Genealogy
Description
Tukufu Zuberi of PBS's History Detectives provides a brief introduction to resources for tracing family genealogy.
Zoar Village State Memorial [OH]
Description
Founded by the German religious dissenters called the Society of Separatists of Zoar in 1817 as a communal society, Zoar today is an island of Old-World charm in east-central Ohio. Many of the German-style structures built by the Zoarites have been restored and are open to the public as Zoar Village State Memorial. Others are privately-owned, and serve as residences, shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfast inns. Visitors can experience the life of the agrarian Separatists by visiting the ten restored buildings (Number One House, Kitchen/Magazine Complex, Bimeler Museum, Garden House, Bakery, Tinshop, Dairy, Wagon Shop, Blacksmith Shop and Zoar Store), which are staffed with costumed interpreters and furnished with items made or used by the Separatists. Some buildings are staffed, others open by guided tour. Volunteers give craft demonstrations during the many yearly special events.
A second website, for the Zoar Community Association, can be found here.
The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, classes and other educational programs, and recreational and educational events.
Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor [OH]
Description
The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor provides a dramatic overview of the impact of the iron and steel industry on Youngstown and other Mahoning Valley communities. The building, designed by renowned architect Michael Graves in 1986, houses the museum's permanent exhibit, "By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley," which explores labor, immigration, and urban history, using videos, artifacts, photographs, and reconstructed scenes. Objects on display range from workers' tools and clothing to "last heats," the last batches of steel produced at each of the mills before they closed. Hundreds of photographs, some more than 30 feet long, are used throughout the museum. Videos examine topics such as housing, recreation, and urban history. Life-size scenes—including a mill's locker room, part of a company-built house, and a blooming mill, where steel ingots were shaped for further processing—help visitors understand steelmaking and the lives of steelworkers.
The center offers exhibits, tours, research library access, and educational programs.
The Whyos: Gang of New York
Description
The Whyos were New York's most notorious gang after the Civil War, organizing their criminal activities and terrorizing law-abiding citizens of the Gilded Age. In this presentation, Greg Young and Tom Meyers explore they lived, how they broke the law, and who they were—from Googie Corcoran to Dandy Johnny.
The Whyos: Gang of New York
Description
The Whyos were New York's most notorious gang after the Civil War, organizing their criminal activities and terrorizing law-abiding citizens of the Gilded Age. In this presentation, Greg Young and Tom Meyers explore they lived, how they broke the law, and who they were—from Googie Corcoran to Dandy Johnny.
Ellis Island
Description
From the Bowery Boys website:
"For millions of Americans, Ellis Island is the symbol of introduction, the immigrant depot that processed their ancestors and offered an opening into a new American life. But for some, it would truly be an 'Island of Tears,' a place where they would be excluded from that life. How did an island with such humble beginnings—'Little Oyster Island,' barely a sliver of land in the New York harbor—become so crucial? Who is the 'Ellis' of Ellis Island? And how did it survive decades of neglect to become one of New York's most famous tourist attractions?"
The Kings of New York Pizza
Description
From the Bowery Boys website:
"New Yorkers are serious about their pizza, and it all started with a tiny grocery store in today's Little Italy and a group of young men who became the masters of pizza making. In this podcast, you'll find out all about the city's oldest and most revered pizzerias—Lombardi's, Totonno's, John's, Grimaldi's and Patsy's in all its variations. But if those are the greatest names in New York-style pizza, then who the heck is Ray—Original, Famous or otherwise?"
The Mother of Thanksgiving
Description
From the BackStory website:
"Historian Anne Blue Wills tells the story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a New England magazine editor who campaigned tirelessly to put Thanksgiving on our national calendar."
The Adorable Origins of Yellow Journalism
Description
Rachel Quimby looks at the pop culture icon the Yellow Kid and the connection of this figure with yellow journalism.
Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
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Annotation
This collection of essays, documents, and bibliographies addresses Atlantic slavery, resistance, and abolition. Source Documents includes about 200 speeches, letters, cartoons, graphics, and articles (visitors may browse by author, date, subject, or document type—no searching), that document slavery in the Americas. Bibliographies contains about 12 detailed bibliographies by scholars of slavery and abolition that can be used in teaching or studying in this area, as well as links to book reviews on the internet. A Scholars Forum posts a 4,500-word featured essay by a noted scholar, and visitors can read past essays as well. Teachers may find useful a Curriculum section, where lesson plans are available, including one for the Amistad affair. It includes a timeline of abolition, a narrative of the incident and the subsequent trials, and an essay. Tangled Roots uses a 1,000-word essay to examine the history shared by Irish Americans and African Americans in America. Neither the most complete digital archive nor the greatest collection of essays, this site is nonetheless a valuable resource for the most recent scholarship of American slavery and abolition.