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There are 284 matching records, sorted by relevance. Displaying matches 1 through 30 .
New Deal Network
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and Institute for Learning Technologies, Teachers College, Columbia University.
See JAH web review by Charles Forcey.
Reviewed 2002-03-01.
A database of more than 20,000 items relating to the New Deal. A “Document Library” contains more than 900 newspaper and journal articles, speeches, letters, reports, advertisements, and other textual materials, treating a broad array of subjects relevant to the period’s social, cultural, political, and economic history, while placing special emphasis on New Deal relief agencies and issues relating to labor, education, agriculture, the Supreme Court, and African Americans. The “Photo Gallery” of more than 5,000 images is organized into five units—“Culture,” “Construction,” “Social Programs,” “Federal Agencies,” and miscellaneous, including photos from 11 exhibitions and five series of photoessays, and images of disaster relief and public figures. The site additionally offers featured exhibits, many with lesson plan suggestions. Presently, the features section includes “The Magpie Sings the Depression,” a collection of 193 poems, articles, and short stories, and 275 graphics from a Bronx high school journal published between 1929 and 1941 with juvenile works by novelist James Baldwin, photographer Richard Avedon, cultural critic Robert Warshow, and film critic Stanley Kauffmann; “Dear Mrs Roosevelt” with selected letters written by young people to the first lady; “Student Activism in the 1930s,” which contains 38 photographs, graphics, and editorial cartoons, 12 American Student Union memoirs, 40 autobiographical essays, and a 20,000-word essay by Robert Cohen on 1930s campus radicalism; 17 selected interviews from American slave narratives gathered by the Works Progress Administration; and an illustrated essay on the history and social effects of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Includes approximately 100 annotated links to related sites. Of great value for teachers, students, and researchers interested in the social history of the New Deal era.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-10-18.
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and Institute for Learning Technologies, Teachers College, Columbia University.
See JAH web review by Charles Forcey.
Reviewed 2002-03-01.
A database of more than 20,000 items relating to the New Deal. A “Document Library” contains more than 900 newspaper and journal articles, speeches, letters, reports, advertisements, and other textual materials, treating a broad array of subjects relevant to the period’s social, cultural, political, and economic history, while placing special emphasis on New Deal relief agencies and issues relating to labor, education, agriculture, the Supreme Court, and African Americans. The “Photo Gallery” of more than 5,000 images is organized into five units—“Culture,” “Construction,” “Social Programs,” “Federal Agencies,” and miscellaneous, including photos from 11 exhibitions and five series of photoessays, and images of disaster relief and public figures. The site additionally offers featured exhibits, many with lesson plan suggestions. Presently, the features section includes “The Magpie Sings the Depression,” a collection of 193 poems, articles, and short stories, and 275 graphics from a Bronx high school journal published between 1929 and 1941 with juvenile works by novelist James Baldwin, photographer Richard Avedon, cultural critic Robert Warshow, and film critic Stanley Kauffmann; “Dear Mrs Roosevelt” with selected letters written by young people to the first lady; “Student Activism in the 1930s,” which contains 38 photographs, graphics, and editorial cartoons, 12 American Student Union memoirs, 40 autobiographical essays, and a 20,000-word essay by Robert Cohen on 1930s campus radicalism; 17 selected interviews from American slave narratives gathered by the Works Progress Administration; and an illustrated essay on the history and social effects of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Includes approximately 100 annotated links to related sites. Of great value for teachers, students, and researchers interested in the social history of the New Deal era.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-10-18.
A New Deal for the Arts
National Archives and Records Administration.
This exhibit, divided into five sections, presents artifacts from New Deal art programs, introduced by a 250-word essay. “Rediscovering America” discusses “artistic nationalism” and provides five photographs and five paintings of American scenes. “Celebrating the People” exhibits five paintings and one photo of people at work and two photos and three programs of celebrations of folk culture. In “Work Pays America,” five posters, two paintings, and two photos document and celebrate New Deal programs. The 11 works exhibited in “Activist Arts” make more and less subtle political arguments, including Dorothea Lange’s “Children in a Democracy” and a flier for a Workers’ Alliance meeting. A section on “Useful Arts” exhibits 15 pieces, including informational posters, photos of quilting lessons, and a WPA handcraft wall hanging. The exhibit is easy to navigate, although visitors must return to the home page between each section. Useful for those studying the politics, social messages, and images of the New Deal.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2001-05-30.
National Archives and Records Administration.
This exhibit, divided into five sections, presents artifacts from New Deal art programs, introduced by a 250-word essay. “Rediscovering America” discusses “artistic nationalism” and provides five photographs and five paintings of American scenes. “Celebrating the People” exhibits five paintings and one photo of people at work and two photos and three programs of celebrations of folk culture. In “Work Pays America,” five posters, two paintings, and two photos document and celebrate New Deal programs. The 11 works exhibited in “Activist Arts” make more and less subtle political arguments, including Dorothea Lange’s “Children in a Democracy” and a flier for a Workers’ Alliance meeting. A section on “Useful Arts” exhibits 15 pieces, including informational posters, photos of quilting lessons, and a WPA handcraft wall hanging. The exhibit is easy to navigate, although visitors must return to the home page between each section. Useful for those studying the politics, social messages, and images of the New Deal.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2001-05-30.
Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory
Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University.
See JAH web review by Philip J. Ethington.
Reviewed 2002-06-01.
This exhibit, curated by Carl Smith, a professor at Northwestern University, commemorates the 125th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire (1871). Offers an array of primary sources selected from materials in the Chicago Historical Society and arranged into two sections. “The Great Chicago Fire” examines the fire through five chronological chapters, while a second section, “The Web of Memory,” focuses more specifically on the ways in which the fire has been remembered. This section is organized into six chapters, each devoted to a particular theme, including eyewitness accounts, popular illustrations, journal articles, “imaginative forms such as fiction and poetry and painting,” and the legend of Mrs. O’Leary. Both sections furnish galleries of images and artifacts, primary texts, “special media” such as songs, a newsreel, and an “Interactive Panorama of Chicago, 1858,” and chapter-specific, authoritative background essays that explore the social and cultural contexts of this catastrophe. Also includes a bibliography of 20 sources. A well-designed site that provides a wide range of diverse sources useful for studying Chicago in late 19th century and the ways that the story of the catastrophe subsequently has been told.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-19.
Chicago Historical Society and Northwestern University.
See JAH web review by Philip J. Ethington.
Reviewed 2002-06-01.
This exhibit, curated by Carl Smith, a professor at Northwestern University, commemorates the 125th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire (1871). Offers an array of primary sources selected from materials in the Chicago Historical Society and arranged into two sections. “The Great Chicago Fire” examines the fire through five chronological chapters, while a second section, “The Web of Memory,” focuses more specifically on the ways in which the fire has been remembered. This section is organized into six chapters, each devoted to a particular theme, including eyewitness accounts, popular illustrations, journal articles, “imaginative forms such as fiction and poetry and painting,” and the legend of Mrs. O’Leary. Both sections furnish galleries of images and artifacts, primary texts, “special media” such as songs, a newsreel, and an “Interactive Panorama of Chicago, 1858,” and chapter-specific, authoritative background essays that explore the social and cultural contexts of this catastrophe. Also includes a bibliography of 20 sources. A well-designed site that provides a wide range of diverse sources useful for studying Chicago in late 19th century and the ways that the story of the catastrophe subsequently has been told.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-19.
America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935–1945
American Memory, Library of Congress.
