This collection of materials (more than 80 items) comes from rare books, pamphlets, journals, pulp magazines, newspapers, and original photographs. The illustrations reflect European interpretations of Native Americans, images of popular culture, literary and political observations, and artistic representations. The three main sections are "Portrayals of Native Americans," "The Nine Millionth Volume," and a timeline.

"Portrayals" is divided into four online galleries: Color Plate Books, Foreign Views, Mass Market Appeal, and Early Ethnography. The galleries incorporate the renowned works of George Catlin and Edward S. Curtis, and the lesser-known works of early 19th-century Russian artist-explorer Louis Choris. "Mass market" features 32 illustrations, including colorful images of western novel covers and portraits of southwestern Indians. "Early ethnography" contains a newspaper article about a Native American family, five photographs, and 15 illustrations of Indians at play and at war. "The Nine Millionth Volume" is devoted to James Otto Lewis's historic volume, The Aboriginal Port Folio, a series of hand-colored lithographic portraits of American Indian chiefs.

These 2,300 photographs and 7,700 pages of text focus on the lives of American Indians in the Northwest Coast and Plateau regions of the Pacific Northwest. Materials illustrate housing, clothing, crafts, transportation, education, employment, and other aspects of everyday life among American Indians in this region. Most of the photographs were taken before 1920.

Texts include more than 3,800 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 through 1908; 89 Pacific Northwest Quarterly articles from 1906—1998; and 23 titles in the University of Washington Publications in Anthropology series. The site also offers 14 maps and 10 lengthy essays authored by anthropologists on specific tribal groups and cross-cultural topics.

Provides statistics on all U.S. presidential elections. For each election year, the site presents graphs showing popular and electoral votes, maps of states won by each candidate, vote count and voter turnout statistics, and a sketchy essay of approximately 100 words in length on campaign issues. Offers more extensive information on the 2000 election: official certified results; polling data by five organizations from August through October 2000; biographical statements of 300-600 words each on candidates George W. Bush,Al Gore, and Ralph Nader (the Bush bio, almost twice the length of the others, reads as if it was written by his campaign organization); a chronology of events following the election until Gore's concession; and the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision, concurrence by Chief Justice Rehnquist, dissents by Justices Breyer, Souter, and Stevens, and oral arguments. Also includes an essay of 900 words on close and disputed elections, with links to "quick facts" about the candidates involved; an essay of 600 words about the reasons that the electoral college was created, with a link to Federalist Paper No. 68 by Alexander Hamilton, which offers a rationale for the institution; and a 15-minute multimedia history of the Supreme Court. MultiEducators of New Rochelle, NY produces multimedia software on historical subjects; graphs and texts in this site have been taken from their American History CD-Rom. A useful source for statistics on presidential elections, but marred by intrusive flashing ads.

A Sailor's Life for Me! is a superb example of how the web can bring history alive for young students.

The website presents an idea of what daily life would have been like aboard the famed USS Constitution, which actively fought in the Quasi War with France, the Barbary Wars, and the War of 1812. Its ability to withstand enemy fire eventually gained it the moniker of "Old Ironsides."

There are three main sections to the site, as well as supplementary materials. The primary sections are a "life of" game, an exploration of the areas aboard the vessel, and an introduction to the men who would have sailed aboard her.

Explore Old Ironsides is perhaps the most informative section. Here, the ship is divided into 24 interactive scenes which introduce shipboard activities—from battle roles, flogging, and burial to the more common activities of dining, holystoning (deck maintenance), and what sailors did with their moments of free time. Each section can be explored clicking on people and items. Clicking provides commentary from fictional sailors (complete with highlighted vocabulary terms), actions and sound effects that bring the scene to life, short biographies of historical USS Constitution sailors, and information on tasks and objects in the scenes. Life stories of the real sailors range from fairly typical naval experiences to an unfortunate sailor who wounded himself by rolling out of his hammock and down a hatch. Two remaining scenes give an idea of where and why people would sign up for voyages and the triumphant return of Old Ironsides.

These scenes provide a strong introduction to shipboard life, covering the basics in an approachable picture-book-like format. The downside is that there is enough information and detail that this portion of the site takes some time to cover in its entirety. Educators may wish to peruse the vessel sections, and select a few scenes that they feel are most important to the topic at hand. There is a seek-and-find incentive for students interested in exploring the entire ship, however, as the ship's dog, Guerriere (also the name of the most famed enemy vessel confronted by the USS Constitution) is located in 11 of the scenes.

