This site displays approximately 90 primary documents from the 15th century to the mid 20th century. Features eight subjects: the presidency; Congress, law, and politics; military affairs; diplomacy and foreign policy; arts and literature; science, medicine, exploration, and invention; African-American history and culture; and women's history. The collection emphasizes "prominent Americans whose lives reflect our country's evolution," including 23 presidents and figures such as Carter Woodson, Thurgood Marshall, pioneer physician Elizabeth Blackwell, Wilbur Wright, and Alexander Graham Bell.

Each subject is accompanied by a useful 100- to 400-word background essay and a link to the document's host collection. Also includes a 2,000-word essay entitled "Collecting, Preserving, and Researching History: A Peek into the Library of Congress Manuscript Division." Although limited in size, this site provides an eclectic group of documents of national interest.

This exhibition presents 14 of the " most significant and compelling documents from the National Archives holdings." The site furnishes, in whole or part, facsimiles and in some cases transcriptions of the following documents: the July 2, 1776, resolution by the Continental Congress proclaiming independence from Great Britain; George Washington's first inaugural address; the Louisiana Purchase agreements; a casualty list of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment of African-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War; a police blotter that reports the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln; an 1868 treaty with the Sioux Indians; a U.S. Navy memorandum reporting the Titanic disaster of 1912; a court verdict concerning gangster Al Capone; Eleanor Roosevelt's 1939 resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution in protest of the group's refusal to allow singer Marian Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall because of her race; President Franklin Roosevelt's speech to the Congress requesting a declaration of war against Japan; a draft press release announcing the United States's recognition of Israel in 1948, signed by President Harry S. Truman; speech cards used by Presidents John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987 for their historic visits to Berlin; President Richard Nixon's 1969 diary entry relating to his telephone conversation with Apollo 11 astronauts; and Nixon's resignation letter of 1974. The materials are accompanied by brief descriptions of 100-200 words, photographs, audio files, and links to related National Archives documents. This site exhibits national relics well, but does not investigate their historical significance and meanings.

Created by historian Paul Halsall, this site explores through links to hundreds of primary and secondary documents the history of homosexuals and "transgendered people" from classical antiquity to the present day. Arranged into 11 sections--each with their own table of contents--the site treats a strikingly wide range of themes, regions, and time periods. For example, section two, "Medieval Worlds," is comprised of five "chapters" that cover early Christianity, Byzantium, the Latin Christian Middle Ages, Islam, and Ancient and Medieval Jews, respectively, and includes poems, literature, essays, and historical scholarship. Another section, "History and Theory," offers links to interviews with prominent scholars, reviews of recent books, discussions of queer theory, and ruminations on the work of philosopher Michel Foucault.

Partially annotated, the links are accompanied by background essays. The site also presents an incredibly thorough bibliography--perhaps "the most up-to-date and complete bibliography of [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] history available." Regularly updated, this is an impressive collection of links which promises to expand.

This site contains selections from 13 interviews with former slaves conducted between 1936 and 1938 by journalists working for the New Deal Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. Each selection is accompanied by a brief biographical sketch of the interviewee, a photograph or drawing of the interviewee taken at the time of the interview, and in one instance, an audio component. Includes guidelines for reading slave narratives, a bibliography of 16 scholarly works on the history of slavery, and 21 links to related sites in general American history, southern history, and African-American history. A useful sample of first-hand testimony on American slave experience and culture.

This exhibition "indicates the depth and breadth of Franklin's public, professional, and scientific accomplishments," offering documents, letters, books, broadsides, and cartoons. Eight sections exploring periods or aspects of Franklin's life are focused around items from the Library's collections with accompanying explanatory text.

Topics include Franklin's role in events prior to the Revolution, his role in the Continental Congress, his role as a diplomat in Paris and in negotiating the Treaty of Paris, his role in the early republic as President of Pennsylvania and delegate to the Constitutional Convention, his life as a scientist and inventor, and his activities as a printer and writer. There are more than 60 documents and other items available in the exhibition. There is also a Benjamin Franklin chronology from 1706 to 1790, a bibliography with 11 books and seven books for young readers, and four links to related websites. A good starting point for researching Franklin's life or the political and diplomatic history of colonial America or the early United States.