More than 160,000 images taken by government photographers with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI) during the New Deal and World War II eras are featured on this site. These images document the ravages of the Great Depression on farmers, scenes of everyday life in small towns and cities, and, in later years, mobilization campaigns for World War II. This site includes approximately 1,600 color photographs and selections from 2 extremely popular collections: “’Migrant Mother’ Photographs” and “Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination.” The site also provides a bibliography, a background essay of about 500 words, seven short biographical sketches of FSA-OWI photographers, links to 7 related sites, and 3 essays on cataloging and digitizing the collection. The photographs are searchable by keyword and arranged into a subject index.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-10-01.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
More than 160,000 images taken by government photographers with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI) during the New Deal and World War II eras are featured on this site. These images document the ravages of the Great Depression on farmers, scenes of everyday life in small towns and cities, and, in later years, mobilization campaigns for World War II. This site includes approximately 1,600 color photographs and selections from 2 extremely popular collections: “’Migrant Mother’ Photographs” and “Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination.” The site also provides a bibliography, a background essay of about 500 words, seven short biographical sketches of FSA-OWI photographers, links to 7 related sites, and 3 essays on cataloging and digitizing the collection. The photographs are searchable by keyword and arranged into a subject index.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-10-01.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election
American Memory, Library of Congress.
Consists of 59 sound recordings of speeches by American leaders produced from 1918 to 1920 on the Nation’s Forum record label. The speeches—by such prominent public figures as Warren G. Harding, James M. Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, John J. Pershing, Will H. Hays, A. Mitchell Palmer, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise—deal for the most part with issues and events related to World War I and the 1920 presidential election. Additional topics include social unrest, Americanism, bolshevism, taxes, and business practices. Speeches range from 1 to 5 minutes in length. A special presentation, “From War to Normalcy,” introduces the Nation’s Forum Collection with representative recordings from World War I and the 1920 election, including Harding’s famous pronouncement that Americans need “not nostrums but normalcy.” This site includes photographs of speakers and of the actual recording disk labels, as well as text versions of the speeches.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-10-03.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
Consists of 59 sound recordings of speeches by American leaders produced from 1918 to 1920 on the Nation’s Forum record label. The speeches—by such prominent public figures as Warren G. Harding, James M. Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, John J. Pershing, Will H. Hays, A. Mitchell Palmer, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise—deal for the most part with issues and events related to World War I and the 1920 presidential election. Additional topics include social unrest, Americanism, bolshevism, taxes, and business practices. Speeches range from 1 to 5 minutes in length. A special presentation, “From War to Normalcy,” introduces the Nation’s Forum Collection with representative recordings from World War I and the 1920 election, including Harding’s famous pronouncement that Americans need “not nostrums but normalcy.” This site includes photographs of speakers and of the actual recording disk labels, as well as text versions of the speeches.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-10-03.
George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Susan Holbrook Perdue.
Reviewed 2008-06-01.
This collection of approximately 65,000 documents written by or to George Washington is the largest collection of original Washington documents in the world. It includes “correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports, and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799.” The site is searchable by keyword, and the range of documents make it an extremely rich source. Unfortunately, many of the documents are available only as page images—often with difficult to decipher handwriting—rather than as transcribed text. Transcripts, however, do exist for all of the diary pages and for additional selected documents. The site includes a number of helpful features: a timeline with annotations to relevant documents; a 1,500-word essay on Washington’s letterbooks; an essay entitled “Creating the American Nation,” with annotations on eight selected documents spanning Washington’s lifetime; a 8,500-word essay on his diaries; an 11,500-word essay on the publication history of Washington’s papers; and a 4,500-word essay on Washington’s career as a surveyor and mapmaker. “Because of the wide range of Washington’s interests, activities, and correspondents, which include ordinary citizens as well as celebrated figures, his papers are a rich source for almost every aspect of colonial and early American history.”
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-11-15.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Susan Holbrook Perdue.
Reviewed 2008-06-01.
This collection of approximately 65,000 documents written by or to George Washington is the largest collection of original Washington documents in the world. It includes “correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports, and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799.” The site is searchable by keyword, and the range of documents make it an extremely rich source. Unfortunately, many of the documents are available only as page images—often with difficult to decipher handwriting—rather than as transcribed text. Transcripts, however, do exist for all of the diary pages and for additional selected documents. The site includes a number of helpful features: a timeline with annotations to relevant documents; a 1,500-word essay on Washington’s letterbooks; an essay entitled “Creating the American Nation,” with annotations on eight selected documents spanning Washington’s lifetime; a 8,500-word essay on his diaries; an 11,500-word essay on the publication history of Washington’s papers; and a 4,500-word essay on Washington’s career as a surveyor and mapmaker. “Because of the wide range of Washington’s interests, activities, and correspondents, which include ordinary citizens as well as celebrated figures, his papers are a rich source for almost every aspect of colonial and early American history.”
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-11-15.
Evicted.
During the Great Depression, the New Deal’s Agricultural Adjustment Act attempted to raise disastrously low commodity prices by authorizing the federal government to pay farmers to raise fewer crops. These crop reduction subsidies enabled landlords to dispossess so many African-American tenants and share-croppers that the bill was often referred to sardonically as the “Negro Removal Act.” Despite such unintended consequences and other exclusions from New Deal programs, large numbers of African Americans left the Republican party during the 1930s to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt, largely because many African Americans benefited from New Deal job programs and relief measures. This photograph depicts black sharecroppers forced off of farms by landlords eager to receive federal crop reduction subsidies as they gathered along Highway 60 in New Madrid County, Missouri, in January 1939.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
During the Great Depression, the New Deal’s Agricultural Adjustment Act attempted to raise disastrously low commodity prices by authorizing the federal government to pay farmers to raise fewer crops. These crop reduction subsidies enabled landlords to dispossess so many African-American tenants and share-croppers that the bill was often referred to sardonically as the “Negro Removal Act.” Despite such unintended consequences and other exclusions from New Deal programs, large numbers of African Americans left the Republican party during the 1930s to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt, largely because many African Americans benefited from New Deal job programs and relief measures. This photograph depicts black sharecroppers forced off of farms by landlords eager to receive federal crop reduction subsidies as they gathered along Highway 60 in New Madrid County, Missouri, in January 1939.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Library of Virginia Digital Library Program
Library of Virginia.
The Library of Virginia holds over 1.2 million items digitized on their website, including more than 40,000 photographs and maps, more than 350,000 court documents, and over 800,000 manuscripts, including governors’ letters, land office grants, Revolutionary War bounty land warrants, Confederate pensions, and disability applications. Several collections are digitized and or cataloged on this website, as well as 25 exhibits on Virginia history. Users can find photographs that document buildings and people; patents and grants submitted to the Virginia Land Office between 1623 and 1992; Northern Neck Grants and Survey forms filed between 1692 and 1892; military records, including Revolutionary War state pensions material and World War I History Commission Questionnaires; WPA Life Histories; and Virginia Religious Petitions from 1774 to 1802. Exhibits deal with topics including the legacy of the New Deal in Virginia; resistance to slavery; Virginia roots music (with seven audio selections); Thomas Jefferson; John Marshall; Virginia’s coal towns; and political life in the state. A wealth of material for those studying Virginia and life in the South.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-10-25.
Library of Virginia.
The Library of Virginia holds over 1.2 million items digitized on their website, including more than 40,000 photographs and maps, more than 350,000 court documents, and over 800,000 manuscripts, including governors’ letters, land office grants, Revolutionary War bounty land warrants, Confederate pensions, and disability applications. Several collections are digitized and or cataloged on this website, as well as 25 exhibits on Virginia history. Users can find photographs that document buildings and people; patents and grants submitted to the Virginia Land Office between 1623 and 1992; Northern Neck Grants and Survey forms filed between 1692 and 1892; military records, including Revolutionary War state pensions material and World War I History Commission Questionnaires; WPA Life Histories; and Virginia Religious Petitions from 1774 to 1802. Exhibits deal with topics including the legacy of the New Deal in Virginia; resistance to slavery; Virginia roots music (with seven audio selections); Thomas Jefferson; John Marshall; Virginia’s coal towns; and political life in the state. A wealth of material for those studying Virginia and life in the South.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-10-25.
