Words and Deeds in American History

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Logo, Words and Deeds in American History
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This site displays approximately 90 primary documents from the 15th century to the mid 20th century. Features eight subjects: the presidency; Congress, law, and politics; military affairs; diplomacy and foreign policy; arts and literature; science, medicine, exploration, and invention; African-American history and culture; and women's history. The collection emphasizes "prominent Americans whose lives reflect our country's evolution," including 23 presidents and figures such as Carter Woodson, Thurgood Marshall, pioneer physician Elizabeth Blackwell, Wilbur Wright, and Alexander Graham Bell.

Each subject is accompanied by a useful 100- to 400-word background essay and a link to the document's host collection. Also includes a 2,000-word essay entitled "Collecting, Preserving, and Researching History: A Peek into the Library of Congress Manuscript Division." Although limited in size, this site provides an eclectic group of documents of national interest.

American Originals

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Photo, Original Copy of Emancipation Proclamation, NARA
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This exhibition presents 14 of the " most significant and compelling documents from the National Archives holdings." The site furnishes, in whole or part, facsimiles and in some cases transcriptions of the following documents: the July 2, 1776, resolution by the Continental Congress proclaiming independence from Great Britain; George Washington's first inaugural address; the Louisiana Purchase agreements; a casualty list of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of African-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War; a police blotter that reports the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; an 1868 treaty with the Sioux Indians; a U.S. Navy memorandum reporting the Titanic disaster of 1912; a court verdict concerning gangster Al Capone; Eleanor Roosevelt's 1939 resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution in protest of the group's refusal to allow singer Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall because of her race; President Franklin Roosevelt's speech to the Congress requesting a declaration of war against Japan; a draft press release announcing the United States's recognition of Israel in 1948, signed by President Harry S. Truman; speech cards used by Presidents John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987 for their historic visits to Berlin; President Richard Nixon's 1969 diary entry relating to his telephone conversation with Apollo 11 astronauts; and Nixon's resignation letter of 1974. The materials are accompanied by brief descriptions of 100-200 words, photographs, audio files, and links to related National Archives documents. This site exhibits national relics well, but does not investigate their historical significance and meanings.

When Nixon Met Elvis

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Photo, Nixon and Elvis in the Oval Office, NARA
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Presents 29 photographs and five documents relating to Elvis Presley's bizarre December 1970 visit with Richard Nixon in the White House. Features a well-known photograph of the meeting and a five-page letter written from Presley to Nixon requesting an appointment as a federal agent "to be of any service that I can to help The Country out." "I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent," wrote Presley. "I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing where I can and will do the most good." Also includes background information about Presley's visit and official White House notes of the encounter. A revealing snapshot into the perceptions of these two public figures concerning the youth culture of their day.

Sixties Project & Viet Nam Generation

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Logo, Sixties Project
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Sponsored by the Viet Nam Generation, Inc., and the Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia, this site is a resource for teaching and researching America in the 1960s and during the Viet Nam War. The site contains links to 17 primary documents, including materials from the Black Panther Party, the Free Speech Movement, and GI's United Against War in Viet Nam. There are more than 100 images of political buttons and posters from the era and a full-text version of Vietnam: An Antiwar Comic Book, written by civil rights activist Julian Bond after he was expelled from the Georgia legislature for protesting the Vietnam War. Additional items on the site include five keyword searchable, full-text back issues of Viet Nam Generation, a journal of recent history and Viet Nam War studies published between 1988 and 1996. The site also contains ten syllabi for courses on the 1960s and the Vietnam War. Visitors may contribute their own personal narratives about the 1960s (the quality and accuracy of these personal narratives are not controlled and should be used with caution).

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

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Logo, National Baseball Hall of Fame
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Official site of the Baseball Hall of Fame, located in Cooperstown, New York. Gives 100-word biographies on all past 253 inductees and 1,000-word essays on the four members elected in 2001. Includes four educational programs, each containing 4-5 primary source documents--cartoons, articles, letters, photographs, and advertisements--on World War II and baseball, Jackie Robinson, the Negro Leagues, and women in baseball. Provides extensive bibliographies of more than 100 titles each on Robinson, Roberto Clemente, women in baseball, sex discrimination in athletics, and the 1972 antitrust suit "Flood v. Kuhn," dealing with baseball's controversial "reserve clause." Also includes a 4,000-word essay on a leading midwest minor league team from 1901-1961; research lists dealing with baseball trivia topics; an exhibit of paraphernalia given by a collector; a "Treasures of the Hall of Fame Quiz" for visitors age 12 and under; links to 34 major and minor league ball club sites; and information about using the organization's library and research collections. A useful source of historical information on baseball players, clubs, leagues, law, and lore.

