Alcohol, Temperance and Prohibition
http://dl.lib.brown.edu/temperance/
This site provides images of "broadsides, sheet music, pamphlets and government publications" that have been collected at Brown for over three centuries for researchers ... interested in American history, including the history of alcoholism, and in how the media was used for spreading ideas and information, and in how the arts presented various movements." Also includes a historical essay. Searchable, or browsable by document creator, publisher, or title. From Brown University Library. |
American 1890s: A Chronology
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/america.html
Provides Links to Personalities;
Social, Political, Literary; Economic, Cultural Events; Art, Music, and Architecture of the Decade; Links by Year. Jointly produced by Dr. William E. Grant and Ken Dvorak, American Culture Studies Program, Bowling Green State University. |
American Civil War Homepage
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/
The American Civil War Homepage seeks to provide a comprehensive directory of hypertext links about the Civil War period (1861-1865). Intended for general audiences, this Internet directory covers the war from the major military, political, and social perspectives. Links arranged in broad categories take the user to sites that supply narrative overviews, bibliographies, photographs, and primary source documents. Updating is frequent, but the large number of listings does result in some dead links. The contact information is current and responsive to feedback. For both beginners and serious Civil War researchers, this site is a logical starting point.--RUSA Best Ref List |
American Experience (PBS) - Reconstruction: The Second Civil War
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/
Companion site for PBS program; includes sections on: Forty Acres and a Mule, Plantations in Ruins, Black Legislators, Northerners in the South, Access to Learning, Slave to Sharecropper, The Negro Question, In God We Trust, White Men Unite, State by State. Also 1870 Map (see what happened state by state after the war), Black Citizens (Freed slaves enter politics and seek civil rights), Behind the Scenes (Take a virtual road trip with the film production team). |
American Family Immigration History Center
http://www.ellisisland.org/
"Located in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and on the World Wide Web, the American Family Immigration History Center (AFIHC) allows visitors to explore the extraordinary collection of immigrant arrival records stored in the Ellis Island Archives. Searching our archives can help inform your own family's story--inspiring a new sense of your place in the larger story of American immigration. More than 22 million passengers and members of ships' crews entered the United States through Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1892 and 1924. Information about each person was written down in ships' passenger lists, known as "manifests." Manifests were used to examine immigrants upon arrival in the United States. Now you can search these millions of records for information on individual Ellis Island passengers. In the Passenger Record Archive, you'll find: passenger records, giving passenger name, date of arrival, ship of travel, age on arrival, and more original manifests, showing passenger names and other information ship information, often with a picture, giving the history and background of each ship that brought the immigrants. You can keep copies of the passenger records, manifests, and ship images in Your Ellis Island File--which you can open on Ellis Island or here on this Website. Our Community Archive is a growing collection of annotations to the passenger records. Sustaining Members of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (SOLEIF) create the annotations, which give new information on a passenger's background and life in the United States. Nonmembers and members alike can view the annotations." |
American Memory Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
"American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning." Hundreds of collections available. |
American Presidents - Life Portraits
http://www.americanpresidents.org/
The American Presidents web site, created for the (PBS) television series, contains a complete video archive of all American Presidents: Life Portraits programming, plus these additional resources: • Biographical facts • Key events of each presidency • Presidential places • Reference material.
