Children and Youth in History

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Detail, homepage
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This website presents historical sources and teaching materials that address notions of childhood and the experiences of children and youth throughout history and around the world. Primary sources can be found in a database of 200 annotated primary sources, including objects, photographs and paintings, quantitative evidence, and texts, as well as through 50 website reviews covering all regions of the world. More than 20 reviews and more than 70 primary sources relate to North American history.

The website also includes 20 teaching case studies written by experienced educators that model strategies for using primary sources to teach the history of childhood and youth, as well as 10 teaching modules that provide historical context, strategies for teaching with sets of roughly 10 primary sources, and a lesson plan and document-based question. These teaching resources cover topics ranging from the transatlantic slave trade, to girlhood as portrayed in the novel Little Women, to children and human rights. Eight case studies relate to North American history, as do two teaching modules.

The website also includes a useful introductory essay outlining major themes in the history of childhood and youth and addressing the use of primary sources for understanding this history.

Liberty! The American Revolution

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Logo, Liberty!: The American Revolution
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Sponsored by Norwest Corporation, this is the companion site to the 1997 PBS documentary series Liberty: The American Revolution. The site is divided into four categories. "The Chronicle of the Revolution" provides six descriptions of key events during the Revolutionary era, such as the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Saratoga. Also offers a timeline of the Revolution and links to descriptions of related topics, a bibliography of 29 scholarly works on the Revolutionary period, and links to 45 other sites of interest. "Perspectives on Liberty" is a creative section that provides images linked to information about related places or objects. For example, a painting of a farmhouse provides information on everyday life in Revolutionary America. "Liberty, the Series" provides episode descriptions, text interviews on the making of the series, and brief, 25-word biographies of the scholars involved in creating the series. Finally, "The Road to Revolution" is an interactive trivia game with audio of specific people, speeches, and events. There are 15 images and 2 maps in this section. This site is ideal particularly for younger students who wish to learn more about America during the Revolution.

Freedom: A History of Us

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Photo, Slave named Gordon with whip scars, Wounds inflicted December 25, 1862
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This site complements the 16-part PBS television series of the same name. Based on Joy Hakim's award-winning U.S. history textbook series, the site explores the theme of freedom chronologically from the American Revolution to the Civil Rights movement and concluding with the inauguration of George W. Bush. Designed to help teachers find lesson plans or design their own curriculum, the site includes sample activities and historical primers, each based on one of the 16 "Webisodes," such as "Liberty for all?" or "Whose land is this?" Teachers can search for lesson plans by Webisode or by multiple subject matters, from mathematics to physical education. There is also an interactive timeline that links to photographs, paintings, biographies, and quizzes. The site is visually and textually rich, but most valuable for K-12 teachers and students.

Digital Archive of American Architecture

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Sears House, Boston, A. Parris, 1818
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Provides nearly 1,500 images of 280 architecturally significant American buildings from the colonial era to the present, compiled by Professor Jeffery Howe for classroom use. Images are arranged according to period, location, architect, building type, and style. The site offers examples of houses, churches, public buildings, commercial buildings, and skyscrapers. It includes images from three World's Fairs, as well as sections on urban planning and comparative materials. Professor Howe also has digitized images and text from two mid-19th century books on design and ornament. Although image annotations are minimal, in conjunction with other materials, the images in this site will be useful to those studying American architectural history and urban history.

Meeting of Frontiers

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Chromolithograph, "Attack on Port Money," 1904
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In conjunction with the Russian State Library in Moscow, the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg, and the Rasmuson Library of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the Library of Congress has digitized more than 2,500 items, comprising approximately 70,000 images, and provided transcriptions and commentaries in English and Russian to offer a comparative history of American and Russian expansion through frontier territories in each nation's continent. The site presents an overview of expansion into Siberia and the American West in six sections: Exploration, Colonization, Development, Alaska, Frontiers and National Identity, and Mutual Perceptions. Each section contains from two to 11 modules that call attention to similarities and differences between the two histories with regard to subjects such as migration—forced and otherwise, missionaries, religious flight, mining, railroads, agriculture, cities, popular culture, and tourism, and even compares Cossacks with cowboys.

The site offers more than 40 complete books, including manuals, handbooks, fiction, and travelers accounts; 77 maps and one atlas; 438 items from the Russian-Ukrainian Pamphlet and Brochure Collection; materials from six complete manuscript collections, regarding exploration, trade, and commercial activities; four tour-of-the-century films; 125 newspaper articles; 11 dime novel covers; five photographic collections; and one sound recording of a Russian folk song. Provides a 500-title bibliography and links to 30 related sites. Valuable for those studying the American West and Russian history and investigating ways to explore frontiers of comparative histories in order to expand beyond limits of national history narratives. Listen to the audio review: .

