Disability History Museum

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Image, "The Polio Chronicle," Bolte Gibson, 1932, Disability History Museum
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This ongoing project was designed to present materials on the historical experiences of those with disabilities. The website currently presents nearly 800 documents and more than 930 still images dating from the late 18th century to the present.

Subjects are organized according to categories of advocacy, types of disability, government, institutions, medicine, organizations, private life, public life, and personal names. Documents include articles, poems, pamphlets, speeches, letters, book excerpts, and editorials.

Of special interest are documents from the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation Archives, including the Polio Chronicle, a journal published by patients at Warm Springs, Georgia, from 1931 to 1934. Images include photographs, paintings, postcards, lithographs, children's book illustrations, and 19th-century family photographs, as well as postcard views of institutions, beggars, charity events, and types of wheelchairs.

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/25/2008 - 22:21
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"Densho" means "to pass on to the next generation." In this quest, this website offers an archive of more than 668 oral histories presented in countless hours of video interviews on Japanese American incarceration during World War II. Materials also include approximately 12,000 historical photographs, documents, and newspapers. Visitors to this website should keep in mind that Densho is continually engaged in expanding its resources and adding more interviews, photographs, and documents, so be sure to check back periodically to discover new content!

Access to archival materials requires free registration. Once registered, users may select materials according to 32 topics, including immigration, community, religion and churches, education, race and racism, identity values, resistance, economic losses, redress and reparations, and reflections on the past.

Materials available without registration include lesson plans and information on "Causes of the Incarceration," "Civil Rights and Japanese American Incarceration," "Sites of Shame: Japanese American Detention Facilities," and "In the Shadow of My Country: A Japanese American Artist Remembers." The website also offers 90 multimedia materials providing historical context, a timeline, a glossary, and a list of related sources in print and online.

Chicano/a Movement in Washington State History Project Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/06/2010 - 13:46
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Photo, Carving at El Centro, November 4, 2008, litinemo, Flickr
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This website traces the history of the Chicano/a movement in Washington State, which had its roots in the early 1960s when campaigns surrounding farm workers' rights in eastern Washington and community and educational rights in western Washington united and student activism grew at the University of Washington, continued through the 1970s, fractured in the 1980s, and recently reemerged as a younger generation of activists have mobilized around affirmative action, globalization, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and immigrant rights.

This website presents a wealth of primary sources documenting this rich history, including 17 oral history interviews with prominent members of activist groups; 73 images of demonstrations, prominent leaders in the movement, and Seattle-area murals; 42 documents, including copies of the "Boycott Bulletins" that keep students informed of the proceedings of the 1969 grape boycott at the University of Washington and documents surrounding the University of Washington's Chicano/a activist group; as well as more than 300 newspaper articles from the University of Washington Daily, the Seattle Times, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer dating from between 1968 and 1979 and covering topics such as farmworkers and the grape boycott, arts and culture, and the community activist group El Centro de La Raza.

A slideshow providing historical background and highlighting some of these materials is a good place to begin for those unfamiliar with the Chicano/a movement history, as is an extensive timeline and several historical background essays.

This website is part of the larger Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, which provides materials that can serve as larger historical context, such as a guide to civil rights groups from the 1910s to the 1970s, and 14 2,000-word essays on the ethnic press in Seattle.

Brown v. Board of Education Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/25/2008 - 22:21
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Photo, Protester, 1961, Brown v. Board of Education
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Created in anticipation of the 50-year anniversary of the monumental Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, this website covers four general areas. These include Supreme Court cases, busing and school integration, school integration in Ann Arbor (home of the University of Michigan), and recent resegregation trends in America. The site contains a case summary and the court's opinion for each of 34 landmark court cases, from Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Brown includes transcripts of oral arguments, as well. Visitors can also read the oral histories of five members of the University of Michigan community who remember the Brown decision and its impact. There are more than 30 photographs of participants in the Brown case and other civil rights activists, as well as a collection of documents pertaining to desegregation in the Ann Arbor Public School District. A statistical section details the growing number of African Americans in Michigan and Ann Arbor schools from 1950 to 1960.

Annie Oakley

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Photo, Annie Oakley
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Born Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860 in rural Ohio, Annie Oakley became one of the most famous female entertainers of her day, performing for many years with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Her life spanned a time of dramatic cultural change in the United States, and some of the most important years of the women's movement. This website accompanies a film on Oakley's life and work. While offering only a few primary sources, the website is rich with secondary source documentation. Users unfamiliar with Oakley's story may want to begin with the extensive timeline of her life, which traces her early years on a poor farm in Ohio, her involvement with the Wild West Show in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, the libel lawsuits she filed against 55 newspapers in the early 1900s, and her later years teaching women to shoot and raising funds for World War I.

The website includes profiles of 10 major people and events in Oakley's life, illustrated with thumbnail-sized photographs, as well as more extensive information on the Wild West Show's stints in New York City in the mid-1880s, including transcriptions from New York newspapers describing the shows. A gallery of six posters from the Wild West Show showcases Oakley's fame as one of the greatest marksmen of her time. The website also includes a transcript of the film, with extensive commentary by scholars of Oakley's life.

