Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research

Image
Image for Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
Annotation

Providing access to social science data for member colleges and universities, this website presents data that covers a range of sociological and political areas. Issues include census enumerations; urban and community studies; conflict, violence, and wars; economic behavior; legal systems; legislative bodies; mass political behavior and attitudes; and organizational behavior.

While much of the site emphasizes the late 20th century, data sets such as "Historical and Contemporary Electoral Processes" and "1790–1960 Censuses" will be useful for historical research. Searching is available according to a controlled vocabulary of names, subjects, and geographical terms. There are 10 special topic archives with data geared to health, education, aging, criminal justice, and substance abuse and mental health concerns. A "data use tutorial" and links to related sites may be useful.

Literature and Culture of the American 1950s

Image
Image for Literature and Culture of the American 1950s
Annotation

This collection of more than 100 primary texts, essays, biographical sketches, obituaries, book reviews, and partially annotated links explores the cultural, intellectual, and political trends of the 1950s. Organized alphabetically and according to lesson plans, this eclectic collection of readings is structured around a few landmark texts and topics, including McCarthyism and anticommunism, Daniel Bell's The End of Ideology (1960), William H. Whyte's The Organization Man (1956), feminism, Philip Rieff's The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966), and conformity in universities.

Materials include substantial excerpts from Vance Packard's The Status Seekers (1959) and the Encyclopedia of the American Left, in addition to retrospective analyses of the postwar period.

France in America

Image
Image for France in America
Annotation

This bilingual website (English and French) explores the history of the French presence in North America from the early 16th century to the end of the 19th century through more than 360 manuscripts, books, maps, and other documents. Each thematic presentation—"Exploration and Knowledge," "The Colonies," "Franco-Indian Alliances," "Imperial Struggles," and "The French and North America after the Treaty of Paris"—includes a title exhibit and additional exhibits that highlight particular items in the collection. Materials can also be browsed in the collections section.

A timeline (1515–1804) organizes events in French America by explorations, colonization and development, and conflicts and diplomacy, and places them in the context of events in France. Additionally, there are eight descriptive maps that show various Indian groups in contact with the French and the changes in political boundaries in North America from before 1763 to the era of the Louisiana Purchase.

Bureau of Economic Analysis

Image
Image for Bureau of Economic Analysis
Annotation

Comprehensive and summary data estimates concerning national, international, and regional economic activity are available on this website. Additional data is available according to industry. An overview of the economy provides data on production, purchases by type, prices, personal income, government finances, inventories, and balance of payments.

An easy-to-use keyword index to a set of annual and quarterly national income and product account (NIPA) tables from 1929 to 2006—found in the "National" section under "Personal Income and Outlays"—allows users access to data on specific product sales and ways that consumers have spent money. Forty-nine recent research papers by staff members address issues such as globalization, how the "new economy" is measured, and structural change of the economy over a 28-year period.

Center for Archaeological Studies

Image
Image for Center for Archaeological Studies
Annotation

Designed to showcase the work of archaeologists and their excavations at Mobile and elsewhere in Alabama, this website offers images and exhibits from several digs. Visitors can "virtually visit" archaeological sites in the town of Old Mobile, capital of the French colony of Louisiane [sic] from 1702 to 1711; the Mississippian Indian city of Bottle Creek (1100–1400); and the Indian fishing site of Dauphin Island Shell Mounds (1100–1550).

Additional sites include the French village of Port Dauphin (1702–1725); the Dog River Plantation site, home to a French-Canadian immigrant family, numerous Indians, and slaves (1720s–1848); and sites in downtown Mobile, including a Spanish colonial house (ca. 1800), an early 19th-century riverfront tavern, and antebellum cotton warehouses.

