This site presents the journals and photographs of two men who surveyed the western states in the second half of the 19th century. William Henry Jackson was a photographer, artist, and writer who traveled along the route of the Union Pacific Railway in 1869. The site provides access to his journal of the expedition, 36 stereoscopic photographs he took along the way, and 13 mammoth prints Jackson made of sites in Colorado and Wyoming. Jackson's diary describes how he took and developed photographs during the expedition. Robert Brewster Stanton was a civil engineer who surveyed canyons in Colorado for the Colorado Canyon and Pacific Railroad Company between 1889 and 1890. Visitors to the site can read a facsimile of his typed field notes in four volumes. The notes and 36 photographs provide geologic information, but also give a sense of the everyday life of the expedition. The site includes a 500-word biographical essay for each man and finding aids for the larger collections of their papers housed at the New York Public Library. This site is easy to navigate and is useful for studying western states, the environment, and photography in the 19th century.

This site is home to two related exhibits about the exploration and settlement of the American West. "Heading West" is a collection of 15 maps produced between 1540 and 1900 and divided into five categories: imagining, exploring, settling, mining, and traveling. A 700-word essay introduces the exhibit and each image is accompanied by 50-400 words of explanation. The site links to 16 other sites about exploration and maps of the West. "Touring West" is a collection of materials about performers who toured the west in the 19th century. It is divided into five sections: travel, abolitionists, railroads, recitals, and heroics. Visitors will find 3 images in each section and 50-400 words of explanation. The images include prints and photographs of performers, programs, and promotional posters. An introductory essay of 500-words describes the collection. The site offers 15 links to sites about performance. Both exhibits will be useful to those interested in the West, performance, or search of illustrations.

Adflip is an archive of more than 6,000 print advertisements published from 1940 to the present. The site is privately financed and was created by two individuals who felt that "print advertising captures the essence of society at any given time." Products advertised include everything from dog food to DeSotos. The site may be searched by year, product type, and brand name. Many ads may be sent as electronic post-cards for free. For each ad, the site tells when and in what publication it appeared. A 170-word introduction describes the site. There are 17 search categories, from automotive to travel, and eight themed categories such as comic books and obsolete products.

A top ten collection changes daily and features ads that the site creators find funny. Visitors may also search a collection of ads indexed by publication. This collection includes 65 magazines and comic books, from Archie to Wired. The site does not give information about advertising agencies. This site will be useful as primary source material for research on advertising, consumer culture, and material culture, but note that the pages of this site download very slowly.

Trading posts, small businesses that sold American Indian arts and crafts, were a colorful part of the culture of the American West. When the United Indian Traders Association (UITA), an organization of trading post owners and operators, disbanded in 1997, they directed some of their financial reserves toward this oral history project, capturing the history of these posts through the reminiscences of traders and their families. The 44 interviews offered on this site were conducted from 1998 to 2000 by Karen Underhill and Brad Cole of Northern Arizona University. Each interview is accompanied by a photograph and a brief (approximately 50 words) biography of the interviewee. The site offers edited excerpts, full-text transcriptions, and selected audio clips of each interview. There is no search engine and the interviews are arranged only by name, not by geographical location, so the site is somewhat difficult to navigate. But for those interested in the recent history of the American West, Native Americans, and the intermediary functions of the trading posts, this is a unique source.

This exhibit presents 60 items from Paul Mellon's private collection of material relating to the history of Virginia. The entire collection, 447 items, is housed at the University of Virginia. A 600-word essay provides biographical information on Mellon and his bequest. The exhibit is arranged in six sections, from "Exploring the New World" through "Slavery and the Civil War" to "Opening New Vistas". "Acquiring Virginia's Legacy" presents six highlights of the collection and a 1,400-word essay explaining its significance. A 150-word explanatory essay accompanies each image. The exhibit includes facsimiles of 11 books, seven prints, seven letters, five objects of ephemera, and five maps. Among the ephemera is a myriopticon, a rolled painting that viewers can "unroll" to view scenes from the Civil War. The site is primarily interesting as an exhibit and may not be particularly useful for researchers except as an introduction to the Mellon collection.