City Sites: Multimedia Essays on New York and Chicago, 1870s-1930s
University of Birmingham and University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
An “electronic book,” composed of 10 multimedia essays by European and American scholars on modern urban culture in New York and Chicago. Hyperlinks allow readers to navigate thematically between essays. Ranging in length from 6,000 to 12,000 words, these essays explicitly use recent literary theory to explore urban landscapes, representations, and history. Visitors may follow particular “pathways” across essays for topics relating to architecture, leisure, race, and space. The New York essays deal with the following subjects: Harlem as refuge and ghetto in modernist art and writing; Times Square as represented in New Year’s celebrations; modern ways of seeing revealed in images of the Flatiron Building; an examination of the work of architectural illustrator Hugh Ferris in order to uncover “ways in which the modern imagination expressed itself through architectural discourse”; and tensions between turn-of-the-century representations of the Lower East Side by reformers and others. Chicago essays cover the portrayal of African-American urban styles in the art of Archibald Motley, Jr.; ways the city has been represented as a “gateway”; how urban identities are constructed and experiences portrayed in the novel Sister Carrie; ways that racial difference has been iterated in various discursive fields to shape national identity; and Maxwell Street as a site where urban renewal has displaced distinctive ethnic neighborhood cultures. Essays include dozens of photographs and multimedia displays. Includes a bibliography of more than 400 titles. As a demonstration of “ways in which new multimedia technologies can enhance conventional scholarly understandings of urban culture,” this site may represent the shape of things to come in some scholarly fields. Part of The 3Cities Project (see separate “History Matters” entry for description of larger site).
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2001-09-14.
University of Birmingham and University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
An “electronic book,” composed of 10 multimedia essays by European and American scholars on modern urban culture in New York and Chicago. Hyperlinks allow readers to navigate thematically between essays. Ranging in length from 6,000 to 12,000 words, these essays explicitly use recent literary theory to explore urban landscapes, representations, and history. Visitors may follow particular “pathways” across essays for topics relating to architecture, leisure, race, and space. The New York essays deal with the following subjects: Harlem as refuge and ghetto in modernist art and writing; Times Square as represented in New Year’s celebrations; modern ways of seeing revealed in images of the Flatiron Building; an examination of the work of architectural illustrator Hugh Ferris in order to uncover “ways in which the modern imagination expressed itself through architectural discourse”; and tensions between turn-of-the-century representations of the Lower East Side by reformers and others. Chicago essays cover the portrayal of African-American urban styles in the art of Archibald Motley, Jr.; ways the city has been represented as a “gateway”; how urban identities are constructed and experiences portrayed in the novel Sister Carrie; ways that racial difference has been iterated in various discursive fields to shape national identity; and Maxwell Street as a site where urban renewal has displaced distinctive ethnic neighborhood cultures. Essays include dozens of photographs and multimedia displays. Includes a bibliography of more than 400 titles. As a demonstration of “ways in which new multimedia technologies can enhance conventional scholarly understandings of urban culture,” this site may represent the shape of things to come in some scholarly fields. Part of The 3Cities Project (see separate “History Matters” entry for description of larger site).
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2001-09-14.
Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939–1943
Library of Congress.
This exhibition offers 70 color pictures taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) between 1939 and 1943. This collection “reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations, the nation’s subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country’s great mobilization for World War II.” The collection features the work of famed photographers John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott. All pictures in the exhibition can be viewed in large format by clicking on the image or the title in the exhibition gallery. The collection is searchable by keyword. The complete collection of FSA/OWI photographs—171,000 black-and-white images and 1,602 color images—is available on the Library of Congress website at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html. This collection is of interest to both those studying the history of American photography and those seeking images of New Deal-era America.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2005-11-30.
Library of Congress.
This exhibition offers 70 color pictures taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) between 1939 and 1943. This collection “reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations, the nation’s subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country’s great mobilization for World War II.” The collection features the work of famed photographers John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott. All pictures in the exhibition can be viewed in large format by clicking on the image or the title in the exhibition gallery. The collection is searchable by keyword. The complete collection of FSA/OWI photographs—171,000 black-and-white images and 1,602 color images—is available on the Library of Congress website at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html. This collection is of interest to both those studying the history of American photography and those seeking images of New Deal-era America.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2005-11-30.
“It Had a Lot of Advantages”Alfred DuBray Praises the Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which became known as the Indian New Deal, dramatically changed the federal government’s Indian policy. Although John Collier, the commissioner of Indian affairs who was responsible for the new policy, may have viewed Indians with great sympathy, not all Native Americans viewed the Indian New Deal in equally positive terms. But in this 1970 interview, Sioux tribal leader Alfred DuBray argued that the Indian New Deal, on balance, brought positive changes.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which became known as the Indian New Deal, dramatically changed the federal government’s Indian policy. Although John Collier, the commissioner of Indian affairs who was responsible for the new policy, may have viewed Indians with great sympathy, not all Native Americans viewed the Indian New Deal in equally positive terms. But in this 1970 interview, Sioux tribal leader Alfred DuBray argued that the Indian New Deal, on balance, brought positive changes.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935–1939
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff.
Reviewed 2006-03-01.
Offers more than 13,000 images of items relating to the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a New Deal program designed to provide work for unemployed theater professionals. The collection contains 71 playscripts and 168 documents from the FTP’s Administration Records. Extensive materials, including photographs, scripts, posters, and set and costume designs, have been selected from three significant productions: Macbeth and The Tragic History of Dr. Faustus, directed by Orson Welles, and Arthur Arent’s Power, an example of the Project’s innovative “Living Newspaper” series of topical plays. The site includes a 3,500-word background essay, as well as four illustrated articles about the Project. A FTP Collection finding aid describing more than 525,000 offline items may be downloaded, but is not currently searchable.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2005-09-28.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff.
Reviewed 2006-03-01.
Offers more than 13,000 images of items relating to the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a New Deal program designed to provide work for unemployed theater professionals. The collection contains 71 playscripts and 168 documents from the FTP’s Administration Records. Extensive materials, including photographs, scripts, posters, and set and costume designs, have been selected from three significant productions: Macbeth and The Tragic History of Dr. Faustus, directed by Orson Welles, and Arthur Arent’s Power, an example of the Project’s innovative “Living Newspaper” series of topical plays. The site includes a 3,500-word background essay, as well as four illustrated articles about the Project. A FTP Collection finding aid describing more than 525,000 offline items may be downloaded, but is not currently searchable.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2005-09-28.
National Security Archive
Thomas S. Blanton, Director.
See JAH web review by Chester Pach.
Reviewed 2003-12-01.
Despite its official sounding name, this is a non-governmental institution. Founded in 1985 as a central repository for declassified materials obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, the Archives at present offers approximately 100 “Briefing Books,” each providing government documents and a contextual narrative on national security history and issues, foreign policy initiatives, and military history. While much of the material relates to events abroad, documents provide information on U.S. involvement and perceptions. Major categories include Europe (with documents on the Hungarian Revolution, Solidarity, and the 1989 revolutions); Latin America (overall CIA involvement, war in Colombia, contras, Mexico); nuclear history (treaties, Berlin crisis, India and Pakistan, North Korea, China, Israel); Middle East and South Asia (Iraq and WMD, hostages in Iran, October 1973 war); the U.S. intelligence community; government secrecy; humanitarian interventions; and September 11 sourcebooks on the terrorist threat. A wealth of information on U.S. diplomatic and military history during and after the Cold War.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2003-11-27.
Thomas S. Blanton, Director.