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American RadioWorks - White House Tapes: The President Calling
http://www.americanradioworks.org/features/prestapes/
"White House Tapes: The President Calling" by Stephen Smith and Kate Ellis: "Three
of America's most compelling presidents - Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon - bugged
their White House offices and tapped their telephones. They left behind thousands
of secretly recorded conversations, from momentous to mundane. In this documentary
project, American RadioWorks eavesdrops on presidential telephone calls to
hear how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history." Major funding
for American RadioWorks comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. |
Biography of America
http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/
Annenberg/CPB -- companion Web site to the video series and telecourse of the same name, "A Biography of America" provides a text transcript of each of the 26 videos, maps, timelines, and Webliographies that enhance the content of the series. In-depth articles that complement the series are also included. |
BLM Historical Photographs
http://www.photos.blm.gov/
Bureau of Land Management’s historical photo database. View more than 2,500 historic photo images taken across the United States from 1890 - 1970. Many of the images highlight traditional activities found on the public lands, such as grazing and mining. There are also photos of covered wagons, homesteading, and surveying of the West. [Link is temporarily unavailable during site reorganization. 4/28/07] |
By Popular Demand: Portraits of Presidents
and First Ladies, 1789-Present
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/preshome.html
The Library of Congress has extensive resources for the study of the United States presidents and first ladies. Frequent requests for presidential portraits inspired Prints and Photographs Division staff to compile this ready reference aid of formal and informal pictures in the division's custody. The selected images include at least one likeness of each of the forty-one presidents and most of the first ladies. This presentation inaugurates a series of online illustrated reference aids that will appear under the running title "By Popular Demand". |
Chesterwood: The Workshop of an American Sculptor
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/100chesterwood/100chesterwood.htm
Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan: "This lesson is based on the National Historic Landmark nomination file, "Daniel Chester French Home and Studio," materials prepared for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Daniel Chester French, An American Sculptor, by Michael Richman. It was written by Rita Koman, an education consultant. The lesson was edited by Fay Metcalf, Marilyn Harper, and the Teaching with Historic Places staff. TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources Training Initiative and Parks as Classrooms programs of the National Park Service. This lesson is one in a series that brings the important stories of historic places into classrooms across the country.
Topics: This lesson could be used in American history, social studies, and geography courses in units on late 19th, and early 20th-century reform movements, on the growth of urban America, or in an introduction to American art history." |
Civil War Maps - (American Memory from the Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps/
Project "brings together materials from three premier collections: the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia." --Marylaine Block Neat New Stuff |
Crisis at Fort Sumter: Using Multimedia to Teach the Coming of the Civil War
http://www.tulane.edu/~sumter/
Crisis at Fort Sumter is an interactive, multimedia, decision-making program
that recreates the events and decisions that led to the firing on Fort Sumter
and the beginning of the Civil War. The program features video, still images,
maps, music, text, and hypertext to convey information and bring immediacy
to the events surrounding Fort Sumter. ... Crisis at Fort Sumter possesses
a number of interactive features to strengthen critical and analytical skills.
Users are asked at each of the five main junctures, called "Problems," what
they would do if they were in Lincoln's position and why they would choose
such a course of action. ... For more advanced history students, the commentary
provides insight into the historiographical debate about the Sumter question
by historians such as Kenneth Stampp, Richard Current, and David Potter.
Crisis at Fort Sumter uses computer technology to convey the contingent quality
of history and the idea that written history is an open-ended, analytical,
and interpretive process. The program is framed by an "inquiry" or "problem
solving" pedagogy which provides users with an array of information, including
original documents, to facilitate intelligent discussion." |
Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/
"This special exhibition is the second in a series of public previews of unique documents from the collections of the Library of Congress. These previews will culminate in the permanent exhibition, "Treasures of the Library of Congress," funded by the Xerox Foundation, which will open in 1997, the 100th anniversary of the Thomas Jefferson Building." |
Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
http://www.densho.org/
"Densho's mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. We offer these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy and promote equal justice for all." Densho is a nonprofit organization started in 1996, with the initial goal of documenting oral histories from Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. |
Detroit Publishing Company Online Exhibit, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/dpc/