Rebellion: John Horse and the Black Seminoles jmccartney Wed, 09/09/2009 - 17:12
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Engraving, Gopher John, Seminole Interpreter, 1858, N. Orr, Rebellion
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Using images, maps, timelines, and essays this "web-based documentary" relates the story of John Horse and the Black Seminoles, a community of free blacks and fugitive slaves allied with the Seminoles of Florida in the 19th century. Taking the position that academic historians have overlooked and misinterpreted the history of the Black Seminoles, it presents their role in the outbreak of the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) as the "largest slave rebellion in U.S. history." "Overview" provides an introduction to the features of the site and its interpretive themes as well as a "story synopsis" with a summary of the origins of the Black Seminoles, their role as rebels against slavery, their movement to Indian Territory after 1838, and a biography of John Horse. "Trail narrative" explains the history of the Black Seminoles "from their origins as a community to the death of their great leader John Horse in 1882" through 450 story panels with text and images. There are 360 "images," a picture tour with 32 images summarizing the site author's interpretation, and 23 "key images."

Other features include a key events summary, a guide to six central characters, a timeline, four interactive maps, and a listing of 17 related journal articles and nine newspaper articles available on the web. In addition to those interested in its interpretations of the history of the Black Seminoles and the Seminole War, this site offers useful material for those interested in Native Americans or the history of slavery in America.

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture jmccartney Thu, 09/10/2009 - 08:11
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Logo, OIEAHC
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Introduces the Omohundro Institute, "the only organization in the United States exclusively dedicated to the advancement of study, research, and publications bearing on the history and culture of early America to approximately 1815." The site provides background information about the institute, including descriptions of its fellowships, publications, conferences, and colloquia.

Also provides tables of contents and texts of selected book reviews from recent editions of The William and Mary Quarterly, articles from Uncommon Sense, and four links to related resources—including one to the Institute's own online discussion forum, H-OIEAHC, which offers 13 syllabi for undergraduate courses on early American history, a bibliography of approximately 50 titles, and links to 102 libraries, museums, historical societies, organizations, online exhibits, and collections of documents pertaining to the period. These latter materials can be valuable to students and teachers of the early American period.

Omaha Indian Music

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Photo, Dancers and Musicians at the Library of Congress..., 1985
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Part of the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, this site features audio recordings of more than 350 songs and speeches from the Omaha Indian tribe in the 1890s and 1980s. It offers 44 wax cylinder recordings collected between 1895 and 1897, 323 speeches and songs from the 1983 Omaha Harvest Celebration Powwow, and 25 songs and speeches from the 1985 Hethu'shka Society concert at the Library of Congress.

More than 80 segments from interviews with members of the Omaha tribe conducted in 1983 and 1999 help to contextualize the music and spoken-word recordings, and more than 350 photographs from the 1983 powwow and 1985 concert illustrate Omaha Indian culture.

Each item is accompanied by brief (100–250 words) descriptions that give the names of speakers or performers, the date of the performance, and the original recording format. The 1983 powwow field notes are available in transcript and image forms (17 pages). Excerpts from Dorothy Sara Lee and Maria La Vigna, eds., Omaha Indian Music: Historical Recordings from the Fletcher/LaFlesche Collection (Washington, DC, Library of Congress, 1985) provide further context to the recordings.

The site also provides a stylized map of the Omaha Indian reservation, two selected bibliographies listing over 150 primary sources and scholarly works; and four related essays from Folklife Center News, 1981 to 1985. This site is searchable by keyword and browsable by medium and event. The Powwow audio is also available in sequence for those wishing to hear the entire performance. The site is easily navigable and ideal for those interested in Great Plains American Indian history and culture.

NativeWeb: Resources for Indigneous Cultures Around the World

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Logo, NativeWeb
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A project established in 1994 by a group of historians, independent scholars, and activists "to provide a cyber-place for Earth's indigenous peoples." Offers a gateway to more than 3,400 historical and contemporary resources relating to approximately 250 separate nations primarily in the Americas—but also including groups in Africa, Aotearoa-New Zealand, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Russia—to emphasize "indigenous literature and art, legal and economic issues, land claims, and new ventures in self-determination."

Includes 81 "history" links; bibliographies in 42 categories linking to approximately 1,000 sites with information on books, videos, and music; more than 350 links relevant to legal issues, including government documents; 41 "hosted pages" for a variety of organizations; a news digest; and a section devoted to Native American technology and art.

Resources are arranged according to subject, region, and nation, and the entire site is searchable. "Our purpose is not to 'preserve,' in museum fashion, some vestige of the past, but to foster communication among peoples engaged in the present and looking toward a sustainable future for those yet unborn." The site increases by approximately 10–15 links each week, providing an invaluable resource for those studying the history, culture, practices, and present-day issues confronting indigenous peoples of the world.

National Museum of the American Indian: Beauty Surrounds Us

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Shawnee bandolier bag, c. 1830
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This exhibit features more than 65 objects from Native American cultures in North and South America. Beautifully displayed in 10 showcases, these objects address many aspects of American Indian life, such as identity, recreation, communication, dress, adornment, music, and dance. All images can be zoomed for detailed viewing and are accompanied by a brief description, information about Native cultures, and other facts. Some images are accompanied by related photographs. The "Containing Culture" case, for example, includes a Paviotso (Northern Paiute) carrying basket, c. 1900, make from willow shoots and leather and used by women to carry seed-foods or personal possessions on their backs. An accompanying undated photograph shows Kaibab Paiute women in Arizona using the baskets. Each case also includes a map locating the objects throughout the Americas, as well as an interactive activity that allows users to manipulate the objects onscreen—by placing instruments in "wind," "percussion," or "string" categories, for example.