See JAH web review by Chester Pach.
Reviewed 2003-12-01.
Despite its official sounding name, this is a non-governmental institution. Founded in 1985 as a central repository for declassified materials obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, the Archives at present offers approximately 100 “Briefing Books,” each providing government documents and a contextual narrative on national security history and issues, foreign policy initiatives, and military history. While much of the material relates to events abroad, documents provide information on U.S. involvement and perceptions. Major categories include Europe (with documents on the Hungarian Revolution, Solidarity, and the 1989 revolutions); Latin America (overall CIA involvement, war in Colombia, contras, Mexico); nuclear history (treaties, Berlin crisis, India and Pakistan, North Korea, China, Israel); Middle East and South Asia (Iraq and WMD, hostages in Iran, October 1973 war); the U.S. intelligence community; government secrecy; humanitarian interventions; and September 11 sourcebooks on the terrorist threat. A wealth of information on U.S. diplomatic and military history during and after the Cold War.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2003-11-27.
Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
University of Nebraska Press; Center for Great Plains Studies; UNL Libraries.
See JAH web review by Leonard J. Sadosky.
Reviewed 2009-06-01.
This well-designed site presents the “celebrated Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals,” edited by Gary E. Moulton, providing the complete text of all the journals from the 1803 to 1806 expedition, as well as introductions, prefaces, and sources. The material is searchable by keyword and phrase. There are 29 scholarly essays about the expedition. An image gallery offers more than 124 images of pages from the journals, 95 images of people and places, and 50 images of plants and animals encountered on the expedition. The maps section includes 12 explanatory maps and 9 images of maps from the journals. Additionally, there are 27 audio excerpts of journal readings and 8 video interviews with the editor of the project. An outstanding resource for researching the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-12-03.
University of Nebraska Press; Center for Great Plains Studies; UNL Libraries.
See JAH web review by Leonard J. Sadosky.
Reviewed 2009-06-01.
This well-designed site presents the “celebrated Nebraska edition of the Lewis and Clark journals,” edited by Gary E. Moulton, providing the complete text of all the journals from the 1803 to 1806 expedition, as well as introductions, prefaces, and sources. The material is searchable by keyword and phrase. There are 29 scholarly essays about the expedition. An image gallery offers more than 124 images of pages from the journals, 95 images of people and places, and 50 images of plants and animals encountered on the expedition. The maps section includes 12 explanatory maps and 9 images of maps from the journals. Additionally, there are 27 audio excerpts of journal readings and 8 video interviews with the editor of the project. An outstanding resource for researching the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-12-03.
Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People
Industry Canada.
See JAH web review by Madeline Burnside.
Reviewed 2009-12-01.
This exhibit documents African Americans, freed and escaped slaves, who fought for the British during the Revolutionary War. This website tells the story of black Loyalists who were evacuated to Nova Scotia with illustrated vignettes, short biographies, a timeline, and descriptions and maps. ”Our Story", one of five main sections, presents a short history of the experiences of the Black Loyalist in Nova Scotia. Divided into seven subsections, including Revolution, Exile, Arrival, Prejudice, Faith, Suffering, and Exodus, it discusses the significance of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, the role of black communities in Nova Scotia, the prejudicial treatment African Americans endured, the role of churches, the Sierra Leone Company, and voyage to Freetown. ”People" contains short biographies of 23 prominent Black Loyalists, religious leaders, and other influential settlers. ”Communities" offers detailed descriptions and maps of four Black Loyalist communities. Perhaps the best component ”Documents", designed to help users develop a sense of what life was like for Black Loyalists. Original documents have been transcribed, including several autobiographical accounts of the life of Black Loyalists written by both blacks and whites in Nova Scotia. There is an excellent collection of court records, official proclamations, personal letters, bills, survey records, land sales, and other official documents. John Clarkson’s first person account (nearly 200 pages) of his voyage to Nova Scotia to recruit Black Christian settlers for Sierra Leone is one of the many excellent documents available. An interactive timeline offers a broad perspective and the resource page includes lists of secondary sources and related websites.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2003-07-17.
Industry Canada.
See JAH web review by Madeline Burnside.
Reviewed 2009-12-01.
This exhibit documents African Americans, freed and escaped slaves, who fought for the British during the Revolutionary War. This website tells the story of black Loyalists who were evacuated to Nova Scotia with illustrated vignettes, short biographies, a timeline, and descriptions and maps. ”Our Story", one of five main sections, presents a short history of the experiences of the Black Loyalist in Nova Scotia. Divided into seven subsections, including Revolution, Exile, Arrival, Prejudice, Faith, Suffering, and Exodus, it discusses the significance of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, the role of black communities in Nova Scotia, the prejudicial treatment African Americans endured, the role of churches, the Sierra Leone Company, and voyage to Freetown. ”People" contains short biographies of 23 prominent Black Loyalists, religious leaders, and other influential settlers. ”Communities" offers detailed descriptions and maps of four Black Loyalist communities. Perhaps the best component ”Documents", designed to help users develop a sense of what life was like for Black Loyalists. Original documents have been transcribed, including several autobiographical accounts of the life of Black Loyalists written by both blacks and whites in Nova Scotia. There is an excellent collection of court records, official proclamations, personal letters, bills, survey records, land sales, and other official documents. John Clarkson’s first person account (nearly 200 pages) of his voyage to Nova Scotia to recruit Black Christian settlers for Sierra Leone is one of the many excellent documents available. An interactive timeline offers a broad perspective and the resource page includes lists of secondary sources and related websites.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2003-07-17.
U.S. Senate Historical Office
U.S. Senate Historical Office.
See JAH web review by Drew E. VandeCreek.
Reviewed 2004-06-01.
This collection of essays about the history of the U.S. Senate begins with a brief overview (900 words). More than 140 “historical minutes” (300 words) discuss interesting events in the Senate from 1789 to 1980. Events include the caning of Charles Sumner in 1856, the 1914 ban on smoking in the Senate chamber, and a 1935 Huey Long filibuster. The complete texts of 15 oral histories, of 40 to 700 pages, of retired senators and Senate staff members are available and 15 others may be ordered. The oral histories cover 1910 to 1984 and deal with a wide range of issues, including the desegregation of the staff, the McCarthy hearings, preparations to impeach Nixon, rhetorical rules of debate, and the impact of computers on the work of the senate. Staff members include pages, the Sergeant at Arms, aides, administrative assistants, and the first African-American Government Documents Clerk. A collection of 26 essays (500 to 3000 words) discuss Senate procedure, leadership, officers of the Senate, and general information, such as the development of the oath of office. Other essays include 2,400 words on the president pro-tempore and a 1,300 word essay on the 1959 committee, chaired by John F. Kennedy, that designated the five most outstanding senators in American history. The site also includes a section of frequently asked questions about the Senate and links to a directory that provides a 150-word biography of every senator and vice president as well as many congress people and staff members. Statistics about majority and minority leaders and the practice of switching parties are also provided. The minutes of Senate Republican Conferences from 1911 to 1964 and Senate Democratic Conferences from 1903 to 1964 are available in their entirety. Visitors may also read the full texts of eight lectures given by statesmen, such as George Bush and Senator Robert C. Byrd as part of the Leaders Lectures series established in 1988 by Trent Lott. The site is easy to navigate and will be useful for research in the history of American political institutions.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
U.S. Senate Historical Office.
See JAH web review by Drew E. VandeCreek.
Reviewed 2004-06-01.
