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Social Studies Resource Sites

• Kentucky Historical Society Preserving and interpreting the rich history of Kentucky is one of the many missions pursued by the Kentucky Historical Society, headquartered in the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort.

• Kentucky legislature

• Biographical sketches of the governors of the Commonwealth

• Kentucky Biographies

• The Kentucky Association of Teachers of History site includes links to other Kentucky history sites.

• List of historical societies throughout Kentucky

• Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

• History and Politics Out Loud Hear some of the voices of U.S. history: Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon, and more.

• Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man Find out almost everything there is to know about Benjamin Franklin, the inventor, philosopher, writer, and diplomat. The site includes a page of activities (solar energy, electricity, and hot-air balloon experiments) that focuses on current implementations of Franklin’s ideas, as well as a link to the Franklin Institute Science Museum with online exhibits and information.

• The POTUS: Presidents of the United States site on the American presidency includes biographies, speeches and writings, election results, and more. From The Internet Public Library.

• Exploring Leonardo offers resources for learning about Leonardo da Vinci, one of the best known, yet least known, characters in world history. Explore this site and learn about this fascinating scientist, inventor, and artist.

• Thomas Edison and Henry Ford biographies

• American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940 contains 2,900 documents representing the work of 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words long, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. Each history describes the informant’s family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, and diet as well as miscellaneous observations. (Library of Congress)

• The Biographical Dictionary contains biographical information on more than 18,000 people, from ancient times to the present day, who have helped shape our world. Information contained in the dictionary includes birth and death years, professions, positions held, literary and artistic works, awards, and other achievements. Fully searchable by keyword, name, or expression.

• Biography is from A&E. Search a database of more than 15,000 famous people.

• The PBS history neighborhood offers an easily navigable design aggregating all of PBS Online’s history-related web sites. You’ll also find a variety of additional history resources, including a thorough “This Day in History” database of important events and a list of prominent figures born on a specified day.

• The Roman Empire in the First Century, companion site for the PBS series, provides a nice introduction to life in ancient Rome.

• U.S. history and government lesson plans and Internet activities from teacher George Cassutto

• What Did You Do in the War, Grandma? is a collection of interviews conducted by honors English students at Rhode Island’s South Kingstown High School as part of an oral history project. The results are of high quality and interest—and it’s not all schmaltz, patriotism, and political correctness, either. An ex-ballplayer, for example, complains that women who kept their “Rosie the Riveter” jobs after the war contributed to the decline of the American family.

• History Online is a project started by Jim Perry for his grade 7 history class. The site contains well-organized links and examples of Perry’s students’ work.

• Words and Deeds in American History collects and posts original manuscripts and letters archived at the Library of Congress. Some have been grouped by topics, such as the presidency, military affairs, arts and literature, etc. Of course, you can also perform keyword searches.

• Elections in American Memory Election-year politics stimulates interest in the nature of voting, election campaigns, and politics throughout American history. Explore American Memory for the firsthand experiences of democracy in action over time. (Library of Congress)

• Archiving Early America Browse through 200-year-old original newspapers, maps, and books—all in living digital color! The site also includes a historical journal and an online forum.

• The History Net

• Archaeology Magazine

• Index of Resources for Historians is a HUGE list. The links are listed in alphabetical order by subject area, with history as an organizing theme, but with lots of interesting links only loosely related to history.

• The History Channel includes information about the cable channel, but also a searchable “What Happened on This Day?” page and history resources for teachers.

• Tools for Teaching: Links to the Past is part of the National Parks Service web site. If you are a student or teacher interested in archaeology, ethnography, historic landscapes, historic structures, history, and/or museum management, you will find study guides, glossaries, curricula, and other educational tools here.

• Today in History is from the Library of Congress.

• American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election, 1918-1920 consists of 59 sound recordings of speeches by American leaders of the early 20th century. Speakers include Warren G. Harding, James Cox, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Gompers, Henry Cabot Lodge, and John J. Pershing; speeches range from one to five minutes long. (Library of Congress)

• Baseball Cards, 1887-1914 presents 2,100 early baseball cards showing such legendary scenes as Ty Cobb stealing third base, Tris Speaker batting, and pitcher Cy Young posing for a formal portrait. Other notable players include Connie Mack, Walter Johnson, King Kelly, and Christy Mathewson. (Library of Congress)

• Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division’s First 100 Years contains 90 representative documents spanning from the 15th to the mid-20th century. Included are the papers of presidents, cabinet ministers, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, military officers, diplomats, reformers and political activists, artists and writers, scientists and inventors, and other Americans whose lives reflect our country’s evolution. (Library of Congress)

• Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865 contains 1,118 photographs. Most of the images were made under the supervision of Mathew B. Brady; they include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and the aftermath of battle. The collection also includes portraits of both Confederate and Union officers and a selection of enlisted men. (Library of Congress)

• The Gettysburg Address contains images and transcriptions of the various drafts of Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech as well as translations into 28 languages. (Library of Congress)

• Documenting the American South is a full-text database of primary resources on Southern history, literature, and culture from the Colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Ongoing digitization projects include slave narratives, first-person narratives, and Southern literature. The site is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• American Memory Collections: Original Format: Motion Pictures covers the first chapter in the history of the medium. (Library of Congress)

• For European Recovery: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Marshall Plan features photographs, cartoons, letters, memos, and printed material that document the early days of the post-World War II international recovery initiative. (Library of Congress)

• Gate of Heavenly Peace accompanies a film documentary about the protests at Tiananmen Square and the resulting Beijing Massacre of June 4, 1989. The site, developed by the WGBH Educational Foundation, provides a transcript of the film and background information about the movement for democracy in China.

• Inaugurations in American Memory gives several historical photographs from presidential inaugurations, along with numerous links to related photo collections of the Library of Congress.

• The Looking at Ourselves and Others Teacher’s Guide is a publication of the Peace Corps’ World Wise Schools project that introduces students to the concepts of perspective, culture, and cross-cultural relations. The guide is designed to help students recognize and appreciate differences in perception among individuals and cultures, define culture, and recognize its role in developing perceptions of ourselves and others; to challenge assumptions; to promote cross-cultural awareness; and to provide opportunities to practice the behaviors that make cross-cultural communication possible.

• Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation presents documents, plans, photographs, and lithographs of the many features of the U.S. Capitol in its various stages. (Library of Congress)

• The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School is an incredible resource for students and teachers alike. Major historical documents dating back to the 12th century are presented in their entirety, with links to supporting documents, glossaries, and indexes for each one.

• Gold Rush Join the ’49ers as they rush to the California gold fields! Part of the California’s Gold Rush Country web site, this site provides information and current photography to illustrate the way west and maps and photos of major landmarks along the California Trail.

• Ellis Island From the time Ellis Island opened in upper New York Harbor near the Statue of Liberty in 1892 to the time it closed in 1954, it served as the portal for the vast majority of new immigrants to America. The International Channel, in cooperation with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, and the National Park Service, invites you to take a tour through Ellis Island, past and present.

• The Shaping of the Medieval World is a comprehensive list of medieval history sources on the Internet.

• Mormon Trail Re-Enactment follows 1847-style travelers from Winter Quarters, Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah. The site features pioneer heritage materials appropriate for use in classrooms and a special section of original student artwork and creative writing related to the early history of western migration.

• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Are you intrigued by mythology and the ancient world? Are you looking for material that can bring mythology, geography, and history alive? Are you trying to find a tie-in from the past to today’s world? A visit to this site created by Alaa K. Ashmawy, a doctoral student at Purdue University, may be just the starting point for sparking interest among high school students. Although only one of the seven ancient wonders (the Great Pyramid of Giza) still exists, you can see all seven here, thanks to beautiful graphical renderings of how they may have looked centuries ago. There are also lists of other wonders, related links, and a clickable map.

• The National Archives and Records Administration has made three new resources available via the web. The highlight of the NARA home page is its Online Exhibit Hall, which contains an exhibit on poster art from World War II, as well as facsimiles of and information about the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

• The National Audiovisual Information Locator is a searchable database holding thousands of descriptions of items in the Still Picture and Motion Picture, Sound, and Video branches of NARA. Search the descriptions of more than 2,000 still picture series, 73,000 films, and 6,000 sound recordings and find out how to order copies.

• Vietnam: Yesterday and Today presents a war chronology; a list of ways in which the Vietnam War differed from others; bibliographies of Vietnam War fiction, nonfiction, films, and books presenting Vietnamese and women’s points of view on the conflict; and links to war sites, sites about Vietnam today, and other materials that could be useful to teachers and students.

• NativeWeb , a rich source of information and documents about indigenous peoples, seeks to “provide a cyber-place for Earth’s indigenous peoples.” It includes pointers to North and South American indigenous peoples’ resources and promises in the future to provide sources for Asia and Africa. Information is available by subject category, geographic region, or nation/people and includes native languages and literature, newsletters and journals, organizations, bibliographies, and an events calendar. An electronic store offers listings of mostly Native-owned enterprises.

• The Oneida Indian Nation Home Page teaches students about the first allies of the United States.

• List of social studies-oriented web sites