Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Rare Books c. 1820-1910

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This American Memory website traces the history of the Upper Midwest (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) from the 17th century to the early 20th century, through 138 volumes drawn from the Library of Congress General Collection and the Rare Books and Special Collection Division. Selected works include first-person accounts, biographies, promotional literature, local histories, ethnographic and antiquarian texts, and colonial archival documents that depict the region's land and resources, cross-cultural encounters, experiences of pioneers and missionaries, soldiers, immigrants, reformers, growth of communities, and development of local culture and society. Each work is available in full-text transcription or page image, and is accompanied by notes giving the title, author, publication information, and a 300–350 word summary of the contents.

The site also offers a 2,000-word essay on the history of the Upper Midwest that covers the discovery, exploration, settlement, and development of the region from pre-contact to the early 20th century; a regional map dated 1873; links to more than 40 related websites; and a bibliography of nine related works, three of which are ideal for younger readers. The site can be searched by keyword and browsed by author, subject, and title. For those interested in the history of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region, this site offers some informative resources.

Theodore Roosevelt: His Life and Times on Film

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Although he was not the first president to be filmed for motion pictures, Theodore Roosevelt was the first to have his life chronicled through extensive use of the then-new medium. This site, part of the Library of Congress American Memory Collection, offers 104 films depicting events in Roosevelt's life, from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his death in 1919. The Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection provided 87 of the films and the remainder came from the Library of Congress Paper Print Collection of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recording Sound Division.

The films include scenes of Roosevelt with world figures, politicians, monarchs, friends, and family members. The films are not accompanied by lengthy explanatory text; they include only a brief, 10–15 word caption describing their contents.

Special presentations on this site include: a film chronology offering a timeline with 150–200 word outlines of each period in Roosevelt's life covered in film; a text-based timeline from Roosevelt's birth in 1858 to his death in 1919; "T.R. on Film," a roughly 750-word scholarly essay; four sound recordings, with transcriptions, Roosevelt made for Edison company in 1912 in which he stated his progressive political views; and an image of "Theodore Roosevelt: The Picture Man," a 2,000-word article from a 1910 The Moving Picture World magazine.

See also the 250-word description of the collection, a 15-work selected bibliography on Theodore Roosevelt and motion pictures, and links to four related websites. A "Learn More About It" section includes 12 other Library of Congress special presentations and related collection sites for those who wish to learn more about Roosevelt and his times. This site is a good resource for learning about Theodore Roosevelt and the United States around the turn of the 20th century.

Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age

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This Library of Congress American Memory site, a collaborative effort of the Library of Congress Hispanic Division and the National Digital Library Program, was created to help commemorate the centennial of the Spanish American War (1898). It traces the early history of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico through first-person accounts, political writings, and histories.

The selections consist of 39 Spanish-language political pamphlets, 13 monographs, and one journal that highlight topics such as land, natural resources, relations with Spain, political rivalries, and reform efforts. A brief (200–250 word) summary of the item and notes about the author, publication date and place, and repository information accompany each item. The Spanish-language pamphlets are not translated into English.

The online exhibit also features reminiscences of 12 soldiers who fought in the Spanish American War. A special presentation of downloadable cartographic items from the Library's Geography and Map Division includes two maps of the West Indies dating from 1806 and 1898; seven maps of Puerto Rico (1886–1915); maps of the cities of Bayamon, Mayaguez, and San Juan, Puerto Rico; and three Puerto Rican maps from the Spanish American War era.

The site also offers links to nine other American Memory sites on related topics and a bibliography lists more than 50 related works, approximately 20 of which are suitable for younger readers. This site will appeal to a small audience because of the number of untranslated Spanish documents; additionally, the selected documents only depict a narrow slice of Puerto Rican culture and society, primarily that of political, military, and foreign relations history. But for students interested in Puerto Rican history or the history of Spanish and American relations, this is a useful site.

Railroad Maps, 1828-1900

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This Library of Congress American Memory site features images and descriptions of 623 railroad maps selected from more than 3,000 regional, state, and county maps in the Library's Geography and Map Division. The selected items represent the variety of cartographic styles and techniques used in maps created for a range of purposes, including railroad surveys, U.S. General Land Office maps, surveys for rights of way, general surveys for railroad company reports, maps used by commercial publications, ticket agents and the public, and route guides to encourage commerce and travel by rail.

The maps on this site were featured in the cartobibliography Railroad Maps of the United States: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Original 19th Century Maps in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, compiled by Andrew M. Modelski (1975). A descriptive summary of 50–100 words and notes on the scale, publication place and date, medium, call numbers, and repository accompany each image.

The site also includes a lengthy (3,000-word) essay outlining the history of railroads and maps, a bibliography of eight related works, and links to 15 American Memory sites containing related materials. The site can be searched by keyword and browsed by geographic location, subject, map creator, title, and railroad lines. This site is ideal for students and teachers interested in the history of railroads, cartography, and transportation in the United States.

The 19th Century in Print: Books

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This site, part of the Library of Congress American Memory project, features over 1,500 full-text images of 19th-century books digitized by the University of Michigan as part of the "Making of America" project. Books in the collection primarily date from 1850 to 1880 and cover such subjects as education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, science and technology, and poetry.