This collection of essays about the history of the U.S. Senate begins with a brief overview (900 words). More than 140 “historical minutes” (300 words) discuss interesting events in the Senate from 1789 to 1980. Events include the caning of Charles Sumner in 1856, the 1914 ban on smoking in the Senate chamber, and a 1935 Huey Long filibuster. The complete texts of 15 oral histories, of 40 to 700 pages, of retired senators and Senate staff members are available and 15 others may be ordered. The oral histories cover 1910 to 1984 and deal with a wide range of issues, including the desegregation of the staff, the McCarthy hearings, preparations to impeach Nixon, rhetorical rules of debate, and the impact of computers on the work of the senate. Staff members include pages, the Sergeant at Arms, aides, administrative assistants, and the first African-American Government Documents Clerk. A collection of 26 essays (500 to 3000 words) discuss Senate procedure, leadership, officers of the Senate, and general information, such as the development of the oath of office. Other essays include 2,400 words on the president pro-tempore and a 1,300 word essay on the 1959 committee, chaired by John F. Kennedy, that designated the five most outstanding senators in American history. The site also includes a section of frequently asked questions about the Senate and links to a directory that provides a 150-word biography of every senator and vice president as well as many congress people and staff members. Statistics about majority and minority leaders and the practice of switching parties are also provided. The minutes of Senate Republican Conferences from 1911 to 1964 and Senate Democratic Conferences from 1903 to 1964 are available in their entirety. Visitors may also read the full texts of eight lectures given by statesmen, such as George Bush and Senator Robert C. Byrd as part of the Leaders Lectures series established in 1988 by Trent Lott. The site is easy to navigate and will be useful for research in the history of American political institutions.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
Studs Terkel: Conversations with America
Chicago Historical Society .
See JAH web review by Clifford M. Kuhn.
Reviewed 2004-09-01.
Part of the digital repository, Historical Voices, this site was created in honor of Studs Terkel, the noted oral historian, radio host of “The Studs Terkel Program,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Dedicated to making Terkel’s 50 years of work available, it presents material pulled from approximately 5,000 hours of sound recordings. The seven galleries—The Studs Terkel Program; Division Street: America; Hard Times; The Good War; Race; Talking to Myself; and Greatest Hits—center on the extensive interviews Terkel completed for the radio show and his books and contain more than 400 audio clips of interviews. Most of the interviews are about 15 minutes in length and explore diverse subjects, including Chicago architecture, urban landscape, immigrants, street life, the 1929 stock market crash, organized labor, New Deal programs, race relations, and integration. Interviewees include Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright and labor activist Cesar Chavez as well as men and women on a train to Washington D.C. for the 1963 Civil Rights March. Sound recordings are searchable by date, keyword, or author. Complementing this site is an educational section intended to help students and teachers use oral history in the classroom and a 55-minute interview with Terkel. This well-designed site offers a rich history of many influential, as well as lesser-known, personalities living in the second half of the 20th century and is beneficial to anyone interested in the Great Depression, World War II, race relations, and labor issues.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
Chicago Historical Society .
See JAH web review by Clifford M. Kuhn.
Reviewed 2004-09-01.
Part of the digital repository, Historical Voices, this site was created in honor of Studs Terkel, the noted oral historian, radio host of “The Studs Terkel Program,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Dedicated to making Terkel’s 50 years of work available, it presents material pulled from approximately 5,000 hours of sound recordings. The seven galleries—The Studs Terkel Program; Division Street: America; Hard Times; The Good War; Race; Talking to Myself; and Greatest Hits—center on the extensive interviews Terkel completed for the radio show and his books and contain more than 400 audio clips of interviews. Most of the interviews are about 15 minutes in length and explore diverse subjects, including Chicago architecture, urban landscape, immigrants, street life, the 1929 stock market crash, organized labor, New Deal programs, race relations, and integration. Interviewees include Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright and labor activist Cesar Chavez as well as men and women on a train to Washington D.C. for the 1963 Civil Rights March. Sound recordings are searchable by date, keyword, or author. Complementing this site is an educational section intended to help students and teachers use oral history in the classroom and a 55-minute interview with Terkel. This well-designed site offers a rich history of many influential, as well as lesser-known, personalities living in the second half of the 20th century and is beneficial to anyone interested in the Great Depression, World War II, race relations, and labor issues.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1940
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Thomas Thurston.
Reviewed 2001-09-01.
Approximately 2,900 life histories from 1936–1940 compiled and transcribed as part of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA)are featured on this site. Documents represent the work of more than 300 writers from 24 states. The histories, in the form of drafts and revisions, vary from narrative to dialog, report, or case history. A typical history describes an informant’s family, education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet, and other observations on society and culture. Interviewers often substituted pseudonyms for names of individuals and places. The Special Presentation, “Voices from the Thirties”—adapted in part from the book First Person America by Ann Banks and illustrated with photographs of the Project’s staff at work, interviewees, and their environments—provides the context for the creation of the Life Histories Collection and includes excerpts from sample interviews. Visitors can select a particular U.S. state or search the archive by keyword. Life histories are presented in facsimiles of original interview documents and as searchable text. This multifaceted collection provides materials for teaching subjects such as slavery and 19th-century American folk cultures as well as social history of the Great Depression.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-09-25.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
See JAH web review by Thomas Thurston.
Reviewed 2001-09-01.
Approximately 2,900 life histories from 1936–1940 compiled and transcribed as part of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA)are featured on this site. Documents represent the work of more than 300 writers from 24 states. The histories, in the form of drafts and revisions, vary from narrative to dialog, report, or case history. A typical history describes an informant’s family, education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet, and other observations on society and culture. Interviewers often substituted pseudonyms for names of individuals and places. The Special Presentation, “Voices from the Thirties”—adapted in part from the book First Person America by Ann Banks and illustrated with photographs of the Project’s staff at work, interviewees, and their environments—provides the context for the creation of the Life Histories Collection and includes excerpts from sample interviews. Visitors can select a particular U.S. state or search the archive by keyword. Life histories are presented in facsimiles of original interview documents and as searchable text. This multifaceted collection provides materials for teaching subjects such as slavery and 19th-century American folk cultures as well as social history of the Great Depression.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-09-25.
Remembering Jim Crow
American RadioWorks.
See JAH web review by Joseph Crespino.
Reviewed 2003-09-01.
A companion site to the NPR radio documentary on segregated life in the South (broadcast in February 2002). Presents 30 audio excerpts, ranging from one minute to ten minutes in length, and approximately 130 photographs, arranged in six thematically-organized sections. Covers legal, social, and cultural aspects of segregation, black community life, and black resistance to the Jim Crow way of life. As anthropologist Kate Ellis, one of the site’s creators, notes, the interviews display a “marked contrast between African American and white reflections on Jim Crow.” Many of the photographs come from personal collections of the people interviewed. The site also includes 16 photographs taken by Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee in New Iberia, Louisiana. The site provides audio files and transcripts of the original radio documentary, more than 90 additional stories, a sampling of state segregation laws arranged by topic, links to 9 related sites, and a 41-title bibliography. The project creators—Ellis and personnel from American RadioWorks, the Minnesota Public Radio documentary producers—used interviews selected from more than 1,000 oral histories compiled by Duke University’s “Behind the Veil” project, in addition to conducting new interviews. The short 100-word introductions to each section succinctly provide a contextual framework to the documentary material. Valuable for those studying the American South, race relations, and African American history.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-19.
American RadioWorks.
See JAH web review by Joseph Crespino.
Reviewed 2003-09-01.