"Photographer to the World: The canals of Venice. The Casbah. The Colorado Rockies. In the days before television, Americans longed to see exotic sights. The photographers of the Detroit Publishing Company, founded in 1895, brought the world to everyone's living room." Thumbnails and Virtual tour. |
Digital History
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
The product of a partnership between several prestigious educational and cultural organizations, "using new technologies to enhance teaching and research." Includes an online American history text, interactive timelines of American history, a collection of primary sources, lesson plans and classroom handouts for teachers, multimedia presentations, and more. Its history reference room offers biographies, chronologies, glossaries, images, maps, and more. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the search function. |
Discovering Lewis & Clark
http://www.lewis-clark.org/
"Conceived in 1993, and online since 1998, Discovering Lewis & Clark® is a hyperhistory in progress. It is enhanced by at least one new interpretive episode each month, employing a variety of multmedia techniques. It focuses on issues, values and visions relating to the Lewis & Clark Expedition, its preludes, and its aftermath up to the present time." Very cool website! |
Documents For The Study Of American History (AMDOCS)
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/
Part of the WWW Virtual Library, AMDOCS is maintained by George Laughead Jr., manager; WWW-VL: United States History, and Kansas History, and by Dr. Lynn H. Nelson, original author, WWW-VL: History, and the History Gateway at Kansas, established in 1993. |
Dream of Flight, The (Library of Congress Presentation)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/wb-home.html
This Library of Congress presentation "commemorating the centennial of flight" uses the "Library's rarest and most significant materials to explore the notion that flight, whether fanciful or actual, has inspired and occupied a central place in most cultures." Items of special interest to children and families are highlighted with an icon. |
Duluth Lynchings Online Resource
http://collections.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/
Historical Documents Relating to the Tragic Events of June 15, 1920. "This web site facilitates access to over 2,000 pages of scanned documents, the vast majority originating from MHS’s recently completed microfilm edition of Duluth lynchings records. Completed in 2001, this microfilm reproduces records from nine Minnesota government agencies and additional related items. Until the microfilm edition was created, these records were spread over several MHS collections, making them difficult to locate and study, especially for younger students and casual researchers. This site is not an online exhibit, but rather a digital collection providing primary source materials with a minimum of interpretation. We have sought to provide a limited narrative that provides a succinct explanation of the lynchings and the context in which they happened." --from the Minnesota Historical Society. |
Einstein Archives Online
http://alberteinstein.info/
"The Einstein Archives Online Website provides the first online access to Albert Einstein’s scientific and non-scientific manuscripts held by the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and to an extensive Archival Database, constituting the material record of one of the most influential intellects in the modern era. The site allows viewing and browsing of approx. 3,000 high-quality digitized images of Einstein’s writings, available for viewing in two sizes ... The site enables access to the online version of the Albert Einstein Archives Finding Aid, a comprehensive description of the entire repository of Albert Einstein’s personal papers held at the Hebrew University. ... The Archival Database allows direct access to approx. 43,000 records of Einstein and Einstein related documents. The records published in this online version pertain to Albert Einstein’s scientific and non-scientific writings, his professional and personal correspondence, notebooks, travel diaries, personal documents, and third-party items contained in the original collection of Einstein’s personal papers. ..."
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Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/
"The Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum have partnered to create an online collection of some of the most influential and important American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century. The goal of this project is to make these materials available to a wider audience.
Digital images of the pages of each cookbook are available as well as full-text transcriptions and the ability to search within the books, across the collection, in order to find specific information." |
Finding Sources -- American History
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p03_c05_s3.html
From Bedford/St. Martin's Press and Diana Hacker (editor of A Writer's Reference) comes this web guide to finding sources in history. Starting with Databases and Indexes, it also offers Web Resources and Reference Books. A guide to documenting sources is included. Overall a balanced approach to finding all types of sources in academic subject areas. |
Freedom: A History of Us
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/
"Come along on an exciting journey through Joy Hakim's story of freedom in America. Explore a webisode and see why the promise of freedom has attracted millions of people from all over the world to come to America. Hear for yourself why generations of men, women, and children have lived for, sacrificed for, and died for that freedom. It is a story that is still unfolding today. It is your story too." Site features interactive games, image browser, and this week in history. Produced by Kunhardt Productions, Thirteen, WNET, New York (PBS site).
