The sources below were compiled by Information USA, a service of the U.S. State Department: http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/ref.htm

Directories: Peoples, Places, Businesses

AnyWho Directories
http://www.anywho.com

Big Book
http://www.bigbook.com

Forbes' Best of the Web
http://www.forbes.com/bow/

InfoSpace
http://www.infospace.com

Mr. ShowBiz Celebrities
Part of ABC news
http://mrshowbiz.go.com/celebrities/index.html

Switchboard
http://www.switchboard.com

U.S. Postal ZIP Code Lookup and Address Information
http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html

Yahoo! People Search
http://people.yahoo.com

Zip2
http://www.zip2.com

Research

American College and Research Libraries Listing of the Best Internet Resources in All Subject Areas Regularly updated links to major academic journals
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/index.cfm
 

World's Fairs
Although the US is no longer a participant, world's fairs continue to be a research lode for scholars and hobbyists.
http://www.worldsfairs.com/home.html

Virtual Libraries

American National Biography Online
ANB has replaced the Dictionary of American Biography as THE American biographical source and it is updated weekly with new entries.
http://www.anb.org

Global Legal Information Network
The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) maintains and provides a database of laws, regulations, and other complementary legal sources. The documents included in the database are contributed by the governments of the member nations from the original official texts which are deposited, by agreement of the members, in a server initially at the Library of Congress of the United States of America.
http://www.loc.gov/law/glin/GLINv1

H-Net Discussion Networks
H-Net's e-mail lists function as electronic networks, linking professors, teachers and students in an egalitarian exchange of ideas and materials. Every aspect of academic life--research, teaching, controversies new and old--is open for discussion; decorum is maintained by H-Net's dedicated editors.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/lists

Infomine Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: General Reference
http://infomine.ucr.edu/reference

Internet Public Library
http://www.ipl.org

Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov

LibrarySpot
http://www.libraryspot.com

My Facts Page--Virtual Reference Desk
http://www.refdesk.com/facts.html

RefDesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com

Smithsonian Institution Archives. SIA contains the records of one of the most well-known museums and research centers in the world. This site will be useful for the breadth of its collections.
http://www.si.edu/archives

Smithsonian Institution Libraries. SIL is one of the foremost research libraries in the US and its collections are invaluable in their subject depth. The homepage contains links to other treasure troves of information,
http://www.sil.si.edu