Odden's Bookmarks: The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping

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Logo, Universiteit Utrecht
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A gateway to more than 14,000 sites on and about cartography and geography. Allows searching by keyword and browsing by countries and categories—including maps and atlases, collections, societies, departments, government cartography, libraries, and literature. Provides links to 585 sites that offer historical maps and atlases. Valuable for those studying cartography and geography, and useful for others as an easy-to-use reference source.

From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America

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Postcard, A Happy New Year, 1910-1920, Hebrew Publishing Company, LoC
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An exhibition on Jewish life in America emphasizing the themes of accommodation, assertion, adaptation, and acculturation. The website features more than 200 illustrations, portraits, and images of books and documents from Library of Congress collections. The website offers an explanatory overview of the exhibition and four brief electronic exhibits focused that help to tell a part of the Jewish story in America from 1654 to the present. Some of the items highlighted by the exhibition include the first book printed in the English settlements of America, The Bay Psalm Book printed in 1640, the first published American Jewish sermon, and a hand-drawn plaque from c. 1942 with dual Hebrew prayers for Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. A small bibliography lists 10 books plus six books for children. The site provides an introduction to the Library of Congress collections and is useful for teaching about the history of Jewish life in America.

A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life

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Oil on canvas, Mary Olivia Lucas Harby. . . , c. 1830, A Portion of the People
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This exhibit tells "the story of Southern Jewish settlers and their descendants from the late 1600s through the 21st century." It currently consists of two presentations, each with more than 50 pages presenting an image from the exhibit's collection with accompanying explanatory text. Images include portraits, maps, historical documents, photographs of Jewish ritual books and religious and cultural objects, paintings and photographs of synagogues, and photographs of Jewish businesses. "First Families" explores the period from the 1600s to the 1820s through more than 50 images and "This Happy Land" explores the antebellum and Civil War years through more than 90 images. (The presentation "Pledging Allegiance," recounting the story of Jewish migration to the South in the first half of the 20th century, is under construction.) Visitors can listen to six interviews featuring voices from the past (transcripts are available). Additionally, a photographic essay with more than 40 photographs, "Palmetto Jews" by Bill Aron, examines Jewish life in South Carolina over the past 50 years. There is no site search capability.

Abigail Adams Birthplace

Description

The Abigail Adams Birthplace preserves the home in which Abigail Adams (1744-1818), First Lady, was born. Abigail married John Adams, second President of the United States, whom she considered her "dearest friend," in 1764. Adams often looked to his wife for political and intellectual advice and discussion. Abigail Adams promoted women's rights and was a staunch abolitionist. One of her sons, John Quincy Adams, would grow up to become the sixth President.

The site offers tours.

Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project

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Image, Witchcraft at Salem Village, 1876, Salem Witch Trials
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This website presents a valuable collection of resources for examining the Salem Witch trials of 1692. There are full-text versions of the three-volume, verbatim Salem Witch trial transcripts, an extensive 17th-century narrative of the trials, and full-text pamphlets and excerpts of sermons by Cotton Mather, Robert Calef, and Thomas Maule. The site also offers four full-text rare books written in the late 17th and early 18th centuries about the witchcraft scare. Descriptions and images of key players in the trials are presented as well.

Access is provided to more than 500 documents from the collections of the Essex County Court Archives and the Essex Institute Collection, and roughly 100 primary documents housed in other archives. There are also seven maps of Salem and nearby villages. Basic information on the history of Salem/Danvers is complemented by eight related images and a brief description of 14 historical sites in Danvers.

American Women's History: A Research Guide

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Photo, Guadeloupan Woman, 1911
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Maintained by Ken Middleton, reference/microforms librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, this site provides citations and links to more than 1,700 sources on American women's history. More than 900 of these are internet sources, approximately 270 of which offer online primary sources.

Content is accessible according to type of source (such as, general reference, bibliographies, biographical sources, archival collections), location by state and region, and 72 subjects. The site also includes useful guides for finding resources. Updated frequently, this is a valuable aid to help in locating materials in women's history.

Martha Ballard

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Spurwink Marsh, Maine, Library of Congress
Question

How would I find more information on Martha Ballard’s religion and other personal information to help me write a better primary source analysis?

Answer

To learn about 18th-century Maine midwife Martha Ballard, first, read Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (New York: Vintage, 1991). You could also watch the 1998 PBS video A Midwife’s Tale which comes with a teacher’s guide.

Second, look at the resources collected for the “case study” on Martha Ballard on the Do History website. The website has an archive of some primary sources, including extensive selections from her diary, giving some background and context for Ballard’s religion.

Third, a “Martha Ballard Study Pack,” a study guide for students of A Midwife’s Tale, and a lesson plan for teachers is available from BookRags.

A good website for teachers on the history of Maine with plenty of primary resources is the Maine Historical Society’s Maine Memory Network. Included on that site is Religion on Maine’s Frontier, an online essay with selected images.

If you wish to begin digging into the history of the everyday life of the people of Maine, you should also take a look at the available sources on Maine history and genealogy at Cyndi’s List.

For more information

Valentine Seaman, M.D. The Midwives Monitor, and Mothers Mirror: being three concluding lectures of a course of instruction on Midwifery. New York: Isaac Collins, 1800.

Oxford, Maine, historical information

A Patriot's History of the United States, Part Two: Reinterpreting Reagan and the Cold War

Description

Professor Larry Schweikart argues that most popular textbooks today show a liberal, left-wing bias. He reexamines specific periods in U.S. history from a conservative perspective, focusing particularly on the slave market within the U.S. and then on Ronald Reagan's presidency and his role in ending the Cold War.

This lecture continues from A Patriot's History of the United States, Part One: Liberty and Property in the American Past.

A Patriot's History of the United States, Part One: Liberty and Property in the American Past

Description

Professor Larry Schweikart argues that most popular textbooks today show a liberal, left-wing bias. He reexamines specific periods in U.S. history from a conservative perspective, focusing on Ronald Reagan's presidency and the colonization of the original colonies, particularly as documents from the latter discuss property rights.

This lecture continues in A Patriot's History of the United States, Part Two: Reinterpreting Reagan and the Cold War.

Williamsburg's Blacksmith

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From Colonial Williamsburg: Past and Present Podcasts

"Williamsburg's blacksmith transforms crude metal into elegant, functional tools. Master Blacksmith Ken Schwarz details the trade."

The Colonial Williamsburg site also has a page that offers interested readers more information on blacksmithing in Colonial Williamsburg.

The site also features an ongoing blog about the blacksmith's shop and the armory.