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Freedom's Fortress: The Library of Congress,
1939-1953
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/freedoms_fortress/
This site "tells the history of the Library of Congress during a particularly important period ... [when] the Library underwent a myriad of changes that established the institution as one of America's foremost citadels of intellectual freedom." Search and browse thousands of images representing memoranda, letters, photographs, and other resources. Offers biographical sketches of key figures such as Archibald Macleish and Luther Harris Evans. From the American Memory project at the Library of Congress. |
From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life
in America
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/
To commemorate the 350th anniversary (2004) of Jewish settlement in the United States, the Library of Congress created this exhibition featuring more than 200 items from its Judaica collection. The items portray the Jewish experience from immigration and acculturation to discrimination, acceptance, and assimilation. Items displayed include George Washington's letter to the Newport Hebrew Congregation, General Grant's edict banning Jews from Kentucky, and Abraham Lincoln's letter rescinding that ban. |
H H Bennett's Photographs
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/hhbennett/
"During a career that lasted from 1865 to 1908, H. H. Bennett photographed the rugged landscape of his beloved Wisconsin Dells, and became one of the premier photographers of the era." Browse more than 650 images, organized by themes such as bridges, Civil War era, lumber rafting, sailing, and steamboats. From the Wisconsin Historical Society." |
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, The
http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/
"Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) is best known today as the author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' which helped galvanize the abolitionist cause and contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War." This site provides information about her life and writings, her house in Hartford, Connecticut, digitized documents, bibliographies, and links to related sites. |
HBO Documentaries - Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/lastlettershome/
Companion site to a Home Box Office (HBO) program that features the letters of soldiers killed in action in Iraq. Features profiles of the families of the soldiers, a selection of letters, a discussion board, and a place to submit stories. |
Henry Ford Museum Collections
http://www.hfmgv.org/collections/
The collections of The Henry Ford document America's traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness and innovation. When Henry Ford founded The Henry Ford in 1929, he wanted to "give us a sense of unity...through the generations, and to convey the inspiration of American genius to our youth." Ford believed that contact with the everyday objects of life, as well as innovations and inspirational creations by American inventors were essential to accomplish that aim. He amassed an unparalleled collection, including tens of thousands of ordinary objects, items associated with illustrious Americans, and inventions documenting technological advances. Today this collection is considered the "finest assembled documenting the American experience." |
Historical Voices: Preserving and Displaying Our Cultural Heritage
http://www.historicalvoices.org/
"A substantial portion of our cultural heritage from the 20th century is recorded in enormous collections of spoken-word materials. Yet much of it may be lost or remain hidden away in archives and private collections, making the voices inaccessible to students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The purpose of Historical Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century - the first large-scale repository of its kind. Historical Voices will both provide storage for these digital holdings and display public galleries that cover a variety of interests and topics. The primary goals of Historical Voices are to develop both a rich set of exhibits and educational curricula that fully incorporate sound files." |
History & Culture - National Park Service
http://www.cr.nps.gov/
"History is everywhere. In nearly 400 national parks and every hometown. It covers everything from the remnants of ancient civilizations to the boyhood homes of U.S. Presidents to the stirring sagas of hard-fought wars to the reverberations of one woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus. History is a part of who we were, who we are, and who we will be. As you explore these pages, we hope you find what you are looking for – but even more importantly, we hope you discover something that surprises you. We invite you to learn more about history and how the National Park Service works to preserve it." |
HistoryBuff
http://www.historybuff.com/
HistoryBuff.com (an interesting and content-rich history site) provides Online Newspaper Archives--scanned versions of newspaper articles from 1700 on. The collection is very selective, but covers key historical events. For example, there are a number of articles from 1865 about Lincoln's death and funeral. And the 1945 folder contains articles about Hitler's death, the atomic bomb, and the end of WWII. You can zoom in on the pages quite a bit and get little printable chunks of the newspaper pages. You might need to print out two different pages to get a full story, but you could also digitally manipulate the partial images in a simple image editing program to get the full story on one printable page. The user interface is not highly, well, usable, and it's a bit slow. But this is the type of resource that should be available through those history databases that libraries spend a fortune on. How many times have you had students needing "primary source material" for a historical event? What better way to provide them with that than beautiful high-quality scanned images of newspapers from those dates? This site is wonderful and I suggest that reference librarians (adult & children's alike) put this in your online toolkit immediately. --Sarah Houghton, Librarian in Black |
History Cooks®
http://www.historycooks.com/
