A Journey through Public History on the Web

Abstract

American Family Immigration History Center: . This site allows students to ex plore the individual lives of the 22 million immigrants who came to Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. The site provides background on the immigration experience, a search engine to help discover immigrant relatives, and a link to the American Immigrant Wall of Honor. The BirmingjwmCivilRigJits Institute : .This web site features a comprehensive study of the men and women who led the fight for social and political equality in the 1950s and 1960s. Its educational resources include a free curriculum guide complete with lesson plans and discussion topics for students in grades K-12, as well as information on traveling exhibits. Chicago Historical Society: . The Chicago Historical Society's web site con tains plans for both tour-guided and independent field trips, information on upcoming exhibitions, and student workshops (com plete with curricula). The society specifically caters to grades 6-12 during the school year and also features the Voices from History Outreach Program, where teachers can invite actors who portray famous figures from Chicago and Illinois history to share their stories. Colonial Williamsburg: . Colonial Williamsburg is committed to the study of colonial society in North America. Its web site features resources for teachers that include planning for on-site study visits, as well as electronic field trips, which bring the experiences of Colonial Williamsburg to the classroom through film, satellite broadcast, and the Internet. Electronic field trips come complete with lesson plans, historical background, and facsimiles of original documents. Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library: . This site chronicles the presi dency of Harry Truman through photographs, correspondence, and other personal items. Resources for teachers include student research files (for grades 8-12 and college), a video loan program, exercises involving the use of primary sources, and a downloadable newsletter for educators. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum: . In addition to providing a bio graphical sketch of Herbert Hoover from his college years at Stanford through his presidency, this site also features an online digital archive of many important Hoover documents. Educators interested in teaching about the life and times of the nation's thirty-first president will find a curriculum guide and lesson plans that emphasize the use of oral history and primary documents. Indiana Historical Society: . Along with its many collections, workshops, and publications, the Indiana Historical Society also features a teacher's section de voted to bringing Indiana's heritage into the classroom. It con tains resources, lesson plans, a listing of past and ongoing projects undertaken by teachers, and a schedule of activities for field trips to the Indiana Historical Society. Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center: . This web site features educational re sources for planning field trips to Jamestown or the Yorktown Victory Center, as well as classroom programs. The field trips include guided curriculum-based tours, while the in-class pro grams feature topics, lesson plans, worksheets, and documents that can all be downloaded. Minnesota Historical Society: . The Minnesota Historical Society offers a variety of ways for educators to teach students about the state's past. Information is available for planning visits to the society's museum as well as over 1,500 sites included in the National Register of Historic Places. The web site also features a series of programs that include visits by cos tumed historical figures, classroom instruction by society histori ans, and information on teacher workshops. National Council for History Education (NCHE): . NCHE is committed to promoting the importance of history in schools, colleges, museums, and society in general. Its web site features information on upcoming conferences and also offers suggestions for students to improve their writing skills. Resources for educators include booklets on building either world or United States history curricula. For more information on this organi zation, see Elaine Reed's article in this issue (pages 8-9). National Council for Public History: . NCPH is devoted to the advancement of public history in a variety of settings. Its two publications, the Public Historian and Public History News, are available online in addition to a variety of links, photographs, and membership information. For more information on this organization, see David Vanderstel's article in this issue (pages 5-7). National Museum of the American Indian: . The Smithsonian Institution's Na