This archive and virtual museum offers papers, photographs, and oral histories on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its role in U.S. and international markets from 1929 to the present. There are 742 papers, reports, letters, notes, memoranda, transcripts of Congressional subcommittee hearings, and other documents organized chronologically by decade. Also available are 761 photographs arranged alphabetically. These include portraits, group photos, and photos of important events in the history of the SEC. There are edited transcripts and audio recordings of 33 oral history interviews and seven SEC roundtable discussions (some include essays and video). An interactive timeline allows visitors to explore important events in the history of the SEC.

A galleries section combines text and images in narratives exploring themes or important periods in the SEC's history. Each includes an introductory essay by the exhibit curator and primary materials, including papers, images or video clips, and oral histories. There are edited transcripts and audio of 21 original programs broadcast from the site as well as links to 38 related websites. Search is limited to keyword searches across the entire site. This site provides useful resources for studying the history of business and is an excellent starting point for those interested in the history of the SEC or those studying the history of business, businesspeople, or corporations

Dick Thornburgh served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and Attorney General from 1988 to 1991, under Ronald Reagan and George Bush. He also served as Undersecretary General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1993 after an unsuccessful bid to fill John Heinz's vacated U.S. Senate in 1991. He is currently a practicing lawyer in Washington, DC. This website presents 5,115 documents from his personal papers, including executive orders, news releases, op-eds, reports, speeches, testimony, and transcripts. It also includes 488 photographs, 31 audio clips, and 55 video clips. These materials shed light on many prominent events in late-20th century U.S. political history and international relations. For example, a search for "Three Mile Island," the nuclear power plant near Harrisburg that experienced a partial meltdown in 1979, calls up more than 300 items, including photographs of Thornburgh at the site and op-eds written by Thornburg designed to quell public fear.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opened its doors to students in 1789, becoming the first public university in the U.S. Part of the larger Documenting the American South website, this collection illuminates the first century of UNC's operation. Close to 500 primary source documents—letters, speeches, architectural drawings, account ledgers, meeting minutes, sermons, and General Assembly acts—are available, including previously unpublished materials. Topics include: Buildings, Campus, Creation and Governance, Curriculum, Faculty, Student Life, Town and Gown, The University During the Civil War and Reconstruction, and The University in the Life of the State. These broad topics, in turn, shed light on smaller dramas within the history of the university, such as the 1856 dismissal of a professor for expressing anti-slavery views to students. Contextual essays and an extensive timeline accompany these materials, rendering them accessible to specialists and generalists alike interested in the histories of the Civil War, North Carolina, and higher education in the United States.

This large, attractive site provides high-quality material on American history for historians and teachers. The collection contains more than 60,000 "rare and important" American historical documents, images, and objects from 1493 to 1998; about 10,000 of these are available online. Authors include George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln.

Each week an annotated, transcribed document is featured, and an archive contains 80 past featured documents. "Treasures of the Collection" offers 24 highlighted documents and images. Six online exhibits cover topics such as Alexander Hamilton, the Dred Scott decision, Abraham Lincoln, and topics such as freedom and battles. Podcasts with historians address issues such as Presidential history and the Great Depression. Additional resources include links to historical documents, published scholarship, and general history resources on the web.

With more than 375 documents related to United States history from the colonial period to the present, this site provides important historical documents and speeches. "Essays" contains more than 35 writings on various aspects of United States history. "Biographies" offers more than 200 biographies of historical figures related to American history, ranging from 350 words to 2,000 words in length. "Presidents" contains documents pertaining to each United States president, including inaugurations and State of the Union addresses.

Documents and essays are hyperlinked to four editions of the booklet An Outline of American History (1954, 1963, 1990, and 1994), a publication distributed abroad by the United States Information Service, along with similar volumes on American economy, government, literature, and geography. The site provides basic primary sources for American history survey courses.