In 1994, a rare book dealer brought to the Virginia Historical Society a most remarkable find—over 500 watercolor drawings and maps by Union Army Private Knox Sneden. Sneden's art depicting life as a Civil War soldier, along with his diary/memoir, was recently published by The Free Press.

This website features images and diary entries drawn from the book, entitled Eye of the Storm; and details in vivid watercolors, maps, and journal entries, events from the Civil War as witnessed by Sneden. The site offers over 40 entries from Sneden's diaries from 1861 to December 1864, accompanied by 20 of his watercolors depicting battle scenes, camp life, and maps of the areas in which Sneden served.

There is a roughly 500-word overview of Sneden's life before the Civil War and as a soldier during the war. There are also four Flash presentations of approximately 40 more watercolors depicting particular incidents Sneden witnessed. These feature comments about the scenes by Charles F. Bryan, Jr., Director of the Virginia Historical Society, and related descriptions from Sneden's journals. Incidents featured include a surprise artillery attack by Rebels against a Union fortification, views of battles, and sabotage operations.

This site gives unique insight into the war through the eyes of a talented soldier and is an ideal source for illustrations and firsthand accounts of the Civil War.

A collection of more than 200 official documents, nine oral histories, and more than 70 photographs pertaining to the pursuance of the Korean War by the administrations of Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Provides day-by-day access covering June 24-September 14, 1950—and more sporadic contributions during subsequent periods—to diplomatic and military documents and accounts by administration officials, including correspondence, speeches, memos, reports, and briefing papers. A special section covers the historic Wake Island meeting in October 1950 between Truman and General Douglas MacArthur, with excerpted documents, reminiscences by participants and observers, and photographs. Also includes an audio recording of Truman discussing the firing of MacArthur in 1951; an extensive "Korean War Teacher Activity" from a high school in Independence, MO, including assignments geared to official documents and oral histories; guides to archival materials in the Truman and Eisenhower presidential libraries; information on relevant exhibitions in the libraries; and links to five related sites. Valuable for students to learn to evaluate historical narratives composed of materials from diverse sources.

Annotated versions of most of the material published by Poe during his lifetime (1809–1849) are presented on these two websites, including at least one example of all surviving poems and tales and in many cases multiple versions. Materials include selections of Poe's literary reviews and essays on a variety of subjects, including aesthetics, dreams, etiquette, and American literature. Also available are autobiographical writings, hundreds of letters, and miscellaneous documents, including a bill of sale for a slave. Bibliographies and an annotated chronology are available.

A PBS companion site for the film The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Ken Burns. The site contains brief biographies of members of the expedition, historical sketches of the Native American tribes encountered by Lewis and Clark, a semi-searchable selection of transcribed journal excerpts from seven expedition members, over 800 minutes of unedited interviews with scholars and other specialists, over 30 links to related websites, a bibliography, and an interactive story section.

The site also offers teaching resources, including lesson plans and printable activity sheets, as well as a video interview and email forum with filmmaker Ken Burns. An easily navigated site.

An exhibit devoted to the Goldband Recording Corporation, a Southern regional recording company, located in Lake Charles, LA. From its inception in the mid-1940s, Goldband produced recordings in "some of the South's most important and distinctive musical styles and sounds, including Cajun, zydeco, blues, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and swamp pop."

The site includes 23 selections in both streaming MP3 and Real Audio formats; short biographical notes of 100–200 words in length on 24 artists who recorded at Goldband studio—including Freddie Fender and Dolly Parton at age 13; 32 photographs; and a 1,600-word essay on musical genres.

Provides three links to related sites, a 10-title bibliography, and an inventory of the full collection of corporate materials available at the UNC Library. Valuable for those studying Southern culture, music history, and postwar American popular culture.

Presents 108 sound recordings produced in the mid- to late 1890s by pioneer recording manufacturer and inventor Emile Berliner (1851-1929) as well as more than 400 additional items from the inventor's papers. Berliner, based in Washington, D.C., developed the microphone, the gramophone player, and the flat recording disc. The recordings on the site—each averaging about two minutes in length and available in Real Audio, MP3, and WAV formats—include Western music (band and orchestra, instrumentalists, popular music vocalists and vocal groups, classical and opera, and foreign language songs), spoken word selections (comedy, speeches, addresses), and a variety of ghost songs and dances of Native American peoples recorded by ethnologist James Mooney. Selections include Buffalo Bill Cody's "Sentiments on the Cuban Question," recorded in April 1898; John Philip Sousa's band; humorist Cal Stewart relating one of his popular "Uncle Josh" stories; and Victor Herbert's 22nd Regiment Band.