Meet Your Shipmates introduces the crew by job and number. For example, the page shows the rank system aboard the vessel as well as how many individuals fit within each rank—from the one captain to the 276 able seamen, 55 ordinary seamen, and 12 boys. Additional roles include quartermasters, boatswain's mates, gunner's mates, the carpenter's mate, the carpenter's yeoman, the sailmaker's mate, the coxwain, the cook, the midshipmen, master's mates, the sailmaker, the carpenter, the gunner, surgeon's maters, the sailing-master, the surgeon, the chaplain, the purser, and lieutenants. Each of these sections can be clicked on for a brief description of the role of the individual(s) in question. Some roles even include a short "diary" of someone known to have served aboard the vessel—including David Debias, a free-born African American ship's boy who tragically crossed into Mississippi and was mistaken for an escaped slave.

The final main section of the site is the interactive game—the site's centerpiece. You begin the game preparing for life as a ship's boy. If students are interested in rising in the ranks, they will want to login to save their progress. Otherwise, the game can be played without registering. As a boy, you engage in tasks such as holystoning the deck, carrying powder for gun drill, and carrying slops without tripping. You are periodically confronted by superiors who ask questions that will increase and decrease your likelihood of promotion, health and happiness, spending money, and popularity with the crew. The game can be repetitive (not unlike life at sea), but may engage students who would otherwise be uninterested in the topic.

If all of the above isn't impressive enough, the site also offers family activities such as baking ship's biscuits, learning about signal flags, and testing buoyancy, as well as educator's resources. Annotated Scenes takes each of the interactive scenes discussed earlier; and provides related primary sources, artifacts, activities, videos, interactive games, and lesson plans. Classroom integration discusses how best teachers may be able to include the website content in their classroom, and explains its correlation to national standards. Lesson Plans let you search activities, lesson plans, artifacts, primary sources, games, and sailors' stories by grade level, content area, and type of resource. Selecting "Social Studies" alone provides 269 options. War of 1812 Resources discusses how to teach the war in different classroom time allotments, an overview, a timeline, a brief section on African Americans aboard the USS Constitution, and related links and suggested reading.

The only fault of this website is that its content may be a bit overwhelming. However, educators can select what is most appropriate for their students from a wealth of knowledge which often goes uncovered in history classrooms.

Exactly one decade from the events of September 11, 2001, a new memorial is slated to open at Ground Zero. The memorial website offers the expected information on visiting the memorial, as well as a wealth of information which can be of use well outside of the state of New York.

Plan Your Visit is the place to go if you are considering visiting the memorial yourself or taking a class to the site. Note that there are restrictions on items and bag sizes permitted, that the site contains no public restrooms, and reservations are required with the number of group visits per day limited. Prior to the official opening, visitors can view a preview museum, which includes a StoryCorps recording booth for sharing your own 9/11 story. However, there is still a hefty amount of information here for "digital only" visitors. For example, you can read about how names will be grouped on the memorial—by location at the time of the incident, by company affiliation, and by relationships requested by next-of-kin. What does this system say about how we define ourselves today with and against other people and organizations?

In the same section, you can also find a link to a free iPhone 9/11 history application. This app provides images, a timeline, and a tour of the World Trade Center area. The tour can be used to guide an actual walk, or it can be accessed from elsewhere to explore digitally.

About the Memorial provides an overview of the memorial's design and the reasoning behind these artistic and practical choices. This can be used to get your students to question the purpose of memorials and/or how environmental designs can codify collective experience and relate to the values of their time. One simple example is the use of natural elements—trees and water—in this memorial. How do these choices relate to concepts of healing, Romanticism, sustainability, etc.

Collections includes a variety of potentially useful subpages which present a smattering of 9/11 stories with artifact images and links to oral histories, as well as a small list of international tribute projects. The subsection "Contribute" also allows you or your students to upload reaction artwork, photos, videos, or stories.