This is the home site of the Daguerreian Society, an organization "Dedicated to the history, science, and art of the daguerreotype," a 19th century mode of photography used primarily for making portrait images. The galleries include more than 40 historical daguerreotypes and 14 modern images. In addition to portraiture, the site also features some daguerreian landscapes, and each image is accompanied by a 50-word descriptive caption as well as the date, subject, and photographer information. The site also provides an index of almost 100 20th-century texts on daggeureotypes; a bibliography of more than 300 pieces of daguerrian literature; a 1,000-word history of daggeureotypes by Society member Kenneth E. Nelson; a 1,000-word description of the daguerreian process from an 1887 issue of the Scientific American; and an 1854 pamphlet that provides an illustrated tour of a daguerrian manufactory. There are also more than 30 links to related sources. For those interested in the history of photography and portrait art, this site is very informative.

This beautifully presented site features selections from Duke University's collection of photographer William Gedney's work and writings. From the mid-1950s to the 1980s, Gedney captured everyday life of people in places as diverse as Brooklyn, Kansas, India, and Europe. The site boasts more than 4,900 of his prints, workprints, and contact sheets. Photographs are arranged into 12 series: Composers; Cross Country; Europe; India; Kansas; Kentucky; New York; San Francisco; St. Joseph's School for the Deaf; The Farm; Night Series; and Miscellaneous. Each category offers a 35-50 word introduction to the series, and each image is accompanied by its title and a brief 5-10 word note on the subject matter and date taken.

Also on the site are selections from 33 of Gedney's manuscript books and notebooks, including ideas for book projects, descriptions of bookbinding methods and materials, and travel diaries. All of the writings are available in image form, and eight of the notebooks are also transcribed. Selected photographs, sketches, and dummies for nine book projects are also included, as well as a timeline of Gedney's life and work from his birth in 1932 to the San Francisco retrospective of his work in 2000. The site is keyword searchable and easy to navigate, making it an exceptional source of illustrations and images of American life, as well as an American's perspective on life in India and Europe.

This online archive of 170 photographs, selected from the National Archives and Records Administration collection, depicts the development of the American city from the early 19th century to the present. The photographs represent a wide range of urban subjects and original media; some images are photographic copies of paintings, engravings, and imprints, as well as photographs. The images are exceptional, and are grouped into six categories: Artists' Conceptions of 19th Century Cities; Skylines and Streets; City Life; Urban Transportation; The City in Turmoil; and 20th Century Art Reflecting Urban Themes. The finding aid offers a roughly 25-word caption for each item, including the photograph's title, medium, repository, artist, and date. Though the site is somewhat difficult to navigate, it is worth a visit for those interested in images depicting America's urban history.

This online photograph collection, assembled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II, illustrates African-American participation in the war effort. Approximately 2.5 million African American men registered for the draft, and African-American women volunteered for the military. The 261 images in this collection, drawn from the National Archive collections of photographs from the Army Signal Corps, the Department of Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and the Office of War Information, depict African Americans in military training, in combat, and on the home front. The photographs are grouped according to the five military branches and by six subjects: Merchant Marine; Women in the Military; Training; Rest and Relaxation; Personalities; and Homefront. While the separate photograph and finding aid sites make the collection a bit complicated, the site is helpful for those who are interested in 20th century African-American history or World War II history.

This National Archives and Records Administration online archive offers selected photographs depicting Americans' activities during World War II. The 202 photographs, drawn from the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives, primarily came from the records of the Army Signal Corps, Department of the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and the Office of War Information. They represent all aspects of wartime preparation, from military training to combat and support services, as well as the homefront activities of civilians and war agencies. They are grouped into 22 subjects, including eight regions of Europe and the Pacific in which Americans fought, and other topical categories such as: the Homefront; Rest and Recreation; Prisoners; The Holocaust; Death and Destruction; and Victory and Peace.

Images include leaders like Franklin D. Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Adolph Hitler, as well as posters from homefront rationing and war bond campaigns, Rosie the Riveter posters, combat photographs of invasions and scouting missions, and images of entertainers like Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby visiting the troops. Each photograph is accompanied by a 15-25 word caption with the title, photographer, location, and date the photograph was taken. This site is ideal for those interested in illustrating reports or lectures on Americans' contributions to World War II.