This site for culinary historian and author Mary Gunderson presents several recipes from her book "The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark," such as "Monticello muffins" and hominy with bacon. Includes classroom activities involving plantation, pioneer farm, Oregon Trail, cowboy, and American Indian cooking projects. Also includes food and history links. |
History Cooperative
http://www.historycooperative.org/
The History Cooperative is "a pioneering nonprofit humanities resource offering top-level online history scholarship. Besides full text, the site also contains collateral content, including multimedia elements that could not be reproduced in the print versions of some articles." Includes top historical journals like American Historical Review, Journal of American History, The History Teacher, and a dozen others. --Marylaine Block Neat New Stuff |
History Detectives
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/index.html
"History Detectives [PBS series team] is devoted to exploring the complexities of historical mysteries, searching out the facts, myths and conundrums that connect local folklore, family legends and interesting objects. Traditional investigative techniques, modern technologies, and plenty of legwork are the tools the History Detectives team of experts uses to give new - and sometimes shocking - insights into our national history. The hosts of the program are a high-energy quartet of renowned experts in the world of historical investigations. Their expertise ranges from architecture, popular culture and sociology to archeology, collectibles and genealogy. The hosts and crew log thousands of miles each season crisscrossing the country investigating mysteries in your backyard. Now in its fourth season, History Detectives boasts a loyal and devoted audience who contribute more than 75% of the stories investigated. You can even submit a story now." Website offers episode information and companion resources, Investigative Techniques, Do It Yourself Resources, a Video Library, and Games. |
History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
Designed for teachers and students at the high school and college levels, History Matters is a gateway site to web-based materials about U.S. History. A search engine, as well as broad topical links, provide access to primary documents, images, audio files, and secondary articles that connect the user to people and places throughout U.S. History. Students can also find links to quality resources for guidance on research standards, citing material, analyzing primary sources, and evaluating web sites. Teaching resources include syllabi, strategies from successful history teachers, and sample assignments using web resources. History Matters is an excellent resource for students seeking a clearinghouse for information about U.S. History, and teachers looking for ways to enhance their teaching.--RUSA Best Ref List |
James Madison Papers
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/madison_papers/
The Library of Congress has announced the release of the James Madison Papers, now available on the Library's American Memory Web site. They consist of approximately 12,000 items captured in some 72,000 digital images. They document the life of the man who came to be known as the "Father of the Constitution" through correspondence, personal notes, drafts of letters and legislation, an autobiography, legal and financial documents, and miscellaneous manuscripts. |
Korea: The Unfinished War
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/korea/
"
To fully grasp the ongoing tensions between the United States and North Korea,
it is important to understand the war that ended fifty years ago." This companion
to an American RadioWorks program from July 2003 includes audio clips and
transcripts, oral histories, maps, related links, and commentary from reporters,
historians, and scholars. Also features illustrated essays about the effect
of the Korean War on the Cold War and integration in the armed forces. American
RadioWorks. |
Legends Online--The Sixties
http://pdngallery.com/legends/legends9/
Excerpts from a 1999 book by photographer Richard Avedon and Doon Arbus, his long-time creative collaborator. Features selected images of '60s personalities such as Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, John Lennon, and Twiggy. Also includes an interview with Avedon and Arbus, brief biographies of featured subjects, and a chronology of events for 1960 through 1973. |
Military History Web Resources
http://www.hist.unt.edu/military_web.htm
Links from the University of North Texas Department of History cover Pre Civil War, American Civil War, World War I and II, Post World War II, Military Organizations, General Military History, Aviation and Space, Anti-Aircraft Artillery Bibliography, 19th-20th Century Military History and Anti-Imperialism, The Spanish-American War, The Philippine War and Anti-Imperialism. |
NARA AAD (Access to Archival Databases)
http://www.archives.gov/aad/
Search, or browse by category (Genealogy/Personal History, Indexes to Photographs or Textual Records, Private Sector, Places, Wars/International Relations, Government Spending, Timespans) or by subjects. AAD gives you: Online access to a selection of nearly 50 million historic electronic records created by more than 20 federal agencies on a wide range of topics; the ability to search for records with the specific information that you seek; important contextual information to help you understand the records better, including code lists, explanatory notes from NARA archivists, and for some series or files in AAD, related documents. |
NARA - The Declaration of Independence (In Charters of Freedom)
http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/treasure/
"While the [2004] movie 'National Treasure' suggests that something is on the back of the Declaration of Independence, you've come to the right place to find out what's really on the reverse." The site features an image of the back, questions and answers about the Declaration, and the article "The Flip Side of History" (about what is written on the backs of other important historical documents). From the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). |
National Geographic: Lewis & Clark
