In 1850, a letter sent from a city on the East Coast to California took many weeks to arrive. What carried that letter across the country?

The Pony Express used relays of horseback riders to rush mail west in about ten days. It stopped running after only about a year and a half. What ended it?

Operators tapped a key to send messages as coded electric signals along wires strung on tall poles. This invention was the ___.

A town got its first telephone line in 1890. The town had already used a telegraph for years. What could people do with the telephone that the telegraph did not let them do?

In 1855, news of an event in one city could reach a distant city faster by a letter carried on horseback than by telegraph.

In the 1920s, American families began gathering in the evening around a new machine that brought music and news into the home through the air, with no wire running to the sender. What was this machine?

Television sets spread into American homes during the 1950s. What did television add that radio could not give a family?

Today a student can send a written message with a photograph attached to a friend across the country, and it arrives in seconds. What technology carries that message?

A museum shows four communication inventions: the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, and the television. Which one came into use first?

Across the 1800s, telegraph wires were often strung on poles that ran right beside the railroad tracks. Why did companies place the wires there?

Before telephones and the internet, how did many people send long-distance messages?

Telegraph operators sent messages as patterns of short and long signals called dots and dashes. What was this code called?

True or False: Alexander Graham Bell is known for inventing the telephone in 1876.

What was the Pony Express best known for?

Which source helped many communities learn local news before radio and television were common?

In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to Americans in their homes through talks called fireside chats. What carried his voice into their homes?

True or False: Most families in the 1800s sent telegraph messages from a machine in their own homes.

In 1866, a cable laid across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean let messages travel between the United States and Europe in minutes instead of days by ship. What kind of messages did it carry?

Why was the printing press important for communication?

Which communication method depends on satellites or cell towers?

True or False: In the past, news often traveled more slowly because messages had to be carried by people, animals, ships, or trains.

What is one advantage of video calls compared with letters?

What job did a town crier do in some communities long ago?

Which communication tool is most likely used to share emergency alerts with many people today?

True or False: The internet came into wide use in American homes after television did.

Which item would most likely be a primary source about communication long ago?

What is one way communication technology has changed daily life?

Which communication method would be hardest to use without electricity or batteries?

True or False: In 1775, Benjamin Franklin became the first Postmaster General, in charge of carrying the mail for the colonies.

What was one purpose of posters and flyers in the past?

Which invention let newspapers and magazines show readers real pictures of people and events, not just drawings?

Why might a message sent by ship in the 1700s take a long time to arrive?

True or False: Social media was how most American families shared news with each other in the 1920s.

Which choice shows a change from past to present communication?

What is one reason the U.S. Postal Service has been important?

Which communication tool was especially useful for ships at sea before modern phones?

True or False: In 1815, American and British soldiers fought the Battle of New Orleans after their countries had already signed a peace treaty, because news of the treaty took weeks to cross the ocean by ship.

What should people do when they find information online?

In the early 1900s, postal services began putting mail on airplanes instead of only trains and ships. What did airmail service do for long-distance letters?

How did railroads affect communication in the United States?