George Washington: A National Treasure

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Oil on canvas, "George Washington," Gilbert Stuart, 1796
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This national exhibit focuses on the Lansdowne portrait of George Washington, painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796 (the last painting of Washington before his death). An historic tour from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, this painting traveled across the country to eight major cities—Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, and New York City—for the first time. Currently, Internet users may explore this historical portrait at the above listed site using three different filters: symbolic, biographic, and artistic. Each filter highlights a distinct component of the portrait, provides background information, and offers an interpretation of each individual element. In addition, the site contains biographical information on Washington's life and a teaching section for kids.

Florida Heritage Collection

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Graphic, Florida Heritage Collection
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This project provides a collection of more than 280 digitized materials documenting the history of Florida from pre-contact to the present. It includes materials relating to Florida history, culture, arts, literature, and social sciences in a number of major thematic areas, including Native American and minority populations, exploration and development, tourism, natural environment, and regional interests. These materials are drawn from the archives, special collections, and libraries of the 10 state universities in the Florida system.

Items include family papers, local history books and booklets, diaries, advertising materials, and Civil War letters, business records, maps, and photographs. Many of the materials are regional or local in scope.

The site also includes an extensive (5000-word) Florida history narrative timeline from pre-contact (before 1492) to the present. A user guide and tutorial are provided, and the documents are searchable by county name, keyword, subject, author, or title. The search engine has an option for listing either electronic holdings only or all collection holdings under a particular subject. Entries in the electronic catalog include the archive in which the original is located as well as a 20-word description of the item and its contents.

Note that a few links are still under construction with no completion date indicated. The site is ideal for researching Florida's state and local history.

Perfessor Bill Edwards Ragtime/Old-time Piano Gallery

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Sheet music cover, Chow Chow Rag, Andre C. De Takacs, 1909
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Provides more than 300 musical selections and sheet music covers, in addition to essays on ragtime music and related subjects. Music available as MIDI files, performed by site creator Bill Edwards, a professional musician and collector. Selections include descriptive annotations from 200 to 600 words, and many include lyrics. Biographical essays of 100-800 words each on 26 composers, including Scott Joplin, James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Artie Matthews, and Eubie Blake. Longer essays (2,000-6,000 words) on the histories of ragtime music, player pianos, sheet music cover art, and technique tips for playing ragtime. A section on ragtime nostalgia provides information on people, inventions, events, advertising, city life, and rural life during the ragtime era. Provides annotated links to approximately 80 related sites and a bibliography of 17 titles. Valuable to those studying music history and turn-of-the-century American culture.

Connecticut History Online

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Photo, Captain George Comer of East Haddam in rigging..., 1907
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This site is a collaborative effort between the Connecticut Historical Society, the Thomas H. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, and the Mystic Seaport Museum, funded by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It offers approximately 14,000 images depicting Connecticut's history from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.

The images are divided into categories: "Artifacts," "Manuscripts and Documents," Maps, Charts, and Bird's-eye Views," "Newspapers and Magazines," "Photographs, Prints, and Drawings," "Posters/Broadsides," and "Sound Recordings and Transcripts." Each image includes notes on the creator, date, and place created, medium, repository information, and a brief (40-word) description of the subject. Visitors can search the site by keyword, subject, creator, title, and date.

The site also includes four sample lesson plans for middle school classes comparing and contrasting two Connecticut families and the roles of men and women through exercises interpreting the site's images, a list of ideas for future topics, and themes for secondary-level classrooms. This site is ideal for teachers and students interested in the history of Connecticut and its communities.

Bethlehem Digital History Project

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Oil on canvas, Johannetta Ettwein, John Valentine Haidt, 1754
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This collection of materials addresses the Moravian community of Bethlehem, PA, from its founding in 1741 to 1844, when the community first opened to non-Moravians. Most documents are available in three formats: facsimile of original in German type, transcription, and translation into English. All documents may be read in English.

A 650-word essay introduces visitors to Bethlehem history. The community kept a diary that visitors may read for the years 1742 to 1745. The Journal of the Commission of the Brethren of Bethlehem, from 1752 to 1760, allows further access to the inner workings of the community. The death register currently lists 400-word obituaries for five women and six men. Birth and marriage registers are to be added to the site.

Moravians of this era read memoirs (2,000–3,000 words) at the funerals of community members, sometimes incorporating autobiographical writing. Visitors may read 34 of these memoirs.

The records of the community also include four maps, a survey, and the ledgers of the town finances from 1747 to 1765. Inventories of four shops may also be examined.

Other material includes a 32-page 1876 historical sketch of the Bethlehem Seminary for Young Ladies, a 19-page scholarly essay on the Moravian approach to business, and a 1762 discussion of how to finance the Single Sisters' Choir. Visitors may search the site by subject. The site will be very interesting for research in colonial history and the history of religion in America.