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/
"When Thomas Jefferson dispatched Lewis and Clark to find a water route across North America and explore the uncharted West, he expected they'd encounter woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a mountain of pure salt. What they found was no less surprising. See it all on our journey: journal entries, historical photos, drawings, and more." |
National Museum of American History
http://americanhistory.si.edu/
Part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., here you can check out online exhibits, including the history of the presidency and the Star Spangled Banner; visit the music room, and the timeline of US history. |
National Museum of American History: History Explorer
http://americanhistory.si.edu/explorer/index.cfm
There are many ways to explore the various facets of history, and some of the world's leading museums have come up with a host of online multimedia tools to bring people into this subject that is sometimes erroneously perceived to be dry and uninteresting. The inventive people at the National Museum of American History have recently developed the History Explorer which allows those surfing the Web to browse through an interactive timeline of American history. The interface is composed of items from the Museum's various online collections, exhibitions and programs, such as Plymouth Rock and a world map from 1511. Visitors can zoom in and out through the timeline and its objects and also elect to toggle on or off various themes, such as "Arts and Culture", "Peopling America", and "Politics and Reform". Overall, this is a very well-thought-out tool for learning about American history and one that will engage a wide range of persons. |
National Park Service: A Multitude of Amendments,
Alterations and Additions
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/dube/inde1.htm
Online book by Ann Marie Dube, subtitle: The Writing and Publicizing of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States. |
National Security Archive
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals. On March 17, 2000, Long Island University named the National Security Archive as winner of a Special George Polk Award for 1999 for "piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy" and "serving as an essential journalistic resource." |
National WWII Memorial
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/
"The World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces
of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort
from home. Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th Century, the memorial is
a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people. The
Second World War is the only 20th Century event commemorated on the National
Mall’s central axis." Site offers photo gallery and reunion messaging center. |
Native Americans in the US Military
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-1.htm
This site documents recent Native American participation in United States military actions. Find a summary of 20th century activity, Medal of Honor winners, and a history of the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, who transmitted crucial information by the virtually unbreakable "code" of the Navajo language. Includes a Navajo Code Talker dictionary. From the Naval Historical Center of the Department of the Navy. |
Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rotogravures/
"The collection includes an illustrated history of World War I selected from newspaper rotogravure sections that graphically documents the people, places, and events important to the war." Includes a gallery of selected images, a timeline, essays about the war and the rotogravure process, and searchable and browsable rotogravure pages from newspapers. From the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress. |
Nez Perce National Historic Trail
http://www.fs.fed.us/npnht/
"Congress passed the National Trails System Act in 1968, establishing a framework for a nationwide system of scenic, recreational, and historic trails. The Nez Perce (Nimíipuu or Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail stretches from Wallowa Lake, Oregon, to the Bear Paw Battlefield near Chinook, Montana. It was added to this system by Congress as a National Historic Trail in 1986." The website offers information on the people, culture, and wildlife of the Historic Trail, along with resources for kids and teachers, a photo gallery and documents. |
Outline of American History - Contents
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/histryotln/index.htm
A chronological look at how the United States took shape -- from its origins as an obscure set of colonies on the Atlantic coast a little more than 200 years ago into what one political analyst today calls "the first universal nation." This fully illustrated edition has been completely revised and updated by Alonzo L. Hamby, Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio University. (November 2005)
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Panama Pacific International Exposition (World's Fair)
http://www.exploratorium.edu/history/PPIE-3D/
Dozens of stereographic (three-dimensional) images first published to advertise the 1915 World's Fair in San Francisco, known formally as the Panama Pacific International Exposition. "Viewing the Stereographs" includes instructions for making or purchasing the 3-D lenses required to fully appreciate the special effects. Digitized for the San Francisco Exploratorium from a collection held by librarian Bess Moffitt. |
New Perspectives on the West (PBS series)
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
"In a conversation with us several years ago, the Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday remarked that the American West "is a place that has to be seen to be believed, and it may have to be believed in order to be seen." For five years we have travelled that landscape, photographed its vistas, talked to its people, sought out its history, all as part of our production of THE WEST, an eight-part documentary series for public television. Now -- 100,000 air-miles and 72 filmed interviews and 74 visits to archives and collections and more than 250 hours of film later -- we have begun to understand at least something of what Momaday meant." Site offers information on the programs, people (Interactive Biographical Dictionary profiling nearly 100 men and women portrayed in THE WEST), places (Interactive Map), and events (Interactive Timeline); with other resources (Archives of primary source material), lesson plans and a quiz. |
