Hall of Black Achievement Gallery

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A collection of 30 biographical essays, ranging in length from 200 to 600 words, on African Americans, Cape Verdeans, and Hispanics of African descent who have accomplished significant achievements. Covers figures from Revolutionary America to the 1990s, though most of those included lived in the 19th century. All essays include portraits and links to relevant sites; 21 of the essays contain audio clips that allow visitors to hear the essays read. The selected subjects include war heroes, writers, statesmen, artists, activists, inventors, journalists, business people, and sports figures. Valuable for young users especially because of the audio files, but also may be useful to older students for the links provided.

Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History

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History Link is an encyclopedia of the history of Seattle and King County, WA. A timeline of 180 "Milestones" connects visitors to 500-word historical essays on topics in Seattle-area history from before 1851 to 2000. "People's Histories" presents roughly 150 memoirs and oral histories (1000 to 16,000 words) of Seattle residents of diverse class and ethnic backgrounds, including Squamish and Nordic. There are 18 "Magic Lantern" photographic essays ranging from one image and 40 words to 50 images and 300 words. Special collections have been arranged in 17 folios, which cover topics such as Martin Luther King's 1961 visit to the city and the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in 1999. The WTO archive contains 19 articles of 100 to 2000 words on the history of radicalism in Seattle and the WTO protests of 1999 and 2000. This archive also contains 48 photographs of the protests taken by History Link staff.

Visitors may take four Cybertours of the city in which they click on sections of a map and connect to one or two images and 300-word descriptions of local history. "Then and Now" contains 49 before-and-after photographs of Seattle landmarks with 300-word essays on the history of each location. The site is easy to navigate and can be searched by subject. In March 2003, HistoryLink added a database for all of Washington state. It is an excellent resource for all levels of scholars interested in the history of the Northwest or oral history.

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.

Toledo's Attic: A Virtual Museum of Toledo, Ohio

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This virtual museum contains resources focused on Toledo and Northwest Ohio's history from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries. The site is broken into seven content areas—Tour Toledo, Essays, New Media, Exhibits, Resources, Social Media, and Links—each of which contain photographs and other sources. In the "Tour Toledo" section, visitors have the option to virtually explore the city by investigating historic sites such as churches or hotels, or past structures that once dotted the city's landscape. The section also contains a timeline tracing Toledo's role in American history from 1801 to 1984.

In the "Essays" section, browse more than 35 historical essays, which focus on topics ranging from architecture to labor history. The majority of these essays include primary sources and images, which could be used in the classroom.

The "New Media" and "Exhibit" sections offer a more hands-on presentation of Toledo history. In the "New Media" section, visitors can explore more than 70 interactive media exhibits, from slideshows to flash presentations, on a number of topics. The "Exhibits" section currently offers four virtual tours of exhibitions on industry, medicine, steelworks, and glass production.

"Resources," "Links," and "Social Media" all contain lists of other resources relating to Ohio history. Be sure to peruse the first two sections for links to dozens of local libraries, archives, and historical societies and their digital collections. The "Social Media" section provides a gateway to more than 10 social networking sites specific to either Toledo or Ohio state history.

Overall, Toledo's Attic is a gold mine for the history of this Ohio city.

National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

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The highlight of the site is its Online Exhibitions section. There are currently 64 exhibits available. These include Separate is Not Equal, celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision (including audio and video files); Bon Appetit, documenting chef Julia Child's kitchen and career (including panoramic views and virtual examination of Childs's kitchen tools); and West Point, marking 200 years of military academy training.

Parents and teachers may appreciate the Kids area with hands-on history and science. Less useful for research, this site would be most useful as a virtual visit to the Museum.

WTO History Project

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Designed to provide access now and in the future to documents created by groups that protested the World Trade Organization's "Ministerial Week," held in Seattle from November 29–December 3, 1999. Offers texts of more than 80 oral histories of organizers and participants, 73 photographs, and images of 224 fliers, posters, and leaflets. Also includes 46 planning documents, 18 signs carried by protesters, two audio files, three videos, and a timeline documenting 520 events from March to December 1999. A second timeline covers the week of protests and a table with contact information for more than 1,400 organizations that opposed the meetings. Documents in the collection can be searched by keyword, organizations, and issues—labor, environment, trade, democracy, direct action, food, agriculture, health, and independent media.

The site's creators state they are "dedicated to ensuring that any account ever written of the WTO protests be attentive to the range of people who turned out, the varieties of strategies and issues they brought to the streets and the meeting rooms, and the coalitions that emerged and failed." As a result, the site will be of great value to those studying social protest movements in the late 20th century.

Washington History

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This website offers resources in Washington history through three main sections: historical records research, historical newspapers and classics in Washington history, and presentations. Historical records offers county census records, naturalization records, other miscellaneous records, and genealogical research resources, as well as searches of the state archive records and the state library catalog. The newspapers and classics feature allows visitors to search and view articles from four state newspapers dating back to 1852. Users can search the newspapers by keyword, topic, or personal name. This section also has 91 classic works on Washington history, searchable by keyword, grouped under topics of county and regional history, exploration and early travel, Native Americans, pioneer life, special collections, territorial government, and wagon trails and the Oregon Trail. Individual works can also be searched. (Newspaper articles and classics must be viewed using the DJVU plugin software, available for free download on the site.)

Additionally there is a Corps 33 bibliography of more than 35 works on the Lewis and Clark expedition. There are six presentations that allow visitors to explore Washington's territorial history through an interactive timeline featuring photographs and documents, view documents relating to World War I and profiles of Washington's soldiers, read the history and view historical photographs of cities, counties and corporations, browse a collection of historical maps of the state and the Pacific Northwest, view all 78 pages of the original Washington State Constitution and learn the history surrounding it, and explore the history of elections and voting in the state. The site also offers a collection of 96 images showing the construction and early history of the state's Legislative Building.

Milwaukee Neighborhoods: Photos and Maps, 1885-1992

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This website presents 638 images of the buildings and neighborhoods of Milwaukee that together document the development of the city of Milwaukee from the mid-1880s to the early 1990s. The collection brings together images from two rare books, the photograph collections of the American Geographical Society Library and the Archives Department at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Libraries, and two extensive photograph collections. Image subjects include residential and industrial facilities, local businesses, historic buildings, churches, and numerous Milwaukee parks.

An essay by professor Judith Kenny entitled Picturing Milwaukee makes use of images from the collection to examine the growth and development of Milwaukee and its 75 neighborhoods in the larger context of economic and social change. Topics addressed include early commercial development, industrialization, suburban development, and the post-World War II city. Additionally, there are 12 maps of Milwaukee that can be browsed separately. Each is accompanied by a descriptive record and a link to a larger image.

The collection can be searched by neighborhood, subject terms, or place/businesses. In addition to those interested in the history of Milwaukee, this site will be of interest to those studying urban development or historical architecture.

Women Working, 1800-1930

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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

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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.