A companion site to the NPR radio documentary on segregated life in the South (broadcast in February 2002). Presents 30 audio excerpts, ranging from one minute to ten minutes in length, and approximately 130 photographs, arranged in six thematically-organized sections. Covers legal, social, and cultural aspects of segregation, black community life, and black resistance to the Jim Crow way of life. As anthropologist Kate Ellis, one of the site’s creators, notes, the interviews display a “marked contrast between African American and white reflections on Jim Crow.” Many of the photographs come from personal collections of the people interviewed. The site also includes 16 photographs taken by Farm Security Administration photographer Russell Lee in New Iberia, Louisiana. The site provides audio files and transcripts of the original radio documentary, more than 90 additional stories, a sampling of state segregation laws arranged by topic, links to 9 related sites, and a 41-title bibliography. The project creators—Ellis and personnel from American RadioWorks, the Minnesota Public Radio documentary producers—used interviews selected from more than 1,000 oral histories compiled by Duke University’s “Behind the Veil” project, in addition to conducting new interviews. The short 100-word introductions to each section succinctly provide a contextual framework to the documentary material. Valuable for those studying the American South, race relations, and African American history.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-19.
The History of Jim Crow
Richard Wormhiser, Bill Jersey, Sam Pollard, WNET.
See JAH web review by Joseph Crespino.
Reviewed 2003-09-01.
This site for educators was produced as an online companion to The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, a four-part television series that tells the story of the African-American struggle for freedom during the era of segregation. The site consists of five sections, including television, history, geography, American literature, and teacher resources. “Television” provides teachers with guides to four part, from the end of the Civil War to the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The history section contains six historical essays (each between 5,000 to 7,000 words), including the introductory essay “Terror to Triumph,” and five themed essays focusing on creating, surviving, resisting, escaping, and transcending Jim Crow oppression from the late-19th-century to the Civil Rights movement. Additional shorter essays, most between 600 to 1,300 words, cover topics such as the lynching of Emmett Till and Jackie Robinson. “Geography” features ten interactive maps that give “a multi-layered look at the impact of Jim Crow on the social and political landscape of the nation.” The map themes include African-American press, Jim Crow laws inside and outside the south, and most gripping of all, the riots and lynching map that portrays a representative selection of the thousands of recorded acts of violence that occurred across the United States from 1889 to 1918. The American literature section presents interdisciplinary lesson plans designed to illustrate the connection between Jim Crow and 20th-century American writing. This section also contains an American literature book list for middle school, high school, and college-level students, including units on Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. The final section, teacher resources, offers more than 25 lesson plans, an interactive encyclopedia, an image gallery with historical photographs, and first hand narratives from people who experienced life under Jim Crow. This well organized and wonderfully equipped site is an invaluable resource for history and literature educators.
Resources Available: .
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
Richard Wormhiser, Bill Jersey, Sam Pollard, WNET.
See JAH web review by Joseph Crespino.
Reviewed 2003-09-01.
This site for educators was produced as an online companion to The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, a four-part television series that tells the story of the African-American struggle for freedom during the era of segregation. The site consists of five sections, including television, history, geography, American literature, and teacher resources. “Television” provides teachers with guides to four part, from the end of the Civil War to the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The history section contains six historical essays (each between 5,000 to 7,000 words), including the introductory essay “Terror to Triumph,” and five themed essays focusing on creating, surviving, resisting, escaping, and transcending Jim Crow oppression from the late-19th-century to the Civil Rights movement. Additional shorter essays, most between 600 to 1,300 words, cover topics such as the lynching of Emmett Till and Jackie Robinson. “Geography” features ten interactive maps that give “a multi-layered look at the impact of Jim Crow on the social and political landscape of the nation.” The map themes include African-American press, Jim Crow laws inside and outside the south, and most gripping of all, the riots and lynching map that portrays a representative selection of the thousands of recorded acts of violence that occurred across the United States from 1889 to 1918. The American literature section presents interdisciplinary lesson plans designed to illustrate the connection between Jim Crow and 20th-century American writing. This section also contains an American literature book list for middle school, high school, and college-level students, including units on Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. The final section, teacher resources, offers more than 25 lesson plans, an interactive encyclopedia, an image gallery with historical photographs, and first hand narratives from people who experienced life under Jim Crow. This well organized and wonderfully equipped site is an invaluable resource for history and literature educators.
Resources Available: .
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
University of California, San Francisco Library; American Legacy Foundation.
Provides more than 40 million pages from 7 million tobacco industry documents made public as a stipulation of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the industry and various states’ attorneys general to settle multiple lawsuits. This material previously had been released “on disparate industry websites with access assured only until 2008.” This site, however, “assures free, permanent, stable internet access.” Index records, prepared by tobacco companies, can be searched through full-text and through index records. The documents range from the 1930s to 2002—though most were created since the 1950s—and deal with industry concerns such as marketing, sales, advertising, research and development, manufacturing, and expansion of business to developing countries. Also includes approximately 80 links to related sites and promises to include more documents in the future. Offers an abundance of material for those studying the history of smoking, advertising, and 20th-century American business practices.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-11-06.
University of California, San Francisco Library; American Legacy Foundation.
Provides more than 40 million pages from 7 million tobacco industry documents made public as a stipulation of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the industry and various states’ attorneys general to settle multiple lawsuits. This material previously had been released “on disparate industry websites with access assured only until 2008.” This site, however, “assures free, permanent, stable internet access.” Index records, prepared by tobacco companies, can be searched through full-text and through index records. The documents range from the 1930s to 2002—though most were created since the 1950s—and deal with industry concerns such as marketing, sales, advertising, research and development, manufacturing, and expansion of business to developing countries. Also includes approximately 80 links to related sites and promises to include more documents in the future. Offers an abundance of material for those studying the history of smoking, advertising, and 20th-century American business practices.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-11-06.
Don Mabry’s Historical Text Archive
Don Mabry, Professor Emeritus, Mississippi State University.
Provides more than 5,100 links to historical texts, with more than 1,600 on U.S. history topics. The latter are organized into subcategories according to time period, section, states, biographies, wars, presidents, foreign policy, and business history. Separate categories on women’s history and African-American history provide more than 80 and 140 links, respectively, while the Latin American category offers more than 400. More than 100 links pertain to teaching. The site allows visitors the opportunity to rate links and lists the date a link was added, number of hits, and rating. In addition, the site offers an eclectic collection of articles, books, documents, maps, and photographs in the following areas: Africa, African-Americans, Asia, Europe, Genealogy, Hungary, the Internet, Korean War, Latin America, Mexico, Persian Gulf, Religion, Rock ’n’ Roll, U.S., World War I, and World War II. The U.S. section includes 63 articles, most of which deal with wars, international relations, and American Indians. The site’s creator is a professor of history at the University of Mississippi. Valuable primarily for the links.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
Don Mabry, Professor Emeritus, Mississippi State University.
Provides more than 5,100 links to historical texts, with more than 1,600 on U.S. history topics. The latter are organized into subcategories according to time period, section, states, biographies, wars, presidents, foreign policy, and business history. Separate categories on women’s history and African-American history provide more than 80 and 140 links, respectively, while the Latin American category offers more than 400. More than 100 links pertain to teaching. The site allows visitors the opportunity to rate links and lists the date a link was added, number of hits, and rating. In addition, the site offers an eclectic collection of articles, books, documents, maps, and photographs in the following areas: Africa, African-Americans, Asia, Europe, Genealogy, Hungary, the Internet, Korean War, Latin America, Mexico, Persian Gulf, Religion, Rock ’n’ Roll, U.S., World War I, and World War II. The U.S. section includes 63 articles, most of which deal with wars, international relations, and American Indians. The site’s creator is a professor of history at the University of Mississippi. Valuable primarily for the links.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
American Memory, Library of Congress.
More than 240 items dealing with African-American history from collections of the Library of Congress, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings. The exhibition explores black America’s quest for political, social, and economic equality from slavery through the mid-20th century. Organized into nine chronological periods covering the following topics: slavery; free blacks in the antebellum period; antislavery movements; the Civil War and African-American participation in the military; Reconstruction political struggles, black exodus from the South, and activism in the black church; the “Booker T. Washington era” of progress in the creation of educational and political institutions during a period of violent backlash; World War I and the postwar period, including the rise of the Harlem Renaissance; the Depression, New Deal, and World War II; and the Civil Rights era. Each section includes a 500-word overview and annotations of 100 words in length for each object displayed. In addition to documenting the struggle for freedom and civil rights, the exhibit includes celebratory material on contributions of artists, writers, performers, and sports figures. Valuable for students and teachers looking for a well-written and documented guide for exploring African-American history.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
American Memory, Library of Congress.
