This is a good place to begin exploring the history of Jamestown. The site includes over 60 letters and firsthand accounts from 1570 to 1720 on voyages, settlements, Bacon's Rebellion, and early history. More than 100 public records, such as census data and laws; 55 maps and images; and a registry of servants sent to plantations from 1654 to 1686 complete the site.

Virtual Jamestown also includes records from 1607 to 1815 of Christ's Hospital in England, where orphans were trained to apprentice in the colonies. There are four interactive virtual recreations. The reference section includes a timeline from 1502 to the present, narratives by prominent historians, links to 20 related sites, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The Complete Works of John Smith and John Smith's Map of Virginia have recently been added to the site, while 3D recreations of Jamestown's Statehouse and Meetinghouse as well as an archive of Virginia's first Africans are being added.

These 11 exhibits address the history of California and San Francisco. Topics include the Gold Rush of 1849; earthquakes of 1906 and 1989; the history of the city's fire department; construction of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges; and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. These exhibits provide timelines and links to more than 200 primary documents and images, including newspaper articles, diary entries, oral histories, photographs, political cartoons, and engravings. Two exhibits are hyperlinked chronologies pertaining to San Francisco during World War II and the rock music scene in the city from 1965 to 1969.

Documents can be accessed according to subject, with more than 25 documents listed on the Chinese-American community, fairs and expositions, and labor issues. The site also contains more than 150 biographies of prominent San Franciscans.

These more than 8,000 images document the history and development of South Texas and the border. The collection features the life's work of commercial photographer Robert Runyon (1881–1968). Topics include the U.S. military presence in the area prior to and during World War I and the growth and development of the Rio Grande Valley in the early 1900s.

A special section presents nine of Runyon's 350 photographs of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) in Matamoros, Monterrey, Ciudad Victoria, and the Texas border area from 1913 through 1916. "Maps of the Lower Rio Grande" offers a number of topographical and military maps depicting the region. The website also offers essays on the revolution and on Runyon.

During the New Deal and World War II, a period marked by the impulse to capture in writing, sounds, and images significant aspects of American life and traditions, government photographers with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI) took hundreds of thousands of pictures. This website features more than 150,000 photographs from this project. The photographs document the ravages of the Great Depression, scenes of everyday life in small towns and cities, and mobilization campaigns for World War II.

This site also includes approximately 1,600 color photographs and selections from two popular collections: "'Migrant Mother' Photographs" and "Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination." The site also provides a bibliography, a background essay, portrait samples of 18 FSA-OWI photographers, and links to five related sites. This is a great source for studying the documentary expression of the 1930s and 1940s.

This collection presents the complete run—from February 8, 1918 to June 13, 1919—of the "official newspaper" of the U.S. Army fighting forces during World War I. The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) were formed in May 1917 following U.S. entrance into the war. Stars and Stripes was created by order of the AEF supreme commander, General John J. Pershing, to strengthen morale and promote unity among soldiers. Professionals from the newspaper industry joined the staff, including a few well-known journalists. At its peak, the weekly newspaper reached more than half a million soldiers, providing news of the war, sports reports, cartoons, news from home, and poetry.

A special presentation includes essays on the newspaper's contents, staff, advertising, military censorship, the American Expeditionary Forces, and the role women played in the war effort. Search the full text or browse individual issues.