Picture History
http://www.picturehistory.com/
Describing itself as a digital library of high quality images and footage illustrating more than 200 years of American history, this site has indexed still images of maps, postcards, photographs, cartoons, stereo cards, periodicals, and more, in addition to video and audio clips. The resources can be accessed through rather broad categories, simple keyword searches, or by using the very good advanced search tool, which allows keyword searches to be limited by such attributes as date, medium, color, broad subject area, original format, or photographer. Images can be licensed, purchased or sent as a free e-card from the website. The picture history logo will be overlaid on images reproduced from the website. --RUSA Best Ref List |
Plimoth Plantation
http://www.plimoth.org/
This living history center in Plymouth, Massachusetts, re-creates a 1627 Pilgrim village that was "built by English colonists in the midst of the Wampanoag homeland." The site features a virtual tour of the village and a Wampanoag homesite, articles about the colonists and Native Americans, Thanksgiving recipes, and an interactive feature about the first Thanksgiving. Also includes tourist information for Plymouth. |
Pop Culture
http://www.fccj.edu/campuses/deerwood/dwclibrary/popcultureweb.html
This site provides a compilation of links to information about popular culture, cultural history, and fads in the United States during the 20th century. Browsable by decade or by topic, such as movies, popular music, and television. From the Deerwood Center Library at the Florida Community College at Jacksonville. |
Portrait of the USA
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/
An introduction, in words and pictures, to the United States — people, geography,
history, government, business, education, science and medicine, religion, social
services, the arts, sports and entertainment, and the media. (Updated 2003)
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Preservation Online
http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has received a number of awards for its magazine, Preservation, and their online version is well worth a look. The site is divided into several main sections, including “Today’s News”, “Preservation 911”, and the “Story of the Week”. The “Today’s News” feature is quite nice, and it contains brief profiles of current preservation stories written especially for this website. Recent stories have included profiles of neon signs in Los Angeles, brewery renovations in Milwaukee, and a list of the ten most endangered Civil War battlefields. The “Preservation 911” area features pressing preservation stories submitted by preservation advocates, and the “Story of the Week” focuses in on a particular ongoing preservation issue. The site is rounded out by an online archive which allows visitors to search back issues from 1992 to 2006. [KMG of Scout Report] |
Sears Archives
http://www.searsarchives.com/
Once again, Sears has made history. For the first time, Sears has opened the doors to its vast archival collection and invited the public to peek inside. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images are now available online. |
Smithsonian: History and Culture Exhibits
http://www.si.edu/history_and_culture/
Topics to explore include: Celia Cruz, Japanese Americans, Transportation, Lewis & Clark
as Naturalists, Profiles of Presidents, Brown vs. Board of Education, September
11, Early Mail Service, George Washington's Stuart portrait, Hall of Presidents,
Lakota Pictographic Calendars, Sports, Americans at War, Voting systems, Westpoint,
Julia Child's Kitchen. |
Studs Terkel: Conversations with America
http://studsterkel.org/
Conversations with America is a collection of the interviews Studs Terkel conducted for his books and for his radio program. Chicago Historical Society. |
Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/
"The work before you is based upon the original print version of the encyclopedia, which was published by the Tennessee Historical Society in 1998, after more than five years of planning and production. In the past two years spent preparing this electronic edition, original entries were updated, new entries researched and written, and many additional illustration materials were added. We will also add fresh information and new entries to this on-line version on a regular basis." |
The Cherokee Trail of Tears - 1838-1839
http://www.rosecity.net/tears/
Resources on this topic by various authors, collected and edited by Rose Net, P. O. Box 23, Gordonville, MO 63752-0023. |
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/
"Americans have gone to war to win their independence, expand their national boundaries, define their freedoms, and defend their interests around the globe. This exhibition examines how wars have shaped the nation's history and transformed American society." Features annotated images of hundreds of artifacts. Searchable, or browsable by conflict or by category of object. Also includes an exhibition guide and teaching materials. From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. |
The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers'
Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sgphtml/sashtml/
American Memory Project of the Library of Congress; Search or browse by date or list of issues. |
The Vietnam Project - Texas Tech University
http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/
"The mission of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University is to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia. Its functions are threefold: collection and preservation of pertinent source material; education through exhibits, classroom instruction, educational programs, and publications; and encouragement of scholarly research through exchanges, publishing of noteworthy research, symposia, and financial support." |
Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/trfhtml/trfhome.html
