Ponzi's Scheme: True Story of a Financial Legend

Description

Professor Mitchell Zuckoff follows the life of Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi (1882-1949), legendary con man who set up the Securities Exchange Company, which promised investors massive returns on their investments based on the buying and trading of international postal reply coupons. The scheme, begun around 1918, collapsed in 1920 after the Boston Post revealed it to the public. The presentation includes slides.

Audio and video options are available.

Historic Government Publications from World War II: A Digital Library

Image
Image, A Pocket Guide to Hawaii, R. Bach, 1945, Historic Government Publications
Annotation

More than 300 U.S. government publications from World War II have been digitized for this site, an ongoing project that plans to add another 200 documents.

Materials include pamphlets and books emphasizing home front issues, such as air raids, preservation, child labor, and victory farms. All materials are searchable by title, author, subject, and keyword. Browsing is also available.

A companion collection of photographs, the "Melvin C. Shaffer Collection," depicts the home front situation in Germany, North Africa, Italy, and Southern France from 1943 to 1945. Shaffer was a U.S. Army medical photographer assigned to document the medical history of the war through major campaigns. Shafer took the photographs on this site—totaling approximately 340—unofficially with the goal of recording the war's impact on civilians.

Senator John Heinz History Center [PA]

Description

The Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in the state of Pennsylvania, and covers 250 years of Pittsburgh's history. The center includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, which presents Pittsburgh's sports history. Seventy exhibits in the sports museum are interactive, and the site also makes extensive use of audio and visual presentations. The research center, which offers sources relevant to Western Pennsylvania history, holds more than 400,000 publications and 3,500 archival collections. A substantial amount of archival documents relate to Jewish life. The center also claims strong African American and Italian American holdings. The center is affiliated with the Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life, which includes the oldest known site of human habitation within the entirety of North America. This museum is listed separately within the National History Education Clearinghouse database.

The center offers interactive and traditional exhibits, audiovisual presentations, a research center, research assistance, Scout programs, and a deli. Offerings specifically for schools include guided tours, self-guided tours, hands-on activities, classes, and educational programs. Students, teachers, and school staff members are admitted to the research center free of charge with a valid school ID. Wheelchairs are available for use on site. A sign language interpreter is available with advance notice. The website offers videos and audio files.

Rancho de Guadalupe Historical Society [CA]

Description

The Rancho de Guadalupe Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Guadalupe, California. To that end, the society operates a museum, a historic jail, and a non-circulating library. Artifacts on display include Native American adobes and pieces representative of the cultures which succeeded the Chumash—the Chinese, Filipinos, Mexicans, Swiss, Italians, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese.

The society offers exhibits and library access.

Germantown Historical Society [PA]

Description

The Germantown Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Philadelphia's German Township, now Germantown, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill. To this end, the society operates a museum, library, and archives. The township was the original German settlement in the United States; the location of the first written abolitionist statement; an early commuter suburb; and the site of the October 4, 1777 Battle of Germantown. Materials in the library and archives date back to 1683. Specialties include African American genealogy, local railroads, and the Germantown Theatre Guild. Museum collections number more than 50,000 artifacts—over 8,000 of which are historical fashion pieces.

The society offers library and archive access, exhibits, educational programs, guided area walking tours, and research assistance. Research assistance requires payment. Reservations are required for walking tours, and the group must include at least 10 people.

Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park [CA]

Description

The Watts Towers are a complex set of 17 separate sculptural pieces built on a residential lot in the community of Watts. Two of the towers rise to a height of nearly 100 feet. The sculptures are constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh; coated with mortar; and embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass. Using simple hand tools and cast off materials (broken glass, sea shells, generic pottery, and ceramic tile) Italian immigrant Simon Rodia spent 30 years (1921 to 1955) building a tribute to his adopted country and a monument to the spirit of individuals who make their dreams tangible. The Watts Towers are one of only nine works of folk art listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site is one of only four US National Historic Landmarks in the city of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department, through the Watts Towers Arts Center, provides diverse cultural enrichment programming through tours, lectures, changing exhibits, and studio workshops for both teachers and schoolchildren. Each year, thousands of people are attracted to the Towers' site for the Simon Rodia Watts Towers Jazz Festival and the Watt Towers Day of the Drum Festival.

The park offers exhibits, tours, lectures, workshops, and educational and recreational events.

Eureka Heritage Society and Romano Gabriel Garden [CA]

Description

The Eureka Heritage Society provides leadership, education, and advocacy to preserve and enhance Eureka's irreplaceable historic structures and neighborhoods so as to ensure a legacy for future generations. It maintains the Romano Gabriel Garden, fashioned from discarded crates and boards by Romano Gabriel, a carpenter turned sculptor. The garden has been "transplanted" and is now housed in a glass exhibit area for viewing.

The society offers occasional recreational and educational events; the garden is open to the public as a viewable exhibit.

Day of Battle Book Signing With Author Rick Atkinson

Description

In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. Attendees at this event join author Rick Atkinson as he discusses his new book in the Liberation Trilogy, The Day of Battle. A book signing will follow.

Sponsoring Organization
First Division Museum
Phone number
1 630-260-8227
Start Date
Cost
Free
Course Credit
Up to 1.5 teacher CPDUs available for this event.
Judge 1891 Immigrant Cartoon Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/17/2008 - 16:35
Description

Anti-immigration feelings are captured in an 1891 cartoon that highlights Jewish and Italian immigration. Cartoon historian Josh Brown of the American Social History Project explains.

This feature is no longer available.