The Idea of America invites student discussion concerning the historical and present day manifestations of ideals such as unity and diversity, equality and freedom, common wealth and private wealth, and law and ethics. Note that high school students and educators comprise the intended audience.

The website is divided into two major portions—Current Events and the Virtual Republic. Current Events offers more than 80 case studies, each of which includes an introduction, key questions (ex: "What makes the nation decide it is the right time to expand the promise of freedom and equality?"), questions connecting these broader key questions to the specific current event, and links to news columns and videos. Recently added topics include women in the military; the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell; and the line between hate speech and First Amendment rights protection.

The Virtual Republic is the place for debate. Here, students are encouraged to write and publish statements on their opinions, beginning with "We believe. . . " These statements can form the basis for debate or support among schools and student groups across the country. Participation requires free student and teacher registration. Students engage as active citizens, and essentially form a microcosm of the Great Debate which has existed throughout the history of the United States.

This site is a compilation of the unpublished papers of founding father John Jay, dating from 1745 to 1829. It is comprised of nearly 14,000 pages scanned from Jay's manuscripts and related materials. Abstracts and bibliographic notes accompany the scanned images. The primary documents are difficult to read in the original handwriting and they have not yet been transcribed. The quality of some of the images is also poor, although users can enlarge and enhance them. The records are searchable by name of writer, date of composition, name of holding institution, and accession number. Keyword searching of the abstracts, which vary in length and informational detail, is also possible.

Users will find letters from such prominent individuals as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. The correspondence deals with New York, anti-slavery, repeal of the Missouri Compromise, international affairs, and state government and politics. Those unfamiliar with Jay and his historical significance should be sure to visit the site's four thematic pages, each containing an essay (500 to 800 words) with links to documents. The site also includes a 1,300-word brief biography and a more than 50 item bibliography of relevant sources.

HERB consists of three TAH projects, History for All, History Matters, and Our American Democracy, as well as a wide variety of non-TAH collections, primarily related to social history. If you're wondering where the name came from, HERB's namesake is Herbert Gutman, a labor historian and co-founder of the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, which has been involved with K-12 education since 1989.

On HERB, you can keyword search for resources such as prints, posters, advertisements, and other artworks; oral history transcripts; statistics; documentary-viewing guides; timelines; activities; worksheets; explanation by historians; letters; songs; and more. From the main page, you can also browse by selecting your time period of interest or a major theme—immigration and migration, civil rights and citizenship, slavery and abolition, work, reading supports, expansion and imperialism, gender and sexuality, Civil War, or social movements.

Search results do not give suggested grade levels for any of the materials, including classroom activities, so be prepared to do some thinking about what might be best for your classroom's collective interests and ability levels.

This companion site to the 1999 PBS documentary on John Brown uses special features, a timeline, an interactive map, short biographies and histories, and a teacher's guide to explain the story of Brown's life and times. The site offers special features on the Maryland farmhouse where John Brown assembled his men before their raid on Harpers Ferry, the Harpers Ferry firehouse where Brown's raiders were captured, a history of the famous song "John Brown's Body," and a short essay on Brown's failures as a businessman before he became a radical abolitionist. The timeline traces the major events of Brown's life from 1800 to 1865. An interactive map follows Brown's movements across the country from his birth in 1800 to his execution and burial in 1859. The "People and Events" section features short biographical essays on Brown, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, abolitionist newspaper editor James Redpath, writer Henry David Thoreau, 1859 Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise, and "The Secret Six"--the radical abolitionists who funded Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. The section also features short histories of four events of Brown's radical abolitionist crusades: the Pottawatomie Massacre in Kansas, Brown's Missouri raid, the Harpers Ferry raid, and Brown's hanging. The teacher guide offers discussion questions and four classroom activities.

A scholarly journal focused on early American history and run by professional historians. Published in September, January, April, and July, and constituted by interdisciplinary essays, reviews, and "object lessons," the journal hopes "to reach a broad audience of the educated public." Toward this end, the site offers a forum for readers' responses and discussions, space for librarians and archivists, and an "ask the author" feature.

As always with journals, the quality of the site will largely depend upon the quality of the contributors. The editorial board and first two issues, which present 12 items each, suggest a high level of interest from prominent scholars of early America. Whether these scholars can attract a broader readership is a question unanswerable as of yet. A salutary project that holds promise for teaching and research alike.

This collection records stories and recollections associated with the history of science, technology, and medicine. Divided into groups by discipline, the Virtual Center is a directory of nearly 3,500 websites that deal with the history of science. The Practical Guide is a useful section that guides visitors through the process of planning, designing, and building a history-themed website. The Memory Bank allows visitors to share and read thoughts or recollection about any of ECHO's ongoing projects. Remembering the Moon Walk, for example, contains 130 responses from individuals who remember the event. Also included are collections featuring Women in Science and Engineering, Three Mile Island, and The Washington Metro. By registering, visitors can create their own memory bank using ECHO's tools for historians. The site would be an appropriate starting place for students researching a history of science topic.