General U.S. History

AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History: The entries are in chronological order beginning with Excerpts from Columbus' Journal (1492) to the most recent State of the Union address. Individual links carry the researcher to the complete text of each document.

American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library: The Library of Congress American Memory Project is probably the single most important US history Web site. More than 60 collections of primary resources are available, embracing books, pamphlets, maps, motion pictures, manuscripts, broadsides, daguerrotypes, photographs, and other materials. The range of subject matter is overwhelming: African American Perspectives, Baseball Cards, Maps of Liberia, the Spanish American War in Motion Pictures, Voices from the Dust Bowl, Hispanic Music, and WPA manuscripts.

Documenting the American South: Primary Resources for the Study of Southern History, Literature, and Culture: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries' contain one of the world's preeminate Southern history collections. DAS is sponsored by the University Libraries and the texts are largely taken from its collections. The site gives access to carefully evaluated digitzed books and manuscripts on Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial era through the early 20th century. Five major subject groupings are currently available: First-Person Narratives, Library of Southern Literature, North American Slave Narratives, the Southern Homefront (1861-1865), and the Church in the Southern Black Community. The site is easily searchable. DAS is an outstanding resource for serious researches.

Founders' Constitution: "The Founders' Constitution has proved since its publication in 1986 to be an invaluable aid to all those seeking a deeper understanding of one of our nation's most important legal documents." - About. The Web edition of this highly respected work, based at the University of Chicago, is boon for anyone taking a serious look at the U.S. Constitution.

Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History: Housed at the New York Historical Society, the Gilder-Lehrman collection consists of mre than 60,000 documents covering American history from 1493 to the present. Its web component offers teaching and learning resources for students and teachers on a variety of subjects as well as an online archive of more than 400 primary documents selected from its vast collection.

History Matters: The U. S. Survey Course on the Web: History Matters is an outstanding resource for high school and college teachers of U.S. history. It includes annotated syllabi, primary documents, and a descriptive list of relevant websites. Teachers will find the "Secrets of Great History Teachers" particularly useful.

Making of America: A "slightly quirky but utterly fascinating melange" (Choice) of digitized primary source materials in American social history, MOA was created by the University of Michigan and Cornell University. The contents of 1,600 books and 10 journals (50,000 articles) have been scanned and made accessable in this growing site with 7,500 more titles expected in the near future. The graphics are pleasing, and the site is easily navigable. "Browsing around in this site," R. B. Lyman Jr. has reported, "is like being allowed to roam unsupervised with a copy machine in the stacks of a major archive." Try it.

NARA: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: The National Archives site has a searchable database. Explore America's Historical Documents and the Digital Classroom which is a gateway for resources about primary sources, activities and training for educators and students. ARC (the NARA Archival Research Catalog) functions as the online catalog of NARA's holdings in the DC area, Presidential libraries, and Regional Archives.

Presidents of the United States: The official White House Web site presents biographies of all Presidents and First Ladies. Viewers can also take a virtual tour of the White House itself.

Smithsonian Institution: An elegant site sponsered by the world's largest museum complex that affords an in-depth and changing look into U.S. history, life, and culture. Links are provided to the many museums, archives, exhibitions, libraries, and events comprising the Smithsonian. Highlights include the "Virtual Smithsonian," an online version of "The Smithsonian" magazine, the American Art Museum's "This Day in History," the "Treasures to Go" travelling display, the "Smithsonian Without Walls" project, and FAQs. The site is searchable, browsable, and thoroughly enjoyable.

History Reference Center: History Reference Center offers full text from more than 2,000 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for more than 120 history periodicals, more than 59,600 historical documents, 49,600 biographies of historical figures, more than 110,200 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video. This database is provided by EBSCO.

maintained by the staff of the Social Science & History Department, State Library Resource Center, Enoch Pratt Free Library