American Experience | Official Site

Film

Custer's Last Stand

The Last Stand, the final act of General George Custer's larger-than-life career, played out on a grand stage with a spellbound public engrossed in the drama. Part of the Wild West collection.

Film

In the early weeks of 1968, after a decade-long search for oil in Alaska's frozen wilderness, gas burst out of an exploratory well on the North Slope with such force the crew thought it was about to blow. Geologists soon calculated that as much as ten billion barrels of oil lay below the frozen tundra of Prudhoe Bay -- the largest oil find in North America.

Film

Panama Canal

In 1914, the Panama Canal connected the world’s two largest oceans. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where the French had failed disastrously, but the U.S. paid a price for victory.

The Gold Rush | Article

Vicente Perez Rosales

Perez Rosales was one of about 3,000 Chileans who received passports in 1848 to travel to California in search of gold.

Gold Fever | Article

Greetings from the Klondike

"For making a half-ounce ring out of Klondike gold they pay me $25. This is the greatest gold camp on record."

Film

The Mormons

A four-hour exploration into the richness, the complexities and the controversies of the Mormons' story as told through interviews with members of the church, leading writers and historians, and supporters and critics of the Mormon faith.

Building the Alaska Highway | Article

Alaska in the 1940s

Before the United States entered World War II, few Americans would have suspected that the territory of Alaska would play a role in America's fight against the Axis powers.

The Gold Rush | Article

Impact on California's Landscape

George C. Briggs arrived in California from Ohio in 1849, but didn't spend much time digging for gold. Instead, he grew fruit.

Film

The Boys of '36

The story of nine working-class young men from the University of Washington who took the rowing world and America by storm when they captured the gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Film

Wyatt Earp

A central figure in the narrative of how the west was won, Wyatt Earp and his story became an American legend. Part of the Wild West collection.

The Boys of '36 | Audio

Radio Coverage of the 1936 Olympics

Radios across the world were tuned in on August 14, 1936 when nine working-class boys from the University of Washington took gold at Hitler's Olympics.

Film

The Gilded Age

Meet the titans and barons of the glittering late 19th century, whose materialistic extravagance contrasted harshly with the poverty of the struggling workers who challenged them. The vast disparities between them sparked debates still raging today.

Film

Dinosaur Wars

In the late 19th century, paleontologists Edward Cope and O.C. Marsh uncovered the remains of hundreds of prehistoric animals in the American West, including dozens of previously undiscovered dinosaur species. But the rivalry that developed between them would spiral out of control, permanently damaging their careers and threatening the future of American paleontology.

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Mr. Tornado

Mr. Tornado is the remarkable story of the man whose groundbreaking work in research and applied science saved thousands of lives and helped Americans prepare for and respond to dangerous weather phenomena.

Film

Lindbergh

At 25, Charles A. Lindbergh — handsome, talented, and brave — arrived in Paris, the first man to fly across the Atlantic. But the struggle to wear the mantle of legend would be a consuming one. Crowds pursued him, reporters invaded his private life. His marriage, travels with his wife and the kidnapping and murder of their first child were all fodder for the front page.