The history of school subjects is rather recent: it started in the last four decades, in France. It shows not only the influence of so-called “high-sciences” on school, but also the internal and local production of “school culture”, that has its own dignity and indeed its effects on society. In order to study this “school culture”, the historians of education have used different archives and sources, for a history of school subject didactics must research into the implementation of school programs but is not confined to that. Hence, not only the study of the laws and decrees, but also the study of text-book is important- indeed is today a very relevant field. Text books may be studied with different methodologies: quantitative, qualitative, and also new digital technologies. The study of school printing houses is also relevant, as well as the investigation into teacher training and teacher magazines and associations, that promoted cultural ad didactic updating. The history of school subjects teaching is in fact linked with the history of teachers and teacher magazines and associations. Another relevant source is that of teaching tools. Lastly, school-exercise books, text produced by pupils, teachers and pupils’ diaries, class registers, exams are relevant sources that allow to reconstruct how a school subject was really taught by teachers. The articles highlights the most recent results of Italian research into this topic.