Alcove
9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites
U.S. History
American Journeys
From the Wisconsin Historical Society, a collection of digitized
primary source materials on early American exploration and settlement.
Users can do fielded
searches for documents by subject, geographic area, and
other criteria; browse
documents by date; and search
for images.
American Memory (Library of Congress)
Digitized primary source documents, manuscripts, photographs, sound
recordings, and other materials from the Library of Congress collections
related
to American history. Users can browse
collections by subject, time period, format, or geographic area; search
by keyword; or list
all collections alphabetically by title. The Learning
Page provides
resources for K-12 educators and students using American Memory in
the classroom.
American Presidency Project
From the University of California at Santa Barbara, an archive of over
52,000 documents related to the study of the American presidency.
This collection offers a document archive, which includes the only
online source
without charge of the "Public
Papers of the Presidents: Hoover to G.W. Bush," a media
archive, great addresses of the modern presidents (listed on the
main page), and extensive
presidential election information.
American Social
and Cultural History (Smithsonian Institution)
A collection of links to online
exhibits, information sheets, bibliographies, and other resources from
the Smithsonian Institution website. Part of the "Encyclopedia
Smithsonian" listing of frequently requested topics.
Avalon Project
(from Yale Law School)
Eclectic collection of full-text documents related to U.S. and international
law, government, and politics. The documents date from classical
antiquity to the present, though the emphasis is on documents from
the 16th to 20th centuries. Researchers can browse by author and title
or search documents by keyword.
Biographical Directory
of the United States Congress, 1774-Present
Online search facility for the Web version of the Biographical
Directory of the American Congress (LCCN 98-640105). Entries
can be searched by name, state, and position (Senator, Representative,
Speaker of the House, etc.). The database is not browseable; terms
must be typed into the search engine for any entries to be viewed.
"Value-added" features for the online version include photographs,
expanded bibliographies, and information about collections of primary
source materials for some entries. Web version developed by the
Senate Historical Office and the Legislative Resource Center of
the House of Representatives.
Brooklyn Eagle
The full text of a major American newspaper (1841-1902), browseable
by date or searchable by keyword.
Documenting the American South
From the University of North Carolina Library, a collection of digital
primary source materials on the history of the southern U.S. Materials
are organized into collections by
subject. Users can also browse individual items by author, title,
and
Library of Congress subject
headings. Users can also locate materials via clickable
maps of the United States and North
Carolina counties.
History Matters
Put together at George Mason University by several groups with
funding from the Kellogg Foundation, this site is a collection of
resources to assist those teaching history survey courses at both
the secondary and college level. Still under construction, this
site focuses on the years from Reconstruction to the end of World
War II. Major sections include WWW.History (annotated
list of U.S. History websites, arranged by subject), Digital Blackboard
(Web-based teaching assignments), Many Pasts (annotated list of full-text, first-person historical documents), Making Sense of Evidence (interactive historical exercises for students), and Past Meets Present
(articles and essays linking past issues to current events). Keyword
search is available.
Library of American Civilization (partial
listing from Quinnipiac University Library)
List of links to online editions of titles found in the microfiche Library
of American Civilization (LCCN 83126245), which is held by many U.S. research
libraries. Not all titles from the microfiche collection are available online,
and the links are compiled from a variety of online sources.
The Making of America:
University of Michigan and The
Making of America: Cornell University
Two separate collections of digitized books and periodical articles
from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. At both sites
researchers can browse by title and author; or perform Boolean,
proximity, and fielded searchs by author, title, or subject.
National First Ladies' Library
Website for the library in Canton, Ohio, with an extensive bibliography of materials written
by and about the first ladies, including citations to articles,
books, manuscript collections, and theses. The bibliography page
is arranged by first lady in chronogical order, and is quite graphics-heavy
(with a GIF image for each first lady).
United States
Historical Census Data Browser
Selected demographic and socioeconomic variables from the decennial
censuses, searchable by state and county. The search facility limits
the number of variables one can use in a single search. Selected
data from 1790 to 1960 are available to users. |