Finally, there's "Teach + Learn," a section specifically dedicated to 9/11 and contextual education. Read through the key questions for a list of a number of the big issues brought up when discussing 9/11, such as how crisis and fellowship work in tandem and how to avoid the idea of the "Other," as fundamentally unlike oneself. There are also two teaching guides, one on artistic response and another on volunteerism. Another feature is a PDF on talking to children about 9/11. One suggestion listed is that 9/11 be addressed through the stories of individuals rather than themes of good or evil. Finally, this section includes webcasts on Middle Eastern culture, memory and memorials, the aftermath of 9/11, and the building of the 9/11 memorial; an interactive timeline; an interactive version of Lady Liberty, a statue bedecked in 9/11 artifacts and ephemera; and information on domestic and international attacks.

This website is the result of a collaboration among Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), the Springfield Armory, and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA). The site provides a narrative of Shays’ Rebellion told through images, summaries, and primary sources—a wealth of materials for classroom teachers.

The Shays’ Rebellion website is designed to be navigated through a series of six historic scenes. Framed on either end by a prologue and epilogue, the scenes present the perspectives of key groups involved in the run-up to rebellion, as well as its aftermath. In “A Bloody Encounter,” for instance, the assault by Shays and his men on the Springfield arsenal is represented in pictures. By rolling a cursor over the image, users can learn more about the scene—the great strength of this approach is that information is contextualized and given greater meaning.

One of the most unique features on the site is that each scene is accompanied by the commentary of eyewitnesses and other figures from the time period. With background knowledge acquired from the scene and brief synopses of events, users are well prepared to understand these commentaries—an excellent use of primary sources.

The site can also be navigated by people, by artifacts and documents, or by themes and essays. Exploring it in any of these ways, however, can be a chaotic experience. The site also includes resources for extension activities like songs and music, a timeline, and a series of historic maps.

The Yale Digital Commons provides access to sources from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University Library, and Yale University on iTunes U.

Getting acquainted with the commons can be somewhat daunting. Arrival on the homepage simply offers a keyword search with only a slight indication of the extent or content types of the collections you can search. The description states the contents include "art, natural history, books, and maps, as well as photos, audio, and video documenting people, places, and events that form part of Yale's institutional identity and contribution to scholarship."

The best way to proceed is to select Advanced Search. From here, you can limit a search to items available online. You can also pick one or more of the aforementioned institutions to search within, or choose specific collections which range from African Art or American Decorative Arts to Vertebrate Zoology or Yale University.

Sources you can find using this system include apparel; architectural elements; arms and armor; books, coins, and medals; calligraphy; containers; drawings and watercolors; flatware; fossils; furniture; hardware; inscriptions; lighting devices; jewelry; manuscripts and documents; masks; minerals; miniatures; models; mosaics; musical instruments; packaging; paintings; photographs; plant and animal remains; print templates; scientific instruments; stained glass; textiles; tools and equipment; timepieces; toys and games; sculpture; and wallpaper.

ARC offers more than 78,000 digital government resources. Materials include textual records, photographs, maps, architectural drawings, artifacts, sound recordings, and motion pictures dating from the colonial period to the recent past. ARC includes items on presidents, the military, war, immigration, Japanese-American internment, slavery, science, prisons, federal programs, the environment, the National Park Service, foreign affairs, civil rights, African Americans, and American Indians.

To begin a search, click on the yellow "search" button near the top left of the ARC webpage. The search engine is clearly organized and invites queries on specific historical materials or general themes. To access digitized materials only, check the box marked "Descriptions of Archival Materials linked to digital copies." The site continues to expand, though, as it stands, it provides an exceptional collection of government material.

Intended to promote tourism to Colonial Williamsburg, this website is also rich in educational resources. Visitors may "Experience the Life" by selecting one of 12 categories, ranging from animals to food to the African-American Experience; and will find information and resources about each topic. For example, visitors can learn about colonial clothing for men, women, and children. There is a paper doll game where players must assemble the various layers of colonial clothing in the proper order. Selecting the link "See the Places" allows users to virtually visit 27 buildings, including the prison (Public Gaol), the Capitol, and eight colonial sites, including Market Square and Duke of Gloucester Street. "Meet the People" allows visitors to learn about prominent Williamsburg natives, such as the Randolph family, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry; or meet more diverse groups, like African Americans or colonial children.

The "Teacher Resource" section allows educators to virtually tour Colonial Williamsburg or learn about the science of mapping colonial America. It also provides 18 lesson plans for exploring such topics as the colonial reaction to the Stamp Act or the murder trial of Abigail Briggs. Listen to the audio review:.