More than 240 items dealing with African-American history from collections of the Library of Congress, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings. The exhibition explores black America’s quest for political, social, and economic equality from slavery through the mid-20th century. Organized into nine chronological periods covering the following topics: slavery; free blacks in the antebellum period; antislavery movements; the Civil War and African-American participation in the military; Reconstruction political struggles, black exodus from the South, and activism in the black church; the “Booker T. Washington era” of progress in the creation of educational and political institutions during a period of violent backlash; World War I and the postwar period, including the rise of the Harlem Renaissance; the Depression, New Deal, and World War II; and the Civil Rights era. Each section includes a 500-word overview and annotations of 100 words in length for each object displayed. In addition to documenting the struggle for freedom and civil rights, the exhibit includes celebratory material on contributions of artists, writers, performers, and sports figures. Valuable for students and teachers looking for a well-written and documented guide for exploring African-American history.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
U.S. Senate Speeches of Claude Pepper
Claude Pepper Library.
This website documents Claude Pepper’s foreign and domestic achievements during the New Deal, World War II, and the late 1940s. The materials within this three-part exhibit begin with Pepper’s 1934 campaign for the Senate and his first years in office from 1936 through 1938. The second section covers Pepper’s activities during the war years, from 1939 to 1945. The exhibit concludes with Pepper’s post-war activities from 1946 to 1950. The first section includes five selected speeches, one to four pages in length. One, which he delivered at Florida State College for women in 1938, is entitled “Making our Democracy Work.” The speeches are shown in the original typewritten form and the full text of the speeches will soon be searchable. The second section includes seven selected speeches on topics such as Lend-Lease, the British military, Florida’s role in the war, Hitler, and the impact of FDR’s death on the war. This section also contains six audio recordings of speeches in which Pepper discusses the war against Germany and Japan and FDR’s policies for keeping the United States out of war. The final section includes five printed speeches, six audio recordings, one video recording, and five photographs of Pepper speaking before various audiences. The printed speeches include “The Anti-poll Tax Bill” and “Equal Pay for Equal Work for Women,” while the audio (up to five minutes in length) contains a fascinating speech on the investigations of the House of Un-American Activities Committee. The video is a 19-second announcement by Pepper at the 1948 democratic convention that Dwight D. Eisenhower would not accept the democratic nomination. A work in progress, the exhibit will eventually include speeches from the post-war period through 1950 when Pepper lost his bid for re-election.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2002-11-18.
Claude Pepper Library.
This website documents Claude Pepper’s foreign and domestic achievements during the New Deal, World War II, and the late 1940s. The materials within this three-part exhibit begin with Pepper’s 1934 campaign for the Senate and his first years in office from 1936 through 1938. The second section covers Pepper’s activities during the war years, from 1939 to 1945. The exhibit concludes with Pepper’s post-war activities from 1946 to 1950. The first section includes five selected speeches, one to four pages in length. One, which he delivered at Florida State College for women in 1938, is entitled “Making our Democracy Work.” The speeches are shown in the original typewritten form and the full text of the speeches will soon be searchable. The second section includes seven selected speeches on topics such as Lend-Lease, the British military, Florida’s role in the war, Hitler, and the impact of FDR’s death on the war. This section also contains six audio recordings of speeches in which Pepper discusses the war against Germany and Japan and FDR’s policies for keeping the United States out of war. The final section includes five printed speeches, six audio recordings, one video recording, and five photographs of Pepper speaking before various audiences. The printed speeches include “The Anti-poll Tax Bill” and “Equal Pay for Equal Work for Women,” while the audio (up to five minutes in length) contains a fascinating speech on the investigations of the House of Un-American Activities Committee. The video is a 19-second announcement by Pepper at the 1948 democratic convention that Dwight D. Eisenhower would not accept the democratic nomination. A work in progress, the exhibit will eventually include speeches from the post-war period through 1950 when Pepper lost his bid for re-election.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2002-11-18.
Rondal Partridge: California Youth
Thomas Thurston, Project Director, New Deal Network.
In April 1940, Rondal Partridge, a young California photographer, documented the lives of youth in California for the National Youth Administration. This New Deal Network site features 25 of Partridge’s “National Youth” photographs taken between 1936 and 1941, selected from the National Archives and Records Administration collection of Partridge’s work. Many are from the late 1930s when was an assistant to photographer Dorothea Lange. Also included is a gallery of nine photographs by Partridge’s mother, Imogen Cunningham, who in the 1930s documented the homeless inhabitants of Oakland’s tent cities. The galleries include brief (roughly 500 words) biographies of Partridge and Cunningham, and each photograph includes a title and the place and date taken. The site also offers two creative teacher’s guides and lesson plans for secondary school classrooms: one examines the depression through Partridge’s photographs and the other provides a study of the art of photography. The lesson plans include skills; informational, and concept goals; materials needed for the sessions; links to photographs; procedures for group and individual activities; and advice notes and analytical questions to accompany each photograph. Though the information on this site is limited and provides little historical contextualization of the images, for those interested in photography and the Great Depression, this is a useful site.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2001-04-12.
Thomas Thurston, Project Director, New Deal Network.
In April 1940, Rondal Partridge, a young California photographer, documented the lives of youth in California for the National Youth Administration. This New Deal Network site features 25 of Partridge’s “National Youth” photographs taken between 1936 and 1941, selected from the National Archives and Records Administration collection of Partridge’s work. Many are from the late 1930s when was an assistant to photographer Dorothea Lange. Also included is a gallery of nine photographs by Partridge’s mother, Imogen Cunningham, who in the 1930s documented the homeless inhabitants of Oakland’s tent cities. The galleries include brief (roughly 500 words) biographies of Partridge and Cunningham, and each photograph includes a title and the place and date taken. The site also offers two creative teacher’s guides and lesson plans for secondary school classrooms: one examines the depression through Partridge’s photographs and the other provides a study of the art of photography. The lesson plans include skills; informational, and concept goals; materials needed for the sessions; links to photographs; procedures for group and individual activities; and advice notes and analytical questions to accompany each photograph. Though the information on this site is limited and provides little historical contextualization of the images, for those interested in photography and the Great Depression, this is a useful site.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2001-04-12.
Freedom of Information Act, Electronic Reading Room
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Provides thousands of documents from more than 150 FBI files that have been declassified and made public due to Freedom of Information Act requests. Many documents are barely legible; many have been heavily censored—“to protect national security, personal privacy interests, the identity of confidential sources, and law enforcement techniques.” No contextual information is available concerning individual documents, although file headnotes identify the person or event profiled in short one-sentence to one-paragraph descriptions. Documents, available in PDF format, have been categorized in the following manner: 57 on famous persons; 54 files of “historical interest”; 22 that deal with violent crime; 10 from the gangster era; 9 on espionage; and 5 pertaining to “unusual phenomena” such as UFOs and animal mutilations. Some of the historical case files include thousands of pages of documents. Topics include: the Sacco/Vanzetti case in the 1920s; the 1932 Bonus March; the Black Legion of the 1930s; the Young Communist League, 1939–41; the murder of Leon Trotsky in 1940; the Daily Worker in the late 1940s and 1950s; the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964; SNCC, beginning in 1964; the Ku Klux Klan in 1964 and 1965; a Black Panther Party chapter beginning in 1969; the Watergate break-in of 1972; the white hate group Posse Comitas in 1973; the Weather Underground Organization in the 1970s; the Gay Activists Alliance of the 1970s; and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. This site contains valuable material for those studying American political history of the twentieth century, radicalism, and law enforcement.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2007-11-23.
