Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum

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This site exhibits a selection of material relating to Gerald Ford's presidency. The site provides a 2,500-word biography of the former president and 800 words on his wife, Betty, as well as 230 photographs of their pre-presidential lives. More than 120 photographs of Ford in office range in subject from family pets to the Nixon pardon. A sample of 15 facsimile documents about Vietnam represents a larger collection that has recently been declassified.

Other documents about Vietnam include General Fred C. Weyland's Vietnam assessment memo of April 1975, eight memoranda (4-7 pages) on conversations about the War, nine National Security Council meeting minutes (7-30 pages), and 14 photos of Ford and others in meetings about Vietnam. There are 41 National Security Study memos and 83 National Security Decision memos available on topics such as Israeli military requirements, the classification of nuclear safeguards, and U.S. policy for Antarctica. A collection of 20 items from Ford's 1976 campaign for president includes sheet music for his campaign theme song. Of the 40 Ford speeches and writings from 1970-2000 collected here, three are available as audio.

The site is searchable by subject and easy to navigate. It is a useful resource for research on Ford, the Vietnam War, and the presidency.

U.S. Electoral College

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Basic statistical data and explanatory material on the workings of the Electoral College, provided by the Federal office that coordinates its operations. Data includes electoral and popular vote totals for presidential elections since 1789; listings by state of electoral college members for 1992-2000; facsimiles of certificates of ascertainment and certificates of votes for the 2000 election; and a digest of current state laws and requirements. Also offers a 2,700-word procedural guide; relevant federal law provisions; a 1,600-word description of state responsibilities; and 10 links to additional National Archives sites of relevance. A quick and easy way to locate vote tallies and legal information regarding the institution of the Electoral College.

The Vietnam War Declassification Project

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In April 2000, the Gerald R. Ford Library released approximately 40,000 pages of classified documents concerning the Vietnam War. Many are from National Security Advisors Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft and their staffs and deal with the decision to evacuate U.S. forces from Vietnam in April 1975. This site provides 15 samples of the newly declassified material, 27 additional documents related to the war already available, 17 photographs of Ford and his advisors during meetings, and finding aids for those planning to travel to the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The sample documents include important memos, letters, and cables regarding corruption in South Vietnam; "ominous developments" by the North Vietnamese reported to Kissinger in March 1975; the evacuation decision and its execution; the seizure of the U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez by a Cambodian gunboat crew in May 1975; the plight of Vietnamese refugees; "lessons of the war" imparted to Ford by Kissinger; and notes from Scowcroft to Ford on the then-ongoing reconstruction of Cambodian society by the Khmer Rouge. This site will be valuable for those teaching courses on the Vietnam War and its aftermath and the internal workings of the Ford Administration.

U.S. Senate Historical Office

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This collection of essays about the history of the U.S. Senate begins with a brief overview (900 words). More than 140 "historical minutes" (300 words) discuss interesting events in the Senate from 1789 to 1980. Events include the caning of Charles Sumner in 1856, the 1914 ban on smoking in the Senate chamber, and a 1935 Huey Long filibuster. The complete texts of 15 oral histories, of 40 to 700 pages, of retired senators and Senate staff members are available and 15 others may be ordered. The oral histories cover 1910 to 1984 and deal with a wide range of issues, including the desegregation of the staff, the McCarthy hearings, preparations to impeach Nixon, rhetorical rules of debate, and the impact of computers on the work of the senate. Staff members include pages, the Sergeant at Arms, aides, administrative assistants, and the first African-American Government Documents Clerk. A collection of 26 essays (500 to 3000 words) discuss Senate procedure, leadership, officers of the Senate, and general information, such as the development of the oath of office. Other essays include 2,400 words on the president pro-tempore and a 1,300 word essay on the 1959 committee, chaired by John F. Kennedy, that designated the five most outstanding senators in American history.

The site also includes a section of frequently asked questions about the Senate and links to a directory that provides a 150-word biography of every senator and vice president as well as many congress people and staff members. Statistics about majority and minority leaders and the practice of switching parties are also provided. The minutes of Senate Republican Conferences from 1911 to 1964 and Senate Democratic Conferences from 1903 to 1964 are available in their entirety. Visitors may also read the full texts of eight lectures given by statesmen, such as George Bush and Senator Robert C. Byrd as part of the Leaders Lectures series established in 1988 by Trent Lott. The site is easy to navigate and will be useful for research in the history of American political institutions.

The Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley, 1901

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In September 1901, President William McKinley was attacked while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. He eventually died of his wounds. This Library of Congress American Memory site features 28 films, drawn from the Paper Print Collection of the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, depicting scenes from the Exposition and McKinley's visit to Buffalo. Produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company from March to November, 1901, the films include footage of President McKinley at his second inauguration; the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo; President McKinley at the Exposition; and McKinley's funeral. The site also includes a roughly 500-word introductory essay about the exposition and McKinley's assassination; a 1000-word essay describing America at the turn of the 20th century; a 250-word introduction to the Library's Paper Print Collection; a 23-work selected bibliography on McKinley and the Pan-American Exposition; and a 15-work bibliography on the history of motion pictures. A "Learn More About It" page lists seven other Library of Congress special presentations and related collections and exhibits for those interested in further exploring the era. There is an alphabetical listing of the films, as well as a keyword search engine. Though the online exhibit is limited in scope and nature of sources, it is a good resource for those interested in early-20th-century expositions, American presidents, and William McKinley.

The American Colonist's Library

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This website, maintained by graduate student Rick Gardiner, is a gateway to sites that contain well over 500 primary documents and literature that was "most relevant to the colonists' lives in America." The collection is arranged chronologically and divided into five time periods: 500 BC to 500 AD contains works by classical philosophers and poets such as Aristotle and Socrates, the Bible, and works by figures such as St. Augustine; 500 AD to 1500 contains such works as the Laws of William the Conqueror, Magna Carta, and English law treatises; 1500-1600 provides such documents as the writings of Martin Luther, letters by Christopher Columbus, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs; 1600-1700 contains a variety of colonial maps and charters, an indentured servant's contract, the works of John Smith of Jamestown settlement and John Winthrop of Plimouth Plantation, among other documents; and 1700-1800 contains such documents as the Virginia Slave Laws, William Byrd I's diary, and the works of Lord Bolingbroke.

Each chronological category divides the documents into 15 to 25 subject categories. While there is no keyword search, the site's chronological and subject divisions make it easily navigable, and it provides a wealth of resources for those particularly interested in political, cultural, religious, or constitutional early American history.

Vietnam Online

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This is the companion to the PBS series, Vietnam: A Television History. David McCullough introduces the site with a 600-word essay on the war and 30-word program notes for each of the 11 episodes. Transcripts for each episode, from the "Roots of a War" to "The End of the Tunnel" are available. "Who's Who" provides photographs and profiles (50-100 words) of 41 major figures. The site provides a timeline from 1945 to 1997 including events leading up to the war, the war itself, and its results, as well as links to 50-word descriptions of events. A 600-word essay illustrated with four photographs describes Vietnam's recovery from the war. Among the 12 personal reflections of the war (300 to 900 words) provided here, visitors may read the memories of a Vietnamese-born American poet, a U.S. marine, a soldier who guarded the Ho Chi Minh trail, and a Red Cross aid worker. There are nine photographs and 3,000 words on equipment from fighter planes to boots and food. One essay (500 words) describes the My Lai massacre and another essay (1,600 words) discusses the continuing issue of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. This site is easy to navigate and mixes the personal and global effectively, making it useful for research into the cultural history of war.

Today in History

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This exhibit changes daily and includes text, images, and sound or video clips, where appropriate, for each day's event. The material comes from the Library of Congress's American Memory collections. Topics range widely and have included the establishment of Oregon as a state, Stalin's request that the U.S. invade Western Europe, and the Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanemoku's 1911 freestyle record. The site provides links to American Memory collections as well as suggestions for finding more information on the same or related topics. This attractive and well-designed site would be useful for teachers wishing to get students involved in a daily exercise in history or for teachers hoping provide a broad sense of what can count as history.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800

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This subscription-only website presents an extensive archive of U.S. history documents, offering more than 36,000 items and 2.3 million pages on all aspects of 17th- and 18th-century American life. It is comprised of a range of publications helpful for researching social, cultural, intellectual, and religious history, as well as political and military history, including advertisements, almanacs, bibles, charters and by-laws, cookbooks, maps, narratives, novels, plays, poems, sermons, songs, textbooks, and travelogues. It is especially useful for the history of printing, as it contains an exhaustive list of printers, booksellers, and publishers active in this time period as well as images and the full-text of most of the books, pamphlets, and broadsides they helped create.

Users can browse the imprints by category: Genre, Subjects, Author, History of Printing, Place of Publication, and Language. Simple and advanced searches are available, enabling easy access into this large collection of documents. For those with access, this site provides an extensive resource for researching all aspects of 17th- and 18th-century North America.

September 11, 2001: Attack on America

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This site is an extensive collection of some 2,000 primary texts related to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It features documents in the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy, and government, and includes press releases, briefings, legislation, executive orders, proclamations, and public laws.

The documents (with factual errors corrected in annotations) have been collected from sources such as the White House, Departments of State, Defense, Transportation, and Justice, the European Union, NATO, and the OAS. Users can browse the long list, arranged chronologically, or can pull up documents via a variety of drop-down menus. They may also search the collection by keyword, or jump directly to a particular date from September 2001 through April 2002.

Comprehensive and well-organized, this is a valuable site for those researching the political and legal aftermath of the September 11 attacks.