American Memory Project of the Library of Congress from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Search or browse collection by title or subject. |
Time Life Pictures: Defining visions of an enduring
history
http://www.timelifepictures.com/ms_timepix/source/home/home.aspx?pg=1
"Time & Life Pictures represents some of the world's most recognizable imagery. On this website, we offer content from the finest photojournalists, documenting past and present political and cultural events, as well as celebrities and the American experience." |
Underground Railroad Experience: Secret Routes to Freedom
http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/undergroundrailroadexperience/
An online exhibit on the Underground Railroad, the history of slavery in the United States, and slavery today. The "Routes" section features descriptions of the vast network of routes the slaves took to freedom. "Stories" focuses on the institution of slavery and the treatment of the slaves. Also includes learning tools, exhibitions, and related links. From the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC). [FLASH site works; HTML link does not] |
USA History in Brief
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/historybrf/index.htm
The first title in the new "In Brief" series, this publication summarizes in a few thousand words the history of how the United States was founded and the forces and events that shaped the dynamic and varied country that it has become today. (March 2007) |
U.S. State Department Publications by Topic
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/topic.htm
Many publications related to US History, some listed separately in this InSites page, organized by these topics: Democracy and Human Rights,
Economics and Trade, Environment and Communication, Foreign Policy and National Security, Society and Values, Outline Series. |
Valley of the Shadow -- Two Communities in the American Civil War
http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/
The Valley of the Shadow looks at the life of residents in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania, chronicling their experience of the American Civil War. Intended for students and teachers at both the secondary and college levels, the Valley of the Shadow provides a hypermedia archive of primary sources for a social history of these communities from 1859 through the Reconstruction period. The types of sources that are available include letters, diaries, newspapers, military records, photographs, church records, census records, and pensions. As a resource to explore the first-hand experience of the Civil War from the point of view of both the South and the North, the Valley of the Shadow is indispensable. --RUSA Best Ref Sites List |
Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/vets/
A project to "collect and preserve audio- and video-taped oral histories, along with documents such as letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and home movies, of America's war veterans and those who served in support of them during World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf wars." The Project Kit includes "information and forms you need to participate as a volunteer interviewer." From the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. |
Welcome to Alaska's Digital Archive
http://vilda.alaska.edu/
"Alaska's Digital Archive presents a wealth of historical photographs, oral histories, moving images, documents, and other materials from libraries, museums, and institutions" across the state of Alaska. Searchable, or browsable by collection. A collaborative effort of libraries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Alaska Anchorage, and the Alaska State Library in Juneau. |
Women of Influence (About America series)
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/womeninfln/
Prepared to commemorate International Women's Day, this electronic offering chronicles how 12 notable American women broke new ground, some by championing equal rights for all and others by their accomplishments in fields such as government, literature, and even in war. It consists of six mini-chapters: "Guiding Lights to a New World" (Sacagawea and Pocahontas), "The Colonial Era" (Anne Bradstreet and Anne Hutchinson), "Birth of a Nation" (Abigail Adams and Margaret Corbin), "Breaking the Chains of Slavery" (Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth), "A Woman's Right to Vote" (Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony), and "A Role in Government" (Jeannette Rankin and Hattie Caraway). (February 2006) |
World War I Sheet Music -- Brown Univ. digital collection
http://dl.lib.brown.edu/sheetmusic/ww1/index.html
The Center for Digital Initiatives at Brown University has created a number of fine collections since its inception in 2001, and this latest offering is no exception to that trend. The site is focused on providing access to hundreds of instances of sheet music that addresses various aspects of World War I. In this area, it is a definite success as the material is perfect for historians, musicians, or others who may be studying material and visual culture in the early 20th century. Users may browse through the sheet music by title, publisher, subject, and creator. Additionally, a historical essay and general introduction should be forthcoming on the site in the near future. Visitors would do well to check out such fine titles as "America He's for You", "Salvation Sal", and of course, "The Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun," with lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse. [KMG] --Internet Scout |
Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers -
1964-2001
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/online/woodstein/
These selections from the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Watergate Papers exhibit include images of newspaper articles, notes, letters, and related documents from the collection of these Washington Post journalists relating to their newspaper articles and their books, "All The President's Men" and "The Final Days." Includes annotations. The "finding aid" provides brief biographies and a full description of the collection. From the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin. |
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