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Provides thousands of documents from more than 150 FBI files that have been declassified and made public due to Freedom of Information Act requests. Many documents are barely legible; many have been heavily censored—“to protect national security, personal privacy interests, the identity of confidential sources, and law enforcement techniques.” No contextual information is available concerning individual documents, although file headnotes identify the person or event profiled in short one-sentence to one-paragraph descriptions. Documents, available in PDF format, have been categorized in the following manner: 57 on famous persons; 54 files of “historical interest”; 22 that deal with violent crime; 10 from the gangster era; 9 on espionage; and 5 pertaining to “unusual phenomena” such as UFOs and animal mutilations. Some of the historical case files include thousands of pages of documents. Topics include: the Sacco/Vanzetti case in the 1920s; the 1932 Bonus March; the Black Legion of the 1930s; the Young Communist League, 1939–41; the murder of Leon Trotsky in 1940; the Daily Worker in the late 1940s and 1950s; the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964; SNCC, beginning in 1964; the Ku Klux Klan in 1964 and 1965; a Black Panther Party chapter beginning in 1969; the Watergate break-in of 1972; the white hate group Posse Comitas in 1973; the Weather Underground Organization in the 1970s; the Gay Activists Alliance of the 1970s; and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. This site contains valuable material for those studying American political history of the twentieth century, radicalism, and law enforcement.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2007-11-23.
Indiana’s Storyteller: Connecting People to the Past
Indiana Historical Society.
The Indiana Historical Society’s main digital archive site contains more than 34,000 images, most of which are directly related to Indiana’s past, grouped into almost thirty themed collections that include photographs, prints, sheet music, manuscripts, old court documents, letters, Indiana ephemera, and maps. Also collected here are images from the Jack Smith Lincoln Graphics Collection (containing photographs, lithographs, and engravings of Abraham Lincoln) and the Daniel Weinberg Lincoln Conspirators Collection (containing newspaper clippings, manuscripts, and other material pertaining to the Lincoln assassination). A sampler of the other collections: digitized images of the Indianapolis Recorder, manuscripts and images of James Whitcomb Riley, a collection of 900 postcards of scenes from Indiana from the first two decades of the 20th century, and fascinating panoramic photographs from the early part of the 20th century, showing church groups, picnics, army recruits, and conventioneers.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-01-02.
Indiana Historical Society.
The Indiana Historical Society’s main digital archive site contains more than 34,000 images, most of which are directly related to Indiana’s past, grouped into almost thirty themed collections that include photographs, prints, sheet music, manuscripts, old court documents, letters, Indiana ephemera, and maps. Also collected here are images from the Jack Smith Lincoln Graphics Collection (containing photographs, lithographs, and engravings of Abraham Lincoln) and the Daniel Weinberg Lincoln Conspirators Collection (containing newspaper clippings, manuscripts, and other material pertaining to the Lincoln assassination). A sampler of the other collections: digitized images of the Indianapolis Recorder, manuscripts and images of James Whitcomb Riley, a collection of 900 postcards of scenes from Indiana from the first two decades of the 20th century, and fascinating panoramic photographs from the early part of the 20th century, showing church groups, picnics, army recruits, and conventioneers.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-01-02.
EDSITEment
National Endowment for the Humanities.
This mega-gateway website serves as a portal for students and educators seeking vetted, high-quality lesson plans, websites, and student resources in history and social studies, literature and language arts, foreign languages, and art and culture. The lesson plan library includes more than 750 lessons, roughly half of which address topics in American and world history and social studies. Each is authored by an experienced educator and includes guiding questions, step-by-step guidelines, and links to background reading material. Many also include downloadable worksheets. The “websites” section is an ever-expanding database of more than 350 websites offering online primary sources and teaching materials, each accompanied by a brief annotation. “Student Resources” offers 170 interactive activities and visualizations, including, for example, animated campaign maps of the American Civil War, and an activity allowing students to rebuild the bridges connecting Asia Minor and Greece designed by Phoenician and Egyptian engineers 2,500 years ago. Especially useful for AP U.S. History teachers is the website’s sub-section that pulls together materials of direct relevance to this curriculum. The website’s Advanced Search feature allows for grade-level specific searches (K-2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12) as well as keyword, subject area, and resource type searches.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2001-05-28.
National Endowment for the Humanities.
This mega-gateway website serves as a portal for students and educators seeking vetted, high-quality lesson plans, websites, and student resources in history and social studies, literature and language arts, foreign languages, and art and culture. The lesson plan library includes more than 750 lessons, roughly half of which address topics in American and world history and social studies. Each is authored by an experienced educator and includes guiding questions, step-by-step guidelines, and links to background reading material. Many also include downloadable worksheets. The “websites” section is an ever-expanding database of more than 350 websites offering online primary sources and teaching materials, each accompanied by a brief annotation. “Student Resources” offers 170 interactive activities and visualizations, including, for example, animated campaign maps of the American Civil War, and an activity allowing students to rebuild the bridges connecting Asia Minor and Greece designed by Phoenician and Egyptian engineers 2,500 years ago. Especially useful for AP U.S. History teachers is the website’s sub-section that pulls together materials of direct relevance to this curriculum. The website’s Advanced Search feature allows for grade-level specific searches (K-2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12) as well as keyword, subject area, and resource type searches.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2001-05-28.
Mako Nakagawa Recalls the Hearings of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, 1981
Mako Nakagawa is a Nisei (second generation) Japanese American born in 1937 in Seattle. With her mother and sisters, she was incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. Her father was arrested and interned separately from the family for several years. In 1944, the family was reunited at the Crystal City, Texas, internment camp for enemy aliens and their families. In postwar years, Nakagawa became a teacher, principal, and multicultural educator. In this interview excerpt, Nakagawa recounts how in 1981 she helped her father testify at the federal congressional hearings held by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC heard from 750 witnesses in cities around the country and gathered documentary evidence proving that the mass removal and incarceration were not based on military necessity, but rather were motivated by race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Mako Nakagawa is a Nisei (second generation) Japanese American born in 1937 in Seattle. With her mother and sisters, she was incarcerated at Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington, and Minidoka incarceration camp, Idaho. Her father was arrested and interned separately from the family for several years. In 1944, the family was reunited at the Crystal City, Texas, internment camp for enemy aliens and their families. In postwar years, Nakagawa became a teacher, principal, and multicultural educator. In this interview excerpt, Nakagawa recounts how in 1981 she helped her father testify at the federal congressional hearings held by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC heard from 750 witnesses in cities around the country and gathered documentary evidence proving that the mass removal and incarceration were not based on military necessity, but rather were motivated by race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“Hard Chewing”: Supporting World War I at the Kitchen Table
Rationing was one way that World War I affected people on the home front. Seeking to manage domestic consumption in order to feed the U.S. Army and to assist Allied armies and civilians., the U.S. Food Administration declared “Food Will Win the War.” In this droll reminiscence, Ethel George recalled one kind of home-front conservation effort: the hard work of chewing whole-grain foods. Born in 1903, George told her story to John Terreo, who interviewed her for the New Deal Oral History Project of the Montana Historical Society.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Rationing was one way that World War I affected people on the home front. Seeking to manage domestic consumption in order to feed the U.S. Army and to assist Allied armies and civilians., the U.S. Food Administration declared “Food Will Win the War.” In this droll reminiscence, Ethel George recalled one kind of home-front conservation effort: the hard work of chewing whole-grain foods. Born in 1903, George told her story to John Terreo, who interviewed her for the New Deal Oral History Project of the Montana Historical Society.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.