The Eastman Project: Images of California Life

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Photo, Garbage Cans, Jervie Henry Eastman, 1946, The Eastman Project
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This extensive archive offers more than 13,200 photographs taken in California between 1921 and 1965 by Jervie Henry Eastman. The collection includes photographs, negatives, and postcards "for a wide variety of northern California locations and events, including dam construction, logging, mining, food processing, and community buildings and activities." Eastman established his photo studio in 1921.

Clicking on the thumbnail images brings up a larger version of the photograph with descriptive data. For some of the images it is necessary to select "more information about this image" to find the specific subject of the photograph. This selection also provides a subject cross-reference list. Search is by keyword only. The collection is of interest to those researching the history of northern California and those interested in urban history or historical geography.

Attitudes to Early 20th-Century Immigration into the USA

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From the History Faculty website:

"In 1924 Congress passed the Johnson-Reed, or National Origins, Act, declaring racial and ethnic background as the most important determinant in gaining American citizenship. Those with Asian backgrounds were barred altogether. This session examines both the run-up to this crucial legislation and its impact on immigration up until it was superseded in 1966."

Dr. Kevin Yuill, Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Sunderland, presents this lecture. To access part two of this lecture, click here.

Free registration is required to view the video. Audio and video options are available.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950

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Logo, North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial Times to 1950
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This extensive archive offers approximately 150,000 pages of letters and diaries from colonial times to 1950, including 7,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts. Highlighted material includes extracts from the Journal of Mrs. Ann Manigault (1754-1781), the Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, letters of Phyllis Wheatley, letters of Ellen Louisa Tucker to Ralph Waldo Emerson, letters of Margaret Fuller, and the memoirs and letters of Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison.

Search the database by keyword or use the advanced search to find material by such fields as author, race, religion, age, occupation, date of writing, document type, historical event, or subject. More than 80 fields have been indexed. This website is available either through one-time purchase of perpetual rights or through annual subscription (your library or institution may have a subscription). This collection is a useful archive of material for teaching about the history of women as well as for research in women's studies, social history, and cultural history.

FDR's First 100 Days

Description

Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter and Columbia University Provost Alan Brinkley discuss the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, the subject of Alter's recent book, The Defining Moment: FDR’s First Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. The book contends that the first 100 days were not only the beginning of the New Deal, but also "the climax to a piece of political theater," which had begun years earlier when Roosevelt overcame polio and public perceptions of him as an elitist lightweight.

A Life in the 20th Century

Description

According to the Gilder Lehrman website:

"Distinguished American historian and counselor to presidents, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. had a ringside seat to the most pivotal moments of the 20th century. Schlesinger's Journals: 1952-2000, the second volume of his journals, were published in 2007 to great acclaim. The Gilder Lehrman Institute presents a 2001 Historians' Forum that he delivered on the first volume of his journals, A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950. Schlesinger focuses particularly on how perceptions of progress, government, and human nature changed in the face of the two World Wars and the rise of government forms that challenged democracy."

War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946

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Photo, Transportation, 1942
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Note: Unpublished because annotation does not seem to match website. Larger parent website also already covered at http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/23319.

This exhibit by an art student begins with 11 color postcard-like recreations of original black-and-white photographs documenting life in the Poston (AZ) War Relocation Center, where more than 17,000 Japanese-Americans were interned between 1942 and 1945 by the U.S. military. An accompanying essay provides background information and a brochure describes the Poston Monument. In addition, viewers can access six pages from "an Internment Camp's High School Yearbook," and additional legal documents, memoirs, newspaper and journal articles, a timeline, and book excerpts through links to 26 related documents and 40 websites. An important site on the internment experience.

Eugenics Archive

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Image for Eugenics Archive
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The history of the eugenics movement in the United States, from its inception in the decades following the Civil War through its height in the first few decades of the 20th century, is traced on this website. As we move into the age of genetics, this movement, that sought to filter "bad" traits from the human population, becomes increasingly important to understand.

The movement's history is told through a narrative divided into eight themes, including social and scientific origins, research methods and traits studied, flaws in these methods, ways in which the movement was popularized, immigration restriction, and marriage and sterilization laws. Each narrative is accompanied by roughly 10 primary sources—reports, articles, charts, legal documents, and photographs. These materials provide a succinct introduction to eugenics in the U.S.

In addition to the narratives, visitors can search or browse the Image Archive, featuring more than 2,000 primary sources, including documents, artwork, photographs, and more. Visitors may browse by topic, object type, time period, or the archive sources' originals are held by, or search by keyword or ID number. Note that primary sources cannot be downloaded from the Flash version of the Archive, though they can be from the HTML version of the site.

Women of Protest: Images from the Records of the National Woman's Party

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Photo, Lucy Burns in Occoquan. . . , Harris and Ewing, 1917, Women of Protest
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This combined archive and exhibit offers a selection of 448 photographs from the Library's National Woman's Party (NWP) collection that "document the National Woman's Party's push for ratification of the 19th Amendment as well as its later campaign for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment." Photographs span the years 1875 to 1938, but most date from 1913 to 1922. Visitors can browse photographs by title or subject or search the descriptive information. The site has a photo gallery of more than 50 photographs depicting NWP activists who were arrested and imprisoned for their role in suffrage protests. Additionally, the site provides a timeline of the National Woman's Party from 1912 to 1997 that places it in historical context. The site also provides three essays: on the tactics and techniques of the National Woman's Party suffrage campaign, a historical overview of the NWP, and on leaders of the NWP.

Austin Treasures: Online Exhibits from the Austin History Center

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Photo, Elnora Douglass
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A collection of 10 exhibits documenting aspects of the local history of Austin, TX. Each exhibit contains approximately 40 images and essays from 1,000 to 3,000 words in length. Topics include working in the city, the suffrage movement, life in the city during World War II, Victorian houses, city streets, the erection of the state capital building, landscaping, the historic suburban Hyde Park area, and memorable "firsts" in Austin.

The site links to the main local history site for the Austin Public Library—the Austin History Center—which provides a 2,400-word student essay on Austin's growth during its first 100 years, a chronology of the city from 1830–1900, and links to other relevant sites, including one presenting hundreds of historic postcards of the city. Useful for those studying Texas, urban, and western history.