetts redware cup or porringer

Daderot (photographer); object maker unidentified

Source & object record ↗ · CC0 1.0 ↗

Object: 1800–1830; photograph: December 21, 2017. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

North Shore redware jug

Daderot (photographer); object maker unidentified

Source & object record ↗ · CC0 1.0 ↗

Object: circa 1780; photograph: December 21, 2017. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Edgartown Harbor, Martha’s Vineyard

EgorovaSvetlana

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

July 31, 2010. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

The Boston Massacre, or, The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5, 1770 by a party of the 29th Regiment

Paul Revere Jr., after Henry Pelham

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain; The Met Open Access ↗

1770. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

John Smith’s New England map, first published 1616

John Smith (1580–1631), cartographer/author; Humfrey Lownes, book printer, as cataloged by Commons

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

1616 publication; map records observations from 1614. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Six towns of Martha’s Vineyard, Census 2024 boundaries

U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division

Source & object record ↗ · Federal geographic data, free to reuse with Census source acknowledgment ↗

2024. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Natural Earth world countries, 1:110 million

Natural Earth; Tom Patterson, Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso, and contributors

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

Downloaded 2026-09-23. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Natural Earth major rivers and lake centerlines, 1:110 million

Natural Earth contributors

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

Downloaded 2026-09-23. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Natural Earth lakes, 1:110 million

Natural Earth contributors

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

Downloaded 2026-09-23. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Map of the district of Maine, Massachusetts, compiled from actual surveys

Osgood Carleton

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain ↗

1800, as cataloged. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Aquinnah cliffs and Gay Head Lighthouse

MarinelaK

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

2019. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Massachusetts State House

Christian David

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

2026. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

John Winthrop, 17th-century American Antiquarian Society portrait

Unknown artist; collection of the American Antiquarian Society

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain (PD-Art / expired copyright) ↗

17th century. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Pu - Mercenaria mercenaria - 1

Emőke Dénes

Source & object record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

2018-08-30. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Wampum ej perry

Photograph by Mary Meredith (Wikimedia user Uyvsdi); beads made by Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag)

Source & object record ↗ · Public domain dedication by photographer (PD-self) ↗

2009-03-13. Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Lantern associated with the signal from Old North Church on April 18, 1775, Concord Museum

Daderot (photographer); lantern maker unknown

Source & object record ↗ · CC0 1.0 Universal ↗

about 1770 (Concord Museum catalog). Images may be resized and responsively cropped. Adapted CC BY-SA images retain their stated license.

Fonts & original learning materials

Historic display headings use IM Fell English SC by Igino Marini, under the SIL Open Font License. This modern revival evokes early printing; it is not presented as a typeface unique to Puritans. Body text uses the accessible reading font throughout.

Lantern, quill, and compass icons: Lorc; sailboat: Delapouite; Game-icons.net, CC BY 3.0. Backgrounds removed and icon color changed. Shell interface icon: Lucide contributors, ISC license; stroke color changed. Interface symbols are modern icons, not historical artifacts.

Cormorant Garamond by Christian Thalmann and DM Sans by Colophon Foundry are used under the SIL Open Font License. Fonts are served locally.

The classroom readings, maps rendered from Census data, questions, and activities were prepared for this site. Historical quotations are identified; child-friendly paraphrases are not presented as the original author’s words. The site is not endorsed by the Commonwealth, museums, tribes, or sports organizations.

New gallery images

Artwork, installation photographs, and book covers come from the sources linked below. Credits identify the museum, photographer, publisher, or image record. Original artworks have not been generatively altered.

Portraits, places & book images

Images are factual portraits, related context images, artworks, or book covers. Context images are labeled; they are not portraits of the person. Elliot’s five illustrated guide outfits were generated from his supplied photograph and are not historical evidence.

Expanded hub image records

The museum, culture, atlas, and new biography records link to the institutions and image records used for this edition. Context photographs are labeled. A source credit does not mean an image has an open reuse license.

Explorer maps and Gosnold sources

  • Gosnold’s 1602 expedition, mapped in 1706

    University of Virginia Special Collections, F7 .G67 1706, via Encyclopedia Virginia. 1706 engraving is public domain; source page does not state a separate open license for its photograph.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • John Brereton’s voyage account: title page

    John Carter Brown Library, D602 .B841b2; Internet Archive scan, PDF page 7.. Public-domain 1602 printed text.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • A captain’s leading staff

    Jamestown Rediscovery, object 03402-JR.. Modern artifact photograph: no open reuse license stated on the source page; retain credit and source.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Godspeed replica on the water

    U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Joshua Adam Nuzzo, 070426-N-4515N-261.. Public domain in the United States: official U.S. Navy photograph.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Port St. Louis: Patuxet and Plymouth harbor

    Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division; image via Plimoth Patuxet Museums.. Public-domain 1613 engraving; museum page does not state a separate image license.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Coasts, harbors, and islands of New France

    Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division; Harrisse Collection.. Public-domain manuscript map; LoC exhibition reproduction.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Geographical map of New France

    Samuel de Champlain; John Carter Brown Library scan, via Wikimedia Commons.. Public domain; Commons identifies public-domain French work.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • New France: Champlain’s later map

    Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, Mapping Boston Collection; original listed as Private Collection.. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 per institutional IIIF manifest; also states no known copyright restrictions.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Verrazzano’s 1529 map: later facsimile detail

    Harvard Forest; facsimile from Paullin’s 1932 Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States, credited to Washington Secretary of State.. 1529 original is public domain; 1932 facsimile reuse status not separately stated on source page.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • La Nuova Francia

    Harvard Forest; historical description credits Stony Brook University Library.. Public-domain 1556 map; no separate open image license stated on source page.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • Virginia: John Smith’s Chesapeake map

    Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-73508; illustration in F229.S69.. No known restrictions on publication, per LoC record.

    Original image and rights record ↗
  • John Smith’s New England — 1624 impression

    Boston Public Library / Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center; Smith, John, 1580-1631. No known copyright restrictions. This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA).

    Original image and rights record ↗

Navigation illustration credits

Twelve original AI-assisted illustrations were created for this site’s navigation: compass, lantern, quill, State House, lighthouse, storybook, palette, telephone, ferry, museum, source magnifier, and headphones. They are topic cues, not archival objects, exact architectural records, or historical evidence. Map and artwork previews continue to show the referenced source images.

CAI audio

The November 21, 2019 episode streams from the publisher’s audio address. The recording belongs to its rights holders.

CAI’s original program and description

Opening illustration and delivery images

The opening Massachusetts montage was supplied by Elliot. It is an imaginative illustration with historical themes, not a primary source. Event packets repeat the credit and source for each image they use. Some website photograph files have been re-encoded for faster delivery without changing their pixel dimensions; source identities and licenses remain unchanged.

Explore the six lessons →Image credits & sources →
Browse all collections