Making History in Central North America

Based on the world-renowned collections of the Newberry Library in Chicago, “Frontier to Heartland” offers access to historical primary sources, scholarly perspectives on the past, and resources to help you use the site.

Perspectives

Essays with a point of view

In words and pictures Perspectives explain how central North America came to be known as a "frontier" and then a "heartland." You can trace the history of the region over 400 years, consider the cultural power of images, or learn how to read historic maps.

Galleries

Thematic collections of images

Galleries are a quick way to view a range of themes in Frontier to Heartland.  Each gallery presents eight related images and links to the image collection.

Browse Archive

Profile of Custer

The title page of Custer's memoir characterized it as "Being a Complete History of Indian Life, Warfare, and Adventure in America. Making Specially Prominent the Late Indian War, with Full…

The Riot at Forty-Ninth Street, 1894

Chicago was relatively peaceful during the early weeks of the American Railway Union's boycott of Pullman sleeping cars. Major violence erupted only after a federal court ordered the arrest of Eugene…

Farm woman gathering eggs

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company
Although tending poultry was considered "women's work" on midwestern farms, it was a profitable enterprise that brought in much needed cash for farm families.

Custer's Last Rally

In the preface to the book, the author, T. M. Newson, claims, "Most scenes described, and nearly all the incidents narrated, in the pages of this book, were part of my own personal experience of a…

American Indian Center, 5th Annual American Indian Pow-Wow

Organized in 1953, Chicago's American Indian Center promoted a sense of community among Indians from diverse tribal groups. The annual pow-wow is an opportunity to showcase Indian dancing, music, and…

Pioneers Entering Kentucky

This drawing appeared in an account of Daniel Boone's early settlement in Kentucky that emphasized the hostility of American Indians to the newcomers.

William Jennings Bryan

Born in Illinois, William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) made his political career in Nebraska. Known as the Great Commoner, he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for U.S. President three times. As the…

College of Complexes curriculum, March 1965

Slim Brundage had been a bouncer at the Dill Pickle Club in the 1920s and the manager of a short-lived open forum known as the Knowledge Box in the 1930s. In the 1950s he opened his own club known as…
Four more random images