Artifacts features more than 250 images of pottery shards with accompanying descriptions. Great Links presents 30 additional websites that focus on preservation, archaeology, and Alabama history. The site also includes images and information on seven additional French colonial sites in Nova Scotia, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium

Image
Image, "The other ascent into the unknown," Herbert Block, 1965
Annotation

The 150 cartoons presented here were drawn between 1929 and 2000 by three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Herblock (Herbert Block). Cartoons comment on major events and public issues.

The website also presents an essay by Block on "the cartoon as an opinion medium"; a biographical essay; and 15 caricatures of the cartoonist by well-known colleagues. Cartoons are organized according to 13 chronological sections, with an additional segment devoted to presidents. Brief annotations provide historical context for each image.

A tribute site by the Washington Post, Herblock's longtime employer, offers additional cartoons and essays by Block.

American Family Immigration History Center

Image
Photo,"Immigrants aboard [...],"1892, American Family Immigration History Center
Annotation

Records on the more than 25 million passengers and ship crew members who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 are available through this website. Most passengers came from Europe and Russia, although there are some records from Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

The website requires a free, simple registration to view detailed records that include name, residence, date of arrival, age on arrival, ethnicity, place of residence, marital status, ship of travel, place of departure, and a copy of the original ship manifest (a transcription is also available). The website includes extensive contextual information about Ellis Island, immigration, and genealogical research. "Family Histories" illuminates the genealogical research experiences of six Americans of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The "Peopling of America" exhibit covers six periods from pre-1790 to 2000, with graphs, photographs, and immigration statistics geared to place of origin. Additional information is available for an annual fee.

Archive of Early American Images

Image
Buffalo, Archive of Early American Images
Annotation

The images in this collection, focusing on the Americas, come from books printed or created in Europe between about 1492 and 1825. Images include woodcuts, copper engravings, and paintings. The database, still being compiled, currently contains 6,685 images and will eventually contain some 7,500 images. Image viewing software is available from the site.

The visitor can browse the entire archive or search by time period, geographical area, keyword, or subject, including indigenous peoples, flora and fauna, artifacts, industry, human activities, geography, maps, city views and plans, and portraits. Some images, such as Ptolemy's map of the world, may be familiar. Others are reproduced for the first time. Navigation requires some practice, but is worth the effort.

Our Documents

Image
Image, National Recovery Administration logo, Our Documents
Annotation

A cooperative effort, this online repository presents 100 milestone documents in American history. The first document is the Richard Henry Lee Resolution of June 7, 1776, proposing independence for the American colonies. The last is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In between, visitors will find Eli Whitney's 1794 cotton gin patent, the 1862 Pacific Railway Act, and the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling.

Additional documents include the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, and orders and addresses by several presidents, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. There is a full-page scan and transcription of each document. In addition to the chronological list of 100 documents, the site includes a "People's Vote." Of the 100 documents, Americans voted the Declaration of Independence number one, followed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Article Body

Los Alamos National Laboratory exists as a major development center for engineering and scientific national security features. To date, their major responsibility is developing and maintaining systems related to national nuclear determent.

Sadly for history teachers, although not particularly unexpectedly, the laboratory's offerings appropriate to K-12 education are nearly all focused on the sciences. That said, a couple of resources may still be of use to history educators, and teachers should feel welcome to pass on the site information to their science co-workers, particularly those within New Mexico, where the laboratory is located.

What history teachers should take a look at is a history of Los Alamos National Laboratory and national security. Sections include the "Road to Los Alamos," "People of Wartime Los Alamos," "Building the Atomic Bomb," "Postwar to H-Bomb," and "H-Bomb to Stewardship." Each section offers related materials, often primary sources, such as Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt, under "Related Reading." Also included are several image galleries, including one with pictures of the Trinity Test. On the history home page, teachers should also be aware that the "Some Staff" list to the right includes J. Robert Oppenheimer, scientific director of the Manhattan Project, and Stan Ulam, a mathematician and another major figure in the project.

Classes located near Los Alamos, NM, may also be interested in the Bradbury Science Museum, which presents the laboratory's history and current research.