Most of the other items—articles, books, catalogs, clippings, correspondence, diaries, lectures, notes, pamphlets, patents, photographs, scrapbooks, and speeches—are from the 1870s to the early 1930s. Also includes a 23-title bibliography, links to eight related sites, a timeline, a family tree, and three informative essays (2,000-4,000 words) on Berliner's life, the history of the gramophone, and the Library's collection of Berliner recordings. A valuable site for those studying the beginnings of the recording industry, turn-of-the-century popular culture, and the milieu of American inventors in the period from the 1870s to the Great Depression.

This is a selection of some of the more than 4,300 items in the papers of conductor and composer Irving Fine (1900-1962). Material includes a 700-word biographical sketch and illustrated timeline of Fine's life. There are 57 photographs of Fine, including six with Aaron Copland, and six of Fine conducting at Tanglewood. Visitors may listen to the first and second movements of Fine's 1952 String Quartet, about eight minutes each, and may observe the composer at work by looking at five facsimiles of sketches for the score. These include a full 53-page score, a 43-page sketchbook, a 41-page pencil sketch, a 3-page draft of an incomplete and abandoned third movement, and a one-page row chart. A finding aid describes the rest of the collection, which includes personal and business correspondence, additional sketchbooks, press clippings, programs, and recordings. Visitors may search by keyword, browse photographs, or browse the five musical sketches. A bibliography lists seven articles by Fine, as well as two books, six articles, and seven dissertations about him. Useful for researchers interested in American classical music and cultural history.

Visitors can explore family life in Illinois from 1700 to the present in this site based on a 1992 museum exhibit. The site is divided into six time periods, each featuring biographical sketches providing "glimpses into the lifestyles and domestic situations of real people" at critical moments in Illinois and American history.

In addition, each period contains audio components; timelines; maps; examples of material culture; exercises comparing the lifestyles and experiences of various racial, ethnic, and economic groups; methodological explanations; and teaching aides such as grade-specific lesson plans, discussion ideas, classroom activities, and links to related sites.

Activities can be accessed at three levels of difficulty: Level I (grades 3-5), Level II (grades 6-9), and Level III (grades 10-12). A valuable resource for teachers interested in exposing students social history.

An examination of the life and work of cowboys (or "buckaroos") in the ranching community of Paradise Valley in northern Nevada, with a focus on the "family-run" Ninety-Six Ranch, a concern dating back to the mid-19th century. Features 42 motion pictures and 28 sound recordings of the Ranch, and approximately 2,400 photographs documenting "the people, sites, and traditions in the larger community of Paradise Valley, home to persons of Northern Paiute Indian, Anglo-American, Italian, German, Basque, Swiss, and Chinese heritage." Created for the most part with materials produced during a 1978-1982 ethnographic field research project by the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center. Includes a 2,500-word history of the Ninety-Six Ranch; a 15,000-word essay on ranching life by the project director, Howard W. "Rusty" Marshall; an extensive glossary of terms; four maps of the region; and a bibliography consisting of 60 entries. A well-designed site that introduces users to many aspects of ranch life and culture.

This site introduces the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning (ASHP/CML), an organization located at the City University of New York (CUNY) that "seeks to revitalize interest in history by challenging the traditional ways that people learn about the past," with a particular emphasis on labor history and social history. The site includes information about ASHP/CML books, documentary films, CD-ROMs, Internet projects, and educational programs, as well as five articles by staff members and numerous links to history resources.

"Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl: Immigrant Women in the Turn-of-the-Century City" presents selected photographs, illustrations, and accompanying short explanatory texts intended for use with a ASHP/CML documentary of the same name. Among the Project's current endeavors is "an intellectual and spatial exploration of P. T. Barnum's American Museum," entitled The Lost Museum, which burned down under mysterious circumstances in 1865. With the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, ASHP/CML produces History Matters.