Best of the Web: History & Social Sciences » History

This web companion to the PBS documentary features a timeline, photos and history.

Search the full text of hundreds of documents relating to New York State. Local documents include: Proceedings of the bi-centennial celebration of Richmond county, Staten Island, New York. November 1st, 1883 (includes hundreds of names of participants and descriptions of the festiviites) and Facts against rumor: being a brief statement, without note or comment, of the most important facts which transpired in the late difficulties between the vestry and the people of St. Andrew's and Trinity parishes, Staten Island, N.Y., prior to the 5th of February, 1857. By order of committee.

This collection offers access to primary materials documenting nearly a century of investigation, arrest, judgment and incarceration of many famous and unknown criminals in New York City. Materials have been gathered from the Lloyd Sealy Library's Special Collections at John Jay College and includes photographs and trial transcripts.

a website of maps and tables showing Presidential votes since 1860, state electoral votes, show major and independent presidential and vice presidential candidates. County election data is also available.

This collection of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company Collection includes over 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies as well as about 300 color photolithograph prints, mostly of the eastern United States including New York City.

Digital Gallery provides access to over 337,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs,

The Making of America is a digital library of primary sources in American social history . Items are currently located in two separate databases at the University of Michigan and Cornell University. Search each of these databases for "Staten Island" to find the full text of hundreds of books and articles that mention Staten Island. The Cornell database spans the years 1815-1926. Items of interest include: The Huguenots of Staten Island (1862), History of the City of New York (1860), A Spring Jaunt in Staten Island (1878), The Emerson-Thoreau Correspondence (1892), The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies Series 3 - Volume 1 (1899) and more.

Documenting the American South provides access to texts, images, and audio files related to Southern history, literature, and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century.

Digital library of primary sources in Canadian history. Currently contains the images of the pages of over 3,000 books and pamphlets. Browsing or searching can be done by title, author, or subject.

Collection of links on the subject of EU History, from the History Department of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Categories include: Archives, Historical Documents, Bibliographies, Histories, Brussels, Journals, Cold war sites, Non-EU institutions, Discussion groups, Oral histories,EMU's in the past, Statistical sources, EU-institutions, Timelines, Eurospeak, Useful finding aids, Federalism, WWW virtual library.

List of EU servers, EU documents, and other University links.

This site is dedicated to the history and study of famous trials, most of which occured in the United States.

Online encyclopedia featuring articles, chronologies, and biographical sketches.

Includes a timeline as well as photos, political cartoons, maps, images, and other documents.

The hidden city: in advertisements, buildings, signs, and old maps.

The "first African-American owned and operated newspaper published in the United States. The Journal was published weekly in New York City from 1827 to 1829. All 103 issues have been digitized and placed into Adobe Acrobat format."

Site hosted by the University of South Florida providing access to various images of concentration and death camps, Holocaust memorials throughout the world, and other photographic images.

Provides background information for events in the Middle East. Includes a timeline of key event from 1900 a thematic section viewing "events through the lens of politics, science, economics, and more: and a section for "big picture questions" featuring essays and lesson plans.

The Greater Astoria Historical Society, chartered in 1985, is a non-profit cultural and community oriented organization dedicated to preserving the past and promoting Long Island City's future.

Green-Wood Cemetery is one of the worlds great cemeteries. Founded in 1838 as the third rural cemetery in America, it is the final resting place of nearly 600,000 persons, including some of history's most memorable figures.

Contains more than 1,600 old names of streets and other urban features that are no longer on the map.

This site presents a wealth of archival treasures and scholarship from Columbia University about the history of one of the world's most famous and influential neighborhoods.

An online exhibition from The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.

The Historic House Trust of New York City, a not-for-profit organization, was created in 1989 to preserve and promote the 22 historic house museums located in New York City parks.

Comprehensive and eclectic directory of historical resources. Includes primary documents, related links, and electronic versions of print books, organized by geography, nations, and topics.

The New York Public Library's blog on U.S. and New York history and genealogy.

A gateway site to U.S. History material on the web.

A brief history of Queens from the Office of the Queens Borough President.

This online exhibit "dispels the myth that the Holocaust was a secret amd explores the reasons why America's newspapers downplayed the horrifying reports from Europe."

Have you ever wondered what the value of a dollar was in 1895? Here is a place where you can ask questions of comparative value covering purchasing power, exchange rates, and other variables between the past and today.

This site from Cornell University contains a wide range of authoritative information on Abolition.

Site hosted by the University of Alabama-Birmingham contained digital photographs and images of various artifacts, art, writing implements, tools and other items from numerous different ancient cultural groups.

Associated with the Cloisters in New York City, this site promotes research in the area of medieval art and cognate disciplines.

A digital collection of archived websites, moving images, audio, and texts. This site also provides access to the Prelinger Archive of ephemeral films shot between 1927 and 1983.

Links arranged in the following categories: Pre-Islamic Arab World Muhammad and Foundations - to 632 CE Islamic Faith and Theology Islamic Expansion and Empire Caliphate Persians Turks Ottomans Expansion Eastwards Interaction wwith the West Western Intrusion Islamic Nationalism Islamic World since 1945 Islamic History Maps further resources on Islamic History.

Extensive guide to sites, featuring descriptive and evaluative annotations with many links. Divided into the following categories: Introduction & General Internet Guides | Current Events Links | Latin American Directories | Subscription Databases--LatinAmerica | Subscription Databases--General | Public Domain Databases--Latin America | Public DomainDatabases--General | E-Books & Other Texts | Library Catalogs | Digital Library Projects | Organizations | News | List of Lists & Newsgroups | Latin American Networking | Miscellaneous Sites | Finding it on the Web | La Busqueda en Espan~ol|

Online companion to a PBS program, this site explores the story of Joe Hill, a labor organizer executred by the state of Utah in 1915." Includes biographical information, information on the labor movement of the early twentieth century, and perspectives on Hill's controversial trial.

The New York City agency that is responsible for identifying and designating the city's landmarks and the buildings in the city's historic districts. The Commission also regulates changes to designated buildings.

A searchable directory of websites. For those who wish to target a particular country or region, there are direct links. Most sites are in English or English and Spanish.

This online collection contains 45 films of New York City dating from 1898 to 1906 from the holdings of the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, & Recorded Sound Division. Provides streaming short films from the Edison Company and the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, including footage of Ellis Island, Central Park, skyscrapers, and subways.

Browsable "selection of 155 photographs excerpted from a collection of more than 1100 company hitories, pamphlets, and technical brochures. . . Many of the images document factories and jobs that no longer exist."

This site documents the destruction of many of New York City's 19th century tenement and other buildings.

Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through Reconstruction.

19th-century prints celebrating the ever-changing face of a thriving, bustling, confident city trace Manhattan's urban evolution. Provided by The New York Public Library.

From the University of Texas's Perry-Cataneda Map Collection. Includes links to other city, outline, state, and U. S. map websites.

Promotes research in all aspects of medieval studies.

A site meant for interested readersand beginning students of the Palestine/Israel conflict. Provides texts of reports, policy statements, and other documents from 1915 to the present. Some introductory text has been appended to each document in order toput it into context.

"The Middle East Virtual Library (MENALIB) is an information portal for Middle East and Islamic Studies. It provides access to online information and to digital records of printed and other offline media and thus supports the concept of a hybrid library for Middle East and Islamic Studies."