Alexander Street Press

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logo, alexander street press
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Offering 16 separate databases of digitized materials, this website provides firsthand accounts (diaries, letters, and memoirs) and literary efforts (poetry, drama, and fiction). Twelve databases pertain to American history and culture.

"Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment" offers primary sources documenting cultural interactions from 1534 to 1850. "The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries" draws on more than 400 sources and supplies a day-by-day chronology with links to documents. "Black Thought and Culture" furnishes monographs, speeches, essays, articles, and interviews. "North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories" covers 1840 to the present. "North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial to 1950" provides full-text letters and diaries from more than 1,000 women—totaling more than 21,000 documents and approximately 120,000 pages—written between 1675 and 1950.

Five databases present American literary writings: "Latino Literature"; "Black Drama"; "Asian American Drama"; "North American Women's Drama"; and "American Film Scripts Online." In addition, "Oral History Online" provides a reference work with links to texts, audio, and video files. While the databases include previously published documents, many also contain thousands of pages of unpublished material. In addition to keyword searching, the databases provide "semantic indexing"—extensive categorical search capabilities.

Internet Moving Images Archive

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Screencapture, Duck and Cover, U.S. Federal Civil Defense Ad., 1951, Moving...
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These resources come from a privately held collection of 20th-century American ephemeral films, produced for specific purposes and not intended for long-term survival. The website contains nearly 2,000 high-quality digital video files documenting various aspects of 20th-century American culture, society, leisure, history, industry, technology, and landscape. It includes films produced between 1927 and 1987 by and for U.S. corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions. More than 80 films address Cold War issues.

Films depict ordinary people in normal daily activities such as working, dishwashing, driving, and learning proper behavior, in addition to treating such subjects as education, health, immigration, nuclear energy, social issues, and religion. The site contains an index of 403 categories. This is an important source for studying business history, advertising, cinema studies, the Cold War, and 20th-century American cultural history.

American Cinema

Description

Using clips from more than 300 of the greatest movies ever made, this series explores film history and American culture through the eyes of over 150 Hollywood insiders, including Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Eisner. In-depth treatments present film as a powerful economic force, potent 20th-century art form, and viable career option. "American Cinema" connects subjects such as history, business, and English with other studies. In addition, it is a perfect vehicle for developing visual and media literacy skills and can be used as a springboard for creative-writing endeavors and media production. This video instructional series on film history for college and high school classrooms and adult learners includes 10 one-hour and three half-hour video programs and coordinated books.

Ken Burns

Description

Emmy-Award–winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns joins Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States, to discuss his past work and his current project, The War, a seven-part series examining the ways in which World War II touched the lives of American families.

To listen to this video, scroll to "Ken Burns," and select "Watch the Video."

The Alamo

Description

Michael Ray narrates a basic introduction to the Battle of the Alamo and popular memory of the battle. The presentation looks briefly at how films and fiction have reimagined the story of the Alamo and distorted historical facts.

Civil War, Religion, and the Lost Cause

Description

Professor Steven E. Woodworth examines the "Lost Cause" view of the Civil War—as the South as justified in going to war. Woodworth also looks at the religious life and beliefs of Civil-War-era soldiers and civilians and how religion contributed to the war and the perspectives of those waging it. He refers to the film Gods and Generals and scholarly criticism of it.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the guest lecture after session four, and select the RealAudio link to the left of the text.

Museum of the Moving Image [NY]

Description

The Museum advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, film screenings, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events.