Internet Moving Images Archive

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Screencapture, Duck and Cover, U.S. Federal Civil Defense Ad., 1951, Moving...
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These resources come from a privately held collection of 20th-century American ephemeral films, produced for specific purposes and not intended for long-term survival. The website contains nearly 2,000 high-quality digital video files documenting various aspects of 20th-century American culture, society, leisure, history, industry, technology, and landscape. It includes films produced between 1927 and 1987 by and for U.S. corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions. More than 80 films address Cold War issues.

Films depict ordinary people in normal daily activities such as working, dishwashing, driving, and learning proper behavior, in addition to treating such subjects as education, health, immigration, nuclear energy, social issues, and religion. The site contains an index of 403 categories. This is an important source for studying business history, advertising, cinema studies, the Cold War, and 20th-century American cultural history.

Archive of Early American Images

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Buffalo, Archive of Early American Images
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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

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Image, National Recovery Administration logo, Our Documents
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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.

Selective Service System

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The Selective Service System was set up as an individual agency in 1940 to organize military draft registration and the induction of drafted soldiers. Contrary to popular opinion, the draft, was in use until 1973 during both times of war and peace. Not all military positions filled by the draft were combat.

The Selective Service System website is not particularly rich in useful classroom resources. However, if you are planning on teaching a unit on World War I or II; Korea; or, in particular, the Vietnam War, information on the draft could be a good way to get students to imagine themselves in a historical position.

Try the statistics page for the total number of inductees for the previously mentioned wars, as well as the annual totals between 1917 and 1973. You can also access the Vietnam lottery results.

If your high school students are concerned about the draft, you can read up on changes since the Vietnam War era, or access the actual Military Service Selection Act, complete with all amendments through 2003. An overview of the service history and policy, designed for teachers, is also available as a PDF file.

Two other primary source documents are available as links from the site. These are Executive Order 11967—Relating to Violations of the Selective Service Act and Proclamation 4483 Granting Pardons For Violations of the Selective Service Act.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

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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.

Uncivil Wars

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From the Kansas State Historical Society website:

"African American soldiers were rare during the Civil War, and black officers almost non-existent. Thirty years later, Major John Brown from Topeka led soldiers to Cuba during the Spanish-American War using this saber."

Arlington: Field of Honor

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From the Snag Learning website:

"National Geographic presents a portrait of one of America’s most sacred places. Once little more than a potter’s field, Arlington National Cemetery has become a national shrine and treasury of American history. Now, discover how this revered site came to be, and how it serves as the final resting place for both the famous and obscure, from John F. Kennedy to the Unknown Soldier. Through rare archival footage and captivating, true-life accounts, experience the moving stories of heroes and heroines and witness the daily activities and official rituals of the dedicated staff who strive to honor those who are laid to rest here. From fallen soldiers and daring explorers to political leaders and other honored Americans, the hallowed history of Arlington reveals a powerful portrait of this iconic and venerated landmark."

The Book That Saved a Life

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From the Library of Congress website:

"Maurice Hamonneau, a French legionnaire and the last survivor of an artillery attack near Verdun in the First World War, lay wounded and unconscious for hours after the battle. When he regained his senses, he found that a copy of the 1913 French pocket edition of Kim by Rudyard Kipling had deflected a bullet and saved his life by a mere twenty pages."

This short video tells the story of Maurice and, more importantly, the novel that saved his life.