Red Hot Jazz Archive: A History of Jazz before 1930

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Covering more than 200 jazz bands and musicians active from 1895 to 1929, this website offers biographical information, photographs, and audio and video files. It includes more than 200 sound files of jazz recordings by well-known artists, such as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Django Reinhardt, as well as many by dozens of lesser-known musicians.

The files are annotated with biographical essays of varying length, discographies, and bibliographic listings. Listings are available for 20 short jazz films made in the late 1920s and early 1930s as well as two video files. Twenty essays and articles about jazz before 1930 come from published liner notes, books, journals, or jazz fans.

Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps, UT

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These 1,275 detailed historical maps depict cities in the state of Utah. D. A. Sanborn Company, a pioneer producer of insurance maps on a national scale, designed maps that depicted commercial, industrial, and residential sections of Utah cities. The collection of large-scale detailed maps dating from 1867 through 1969 is an ongoing project, and currently contains maps of 40 cities. Users may download compressed images to view and enhance the maps. Maps are arranged alphabetically by city and date, although the years available for each city are inconsistent.

The maps outline the site, size, shape, construction, and building materials of dwellings, commercial buildings, and factories. In addition, the maps detail building use, sidewalks, property boundaries, house and block numbers, and even the locations of hydrants and wells. The collection presents an opportunity to study Utah history, architectural history, and the development of cartography.

Small-Town America: Images from the Robert Dennis Collection, 1850-1920

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More than 12,000 stereoscopic photographs depict life in small towns, villages, rural areas, and cities throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut from 1850 to 1920 on this website. Materials include pictures of buildings, street scenes, natural landscapes, agriculture, industry, transportation, homes, businesses, local celebrations, natural disasters, and people.

Each grouping of photographs offers a short description of the contents as well as notes on the locations, medium, collection names, and digital identification information. The site also features an essay on the history of stereoscopic views and nine related website links. The site is searchable by keyword and can be browsed by subject and image name. These revealing illustrations are valuable for examining rural and urban development as well as everyday life.

The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale

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The cultural impact of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the focus of this well-designed exhibit. Three galleries offer images and explanatory text.

"'To Please a Child': L. Frank Baum and the Land of Oz" examines various aspects of the book, including W.W. Denslow's artwork, Baum's original copyright application, and an early review of the book appearing in the October 1900 issue of The Literary Review. "To See the Wizard: Oz on Stage and Film" looks at two of the most famous productions of Baum's book, the 1902–1903 stage play that became one of Broadway's greatest successes and the classic 1939 MGM movie, including color posters and a full-page color advertisement placed in the September 1939 issue of Cosmopolitan "To Own the Wizard: Oz Artifacts" examines Oz-related novelties, including the Wizard of Oz Monopoly game by Hasbro, a Wizard of Oz stamp, and "The Royal Bank of Oz" rebate check from MGM.

Thomas A. Edison Papers

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A vast database of Thomas Edison's papers, this website includes 71,000 pages of correspondence, 12,000 pages of technical drawings, and more than 13,000 clippings about the inventor from 103 journals and newspapers. The site boasts over five million pages of documents related to Edison. Processes for searching the site are complicated, but an extensive guide offers search strategies.

Materials include 2,210 facsimiles of Edison patents from 1868 to 1931 for products such as the electric lamp and the phonograph. A collection of 14 photographs, maps, and prints depict Edison, his environs, and his inventions. The site offers a "Document Sampler" of 23 selections of general interest as well as an 8,000-word essay on Edison's companies, 22 pages about Edison and the development of the motion picture industry, and two chronologies. A bibliography directs visitors to more than 70 books and articles and 21 related websites.

Mark Twain in His Times

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Based on Mark Twain's works and life, this engaging website focuses on the author's life and career, including the creation of his popular image, the marketing and promotion of his texts, and live performances. Five sections center on major works, including Innocents Abroad, Tom Sawyer, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. Each section is placed within a historical context.

The website offers an extensive collection of text sources, including 50 published texts or lectures, 16 letters, and over 100 texts and excerpts from other late 19th-century authors. Twenty-nine items from publishers, more than 80 newspaper and magazine articles, 35 obituary notices, over 100 period literary reviews, and hundreds of illustrations and photographs round out this informative site. An interactive graphic essay explores the issue of racism through various American illustrations of "Jim" in Huckleberry Finn. This is an invaluable resource for studying American literature and its place within the 19th-century marketplace and landscape.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture

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This well-designed, comprehensive website explores Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin as an American cultural phenomenon. "Pre-Texts, 1830–1852" provides dozens of texts, songs, and images from the various genres Stowe drew upon, including Christian texts, sentimental culture, anti-slavery texts, and minstrel shows. The section on the novel includes Stowe's preface, multiple versions of the text, playable songs from the novel, and Stowe's defense against criticism.

A third section focuses on responses from 1852 to 1930, including 25 reviews, more than 400 articles and notes, as well as nearly 100 responses from African Americans and almost 70 from pro-slavery adherents. "Other Media" explores theatrical and film versions, children's books, songs, poetry, and games. Fifteen interpretive exhibits challenge users to investigate how slavery and race were defined and redefined as well as analyze how various characters assumed a range of political and social meanings.

Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music

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Scanned images of more than 18,000 pieces of sheet music, including covers, published prior to 1923 are presented on this website. The collection, compiled by an American musicologist, covers the period 1780–1980 but focuses on 19th-century popular music, especially songs relating to military conflicts, presidents, romance, transportation, and songs from the minstrel stage.

Users may search for songs on hundreds of topics such as drinking, smoking, fraternal orders, the circus, and death, or look for composers, song titles, or other catalog record data. Descriptions by the collector of significant songs in 38 topical categories are also available. These materials are useful for studying 19th- and early 20th-century popular culture, especially depictions of ethnicity, gender, and race.

Famous Trials

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This exceptional legal history site presents balanced treatments of over 50 prominent court trials. Trials include: Salem witchcraft (1692); Burr conspiracy (1807); Amistad (1839–1840); Dakota conflict (1862); Lincoln conspiracy (1865); Johnson impeachment (1868); and Susan B. Anthony (1873). 20th-century trials include: Bill Haywood (1907); Sacco and Vanzetti (1921); Scopes (1925); Scottsboro Boys (1931–1937); Rosenbergs (1951); Lenny Bruce (1964); "Mississippi Burning" (1967); Chicago Seven (1969–70); My Lai courts martial (1970); LAPD officers (1992); O. J. Simpson (1995); Clinton impeachment (1999); and Moussaoui's 9/11 trial (2006).

Each trial website includes a chronology, maps, and court documents, including transcripts of testimony, media coverage, depositions, and government documents. Most cases also contain images, links to related websites, and a bibliography. Biographies center on five "trial heroes," including trial lawyer Clarence Darrow. "Exploring Constitutional Law" offers 83 important constitutional topics for class discussion.

Museum of the City of San Francisco

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These 11 exhibits address the history of California and San Francisco. Topics include the Gold Rush of 1849; earthquakes of 1906 and 1989; the history of the city's fire department; construction of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges; and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. These exhibits provide timelines and links to more than 200 primary documents and images, including newspaper articles, diary entries, oral histories, photographs, political cartoons, and engravings. Two exhibits are hyperlinked chronologies pertaining to San Francisco during World War II and the rock music scene in the city from 1965 to 1969.

Documents can be accessed according to subject, with more than 25 documents listed on the Chinese-American community, fairs and expositions, and labor issues. The site also contains more than 150 biographies of prominent San Franciscans.