The Wars for Vietnam: 1945-1975

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Logo, The Wars for Vietnam
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An introduction to the history of the Vietnam War, this site was developed for a course taught by Robert Brigham, "the first American scholar given access to the Vietnamese archives on the war in Hanoi." The site offers a 3,000-word overview of the war and features 20 primary documents, including the 1954 Geneva Peace Accords, the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and several items translated by Brigham, such as a 1965 letter from the Hanoi Politburo to the Communist Party in the South. Also includes 47 links to related resources, historical and contemporary. A useful site that concentrates on the military and diplomatic dimensions of the war.

Children in Urban America: A Digital Archive

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Photo, Lester Earl Kesserling playing. . . , 1926, Children in Urban America
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This website offers more than 4,000 primary sources, including newspaper stories, photographs, statistics, oral histories, and personal narratives, related to children and childhood in urban America, specifically in the greater Milwaukee area, from 1850 to 2000. The search page is the most direct route to these sources and is accessible by clicking on the purple kite in the top, right corner of some pages. On other pages, "search entire site" in the footer is the only link. The site is organized around five sections-Work, Play and Leisure, Schooling, Health and Welfare, and "Through Children's Eyes." Each section offers a 150-word introduction, a gallery of five to 40 images, and approximately five "Special Topics" that combine a background essay (300 to 500 words) and a collection of five to ten relevant primary sources. "Special Topics" range from the Socialist Party, religion, and newsboys to National Child Health day and polio in Milwaukee County.

A section for teachers and students offers 25 possible research questions and tips for middle school, high school, and college and cover a host of topics, from games to newspaper coverage of children to the impact of technology on the lives of children. This website is useful for studying childhood and urbanization during a time when what it meant to be a child was changing rapidly.

Alaska's Digital Archive

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Photo, Chief Cow-Dik-Ney. . . , 1906, Case and Draper, Alaska's Digital Archive
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This website offers access to the digital collections of six Alaska universities and museums. The more than 3,700 historical images of Alaska can be browsed in their entirety or by selecting specific thematic collections organized under the two broad themes. "Alaska Native History and Cultures" has 12 collections with themes that include ceremonial life, education, native leadership and politics, making a living, and health care facilities. "Movement to Statehood" has seven collections with themes such as government, business and commerce, natural resources, transportation, and society and daily life.

Both "Alaska Native History" and "Movement to Statehood" can be browsed by region or time period. Bibliographic data accompanies each image. The user can also search the collection by phrase or keyword. Future stages of the project will add oral histories, maps, documents, and film clips in multiple formats. Alaska's Digital archive is an outstanding resource for those seeking images of Alaska's history.

Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection

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Cover, Helix, Vol. 2, no. 3 (October 20, 1967), Walt Crowley, U of WA
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This small but interesting archive of 232 items "contains leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. They reflect the social environment and political activities of the youth movement in Seattle during that period." The collection can be browsed in 24 thematic categories that include Vietnam protests, human rights, gay rights, feminism and women's issues, racism, socialism and labor, farm workers, peace candidates, environment, religion, fanaticism, "Age of Aquarius," civil liberties, freedom of speech, anarchy, communism, pro-Vietnam War, and Palestinian protests. Basic keyword and advanced searches are available. This website is a useful resource for researching the history of campus protest in the 1960s and 1970s.

Wisconsin Magazine of History

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Magazine page, Wisconsin magazine of history: winter 2001-2002, WHS
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This website offers archived issues of the quarterly journal of the Wisconsin Historical Society with historical articles, book reviews, and images. The archive offers full-color page images (PDF format) of all articles from 22 issues dating from Autumn 2000 (Vol. 84 No. 1) to Winter 2005 (Vol. 89 No. 2), including a look at Wisconsin's golden days of pioneer aviation, an article on the powerful experience of visiting public historical sites, and an excerpt from a biography of Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr. The searchable (by subject) cumulative online index for volumes 76 to 85 (Autumn 1992 to Summer 2002) allows visitors to locate specific articles in these issues (titles and issue numbers only). There is also a link to the Society's "Wisconsin Historical Images" site, an archive of more than 13,000 images. Although it offers only secondary sources and only articles since 2000, this site is of possible use to those researching the history of Wisconsin's people, places, and events.