The collection is divided into seven general themes: Civil War, Slavery and Abolition, Religion, Education, Self-Help and Self-Improvement, Travel and Westward Expansion, and Poetry. Each section opens with a 200-word descriptive essay, and each book featured on the site is accompanied by notes on the author, full title of the work, date and place of publication, and the publisher.

The site is keyword searchable and can be browsed by subject, author, and title. The site is ideal for exploring late 19th-century literature and popular culture.

The 19th Century in Print: Periodicals

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Part of the Library of Congress American Memory Project, this site offers full-text transcriptions of 23 popular 19th-century periodicals digitized by the Cornell University Library and the Preservation Reformatting Division of the Library of Congress. Among the periodicals on this site are literary and political magazines, as well as journals like Scientific American, Manufacturer and Builder, Garden and Forest, and the North American Review.

Each periodical is accompanied by very brief (10–15 word) notes on the name and location of the publisher and the years and volumes covered. Each periodical's full text is searchable by keyword and phrase.

A special presentation offers roughly 750-word essay on the historical background of Garden and Forest by Sheila Connor, the Horticultural Research Archivist at the Arnold Arboretum. There are also links to five related American Memory resources. The site's broad sampling of periodicals provides an easily navigated source for articles and editorials on a number of 19th-century political, cultural, and social issues.

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns

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A companion for Jazz, the PBS documentary series, this site explores the origins and evolution of a distinctively American form of music.

The site is divided into three main sections. Places, Spaces, and Changing Faces offers information on some of the cities and clubs that contributed to the growth of jazz, from New York's Savoy Ballroom to New Orleans' Anderson's Annex. Jazz Lounge outlines basic musical features and characteristics of jazz rhythm and melody and describes seven major strains of jazz from New Orleans to Bebop. Jazz in Time features a generally chronological history of the changes in jazz from antebellum America through the Jim Crow period, the Depression, World War II, the sixties, and beyond and also provides a link to a history of women in jazz. Another link offers over 100 biographies of musicians.

Each entry includes a roughly 500-word essay that outlines the historical background, major figures in the shaping of jazz, and specific characteristics of the music in that section. The site contains close to 100 audio clips of music and interviews with historians and musicians who appeared in the documentary. About 20 of the interviews are also transcribed.

A virtual piano in the "Jazz Lounge" provides an interactive opportunity to learn about and practice basic jazz techniques. There is also a section about the making of the documentary that includes information on the show's producer, Ken Burns. This site is ideal for researching American cultural history and the history of American music.

The Texas Constitutions Digitization Project

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Facsimiles and transcriptions of 12 Texas Constitutions from 1824 to 1876. Constitutions include the 1824 Federal Constitution of United Mexican States, in Spanish with an English transcription; the document that joined Texas to the U.S. in 1845; the 1861 secession constitution; and the 1869 reconstruction version. Visitors may search all constitutions by subject. The site provides annotated bibliographies of 61 primary source documents and 55 books and articles about Texas constitutions. Links to 13 sites about Texas history and constitutions in general. The site is easy to navigate and will be interesting for research on legal history and the west.

Presidential Elections and the Electoral College

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This website is part of the Library of Congress exhibit, "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: United States Congressional Documents and Debates 1774–1873." It provides links to the Library's extensive holdings on American presidential elections and the electoral college.

Ten links to resources from the Library's feature "Today in History" provide 250-word discussions of noted events and include links to 20–30 online documents for each feature. These documents include presidential campaign and inauguration speeches, government documents such as the certification in Congress of the first electoral college's balloting, controversies regarding the electoral college, and journals from late-18th and early-19th century political figures like William McLay.

Keyword searches make all of the Library's digitized documents on any given subject available through this site as well. This site is ideal for researching America's first century of political history.

River of Song

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This site is a companion to a Smithsonian series produced in collaboration with public broadcasting stations in 1999. The series, River of Song, traced the history and character of contemporary American music along the Misssissippi River, from the head of the river in Minnesota to its mouth in Louisiana. The site offers 300-word biographies of each of the approximately 40 artists and music groups featured in the four-part series. Artists featured include Minnesota folk singer John Koerner, the Ojibwe powwow drummers of the Chippewa Nation, Illinois bluegrass group the Bob Lewis Family, and Louisiana blues musician Eddie Bo. Each profile includes 3–4 photographs and links to the musicians' own or related websites and artists are also indexed by genre and name.

The Music Along the River section provides more general information about the history and character of music in the four regions along the Mississippi River. There is a roughly 750-word narrative description of the music in each region. Each regional section includes links to approximately 10 articles from past Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Cultural Studies programs and five to seven other links to informational articles about that region.

A Teacher's Guide designed to accompany a videotape or CD of the music provides over 30 different activities for elementary and middle school students, including songs and specific exercises in rhythm, scales, notes, drumbeat patterns, and chords. Though the site is frustratingly devoid of audio clips of the music presented in the series, some of the related links do provide audio samples. This site is particularly ideal for music teachers, but could also be used in history classes to discuss American culture and the development of distinctively American kinds of music.