The Pill

Image
Annotation

Designed as a companion to the PBS film, this site documents the development of the birth control pill and its effect on women's health. The site offers a synopsis of the film (approximately 1,000 words) and about a dozen primary sources, including letters between birth control pill researchers. The site also includes a timeline that documents references to birth control as far back in history as Biblical Genesis.

A Gallery showcases approximately 15 birth control pill package designs. People and Events introduces visitors to the researchers (including Margaret Sanger) who dedicated years to the project, as well as milestones in the pill's development. Special Features uses a Flash presentation to demonstrate how the pill works to prevent pregnancy, explores the many shifts in sexual attitudes that have been attributed to the pill, and asks viewers to participate in an online poll.

A Teacher's Guide features lesson plans in geography, civics, history, and society, and presents challenging exercises for students. For example, one exercise asks students to survey the effect geography had on sexual attitudes by comparing laws about contraception from state to state in 1960.

Although the site is not a comprehensive archive, the primary sources and multimedia exhibits make it valuable, especially for research into birth control and women's issues.

Women Working, 1800-1930

Image
Annotation

This site offers textual and visual historical resources for teaching, learning, and researching the history of women working in the United States. It currently includes almost 3,500 digitized books, 7,500 manuscript pages, and 1,200 photographs. Holdings include letters, diaries, scrapbooks, magazines, catalogs, photographs, books, and pamphlets (both non-fiction and fiction).

Visitors may browse through the "New Additions" area, look through materials by topic (such as home labor, arts, or business), search catalog keywords, or perform a full text search.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia

Image
Annotation

A web-based reference work, this site provides authoritative and accurate information on people, places, institutions, and events for many aspects of Georgia's life, history, and culture. The encyclopedia offers close to 2,000 articles and 8,000 multimedia files on a range of categories, including art, business, education, politics, history, religion, and sports with specific articles on topics such as architecture: building types (houses, public schools, roadside, and vernacular), military bases, folklife projects, and gymnastics at the University of Georgia.

Within the essays, there are links to related essays and external websites. There are also video and audio clips as well as images and some maps. New material is added regularly and the site also offers basic stats on the state, features and destinations, and galleries.

American Memory Learning Page

Image
Annotation

Designed to provide support for elementary, middle, and high school history teachers, this site makes the entire American Memory collection at the Library of Congress available for classroom learning. Using the more than 7 million digital sources available through American Memory's 100 collections, the creators have written and collected 140 lesson plans for teaching American history. Organized chronologically and thematically, the lesson plans are detailed suggestions for classroom activities. Each has a recommended age group and uses primary sources collected by students or teachers from American Memory.

Especially useful are the included guides on using primary sources, using American Memory resources, and using digital or Internet sources in the classroom. A "Professional Development" section offers online workshops and tutorials to improve teachers' digital literacy. An excellent resource for the classroom, this site would be useful to both student and teacher.

The United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures

Image
Annotation

Designed to explore the historical similarities and contrasts, ethnic diversity, and interactions between Brazil and the United States, this site contains almost 1,000 images from the rare book, manuscript, map, print, and photographic collections of the Library of Congress and the National Library of Brazil.

The site includes letters (including letters from Thomas Jefferson concerning the independence of Brazil), illustrations, 18th-century maps, and other textual items, including poetry.

The sources are available in five categories: "Historical Foundations," "Ethnic Diversity," "Culture and Literature," "Mutual Impressions," and "Biodiversity" (right now, only the Historical Foundations section is completed). The site is viewable in both English and Portuguese, and is appropriate for high school and college students, as well as teachers and researchers.

Rediscovering George Washington

Image
Annotation

This site introduces users to the life of George Washington. Reflecting current scholarship, the site contains an Introduction, which is essentially a 4,000 word summary of Washington's life and career. The Timeline is a chronology of the milestones in his life, with a few references to national events. The Multimedia Room includes 11 audio clips of scholars discussing Washington's importance in the second half of the 18th century. Also included are four sound files of Pat Sajak reading memorial letters written by Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill, among others, and five video clips of Charlton Heston reading some of Washington's more famous letters and speeches (his Farewell Speech, for example).

The site contains a modest collection of 150 Washington letters, and a transcription of Washington's Book of Etiquette, which Washington himself transcribed when he was 16 years old. The letters are divided into pre-revolutionary, revolutionary, pre-presidential, presidential, and post-presidential collections; and include personal letters from and to Washington and his wife, as well as documents like presidential pardons, indenture documents, and land surveys. Teachers will find useful the 10 Lesson Plans (for grades 9-12), which are very detailed and include bibliographies. Listen to the audio review: .

The Story of Virginia

Image
Annotation

This attractive website offers a presentation on the history of Virginia from prehistoric times to the present with essays, images, and teaching resources. There are 10 chapters: the first Virginians; the settlement of colonial Virginia; Virginia's society before 1775; Virginians in the American Revolution; Virginians as Southerners, Confederates, and New Southerners; Virginians in the 20th century; the struggles of African American and female Virginians for equality; and a final chapter on images of Virginia in popular culture. Each chapter has an essay featuring images of relevant items in the collections of the Virginia Historical Society.

The "resource bank" collects all 95 images from the chapters of people, documents, places, and objects. Additionally, the site offers a teacher's guide for each chapter listing the standards of learning, a summary of key points, classroom activities and lesson plans, links to related websites, and information on tours, outreach programs, and hands-on-history programs.

An excellent introduction to the history of Virginia and its people with useful resources for class projects and classroom instruction.

Presidents of the United States - POTUS

Image
Annotation

A reference resource for basic information about the U.S. Presidents. Each president's page includes election results; cabinet members; a list of notable events during term of office; and historical documents, such as inauguration speeches, proclamations, and significant public addresses.

The site provides links to sites about important events and biographies of family and cabinet members. Audio files are available for presidents from Grover Cleveland to George W. Bush. Links to two to 10 internet biographies and one to 13 related sites are provided.

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Image
Annotation

In the past decade new media and new technologies have begun to transform even the ancient discipline of history. CD-ROMs and the World Wide Web challenge historians to rethink the ways that they research, write, present, and teach about the past. The Center for History and New Media (CHNM) was established in the fall of 1994 to contribute to and reflect upon this transformation and challenge. The Center produces historical works in new media, tests the effectiveness of these products in the classroom, and reflects critically on the promises and pitfalls of new media in historical practice. The Center's resources are designed to benefit professional historians, high school teachers, and students of history.

Includes links to more than 1,000 history departments around the world; and a wide variety of teaching, scholarly, and exhibition resources—online databases, informative sites, and software. For example, Declaration: Interpreting the Declaration of Independence by Translation provides translations of the American Declaration of Independence into French, German, Polish, Russian, and Spanish, along with commentaries on the practice and problems of translating documents.

With the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the City University of New York (ASHP/CML), CHNM produces History Matters, a resource site for teachers and students of American history.

Rare Map Collection

Image
Annotation

A collection of more than 800 maps dating from 1544 to 1939 of mostly North American locations, with an emphasis on 19th-century Georgia. Organized into nine chronological and topical divisions—New World; Colonial America; Revolutionary America; Revolutionary Georgia; Union and Expansion; American Civil War; Frontier to New South; Savannah and the Coast; and Transportation.

Includes maps of battles, American Indian nations, railroads, and roads. Useful especially for those studying military history and the development of the South.