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1896: The Presidential Campaign
The election of 1896 was one of the most contentious in U.S. history. When Republican William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan on November 3rd, there were no fewer than six candidates on the ballot and the country was in the throes of an economic depression. This website provides close to 100 political cartoons surrounding the election campaigns. The website acts like a virtual web of knowledge, with linked words in almost every sentence leading to helpful chunks of information on key themes, political parties and their leaders, print culture, and popular culture. Together, this information sheds light not only on the political situation in the 1890s, but also on the social, economic, and cultural contexts of the era. Special sections are devoted to, among many other topics, the bicycle craze, anti-Semitism, popular amusements, the Supreme Court, and women's suffrage. An extensive bibliography and a section devoted to teaching suggestions are also included.
Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
This wealth of historical materials, in a variety of formats, addresses Abraham Lincoln's years in Illinois (1831-1860) and Illinois history during the same period. The website provides more than 2,300 transcriptions of documents, including correspondence, speeches, treaties, and other official papers. In addition, there are 295 images of Lincoln, his family, friends, associates, and contemporaries, as well as Illinois towns, homes, and businesses and sixty-three recordings of songs. Materials are organized into eight thematic sections: African-American Experience and American Racial Attitudes; Economic Development and Labor; Frontier Settlement; Law and Society; Native American Relations; Politics; Religion and Culture; and Women's Experience and Gender Roles. Each theme includes a background essay, relevant documents and images, video discussions by prominent historians, and narrated slide shows. "Lincoln's Biography" divides his life into eight segments with a summary and biographical text by scholars, as well as a bibliography.
Abraham Lincoln Papers
Approximately 20,000 documents relating to President Abraham Lincoln's life and career are offered on this website. All of the materials are available as page images and about half of have been transcribed. Resources include correspondence, reports, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings. While the documents date from 1833 to 1897, most material was written between 1850 and 1865, including drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s second inaugural address. A chronological index offers names of correspondents and document titles. Special presentations on the Emancipation Proclamation and the Lincoln assassination provide introductions, timelines, and twenty-four images of related documents and engravings. Additional resources include sixteen photographs of the Lincolns and key political and military figures of Lincoln's presidency. This is an excellent resource for researching Lincoln's presidency and American politics prior to and during the Civil War.
Accessible Archives
These eight databases present more than 176,000 articles from 18th- and 19th-century newspapers, magazines, books, and genealogical records. Much of the material comes from Pennsylvania and other mid-Atlantic states. Godey’s Lady’s Book (1830–1880), one of the most popular 19th-century publications, furnished middle- and upper-class American women with fiction, fashion illustrations, and editorials. The Pennsylvania Gazette (1728–1800), a Philadelphia newspaper, is described as the New York Times of the 18th century. The Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective includes major articles from the Charleston Mercury, the New York Herald, and the Richmond Enquirer. African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century includes runs from six newspapers published in New York, Washington, DC, and Toronto between 1827 and 1876. American County Histories to 1900 provides 60 volumes covering the local history of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Genealogical Catalogue: Chester County 1809–1870 has been partially digitized, with 25,000 records available. The Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County 1819–1870 addresses industrialization in a rural area settled by Quaker farmers.
Ad*Access
Images of more than 7,000 advertisements printed primarily in newspapers and magazines in the United States from 1911 to 1955 appear on this well-developed site. The material is drawn from a collection of one of the oldest and largest advertising agencies, the J. Walter Thompson Company. Advertisements are divided into five main subjects areas: Radio (including radios, radio parts, and programs); television (including television sets and programs); transportation (including airlines, rental cars, buses, trains, and ships); beauty and hygiene (including cosmetics, soaps, and shaving supplies); and World War II (U.S. Government-related, such as V-mail and bond drives). Ads are searchable by keyword, type of illustration, and special features. A timeline from 1915 to 1955 provides general context. "About Ad Access" furnishes an overview of advertising history, as well as a bibliography and list of advertising repositories.
African-American Experience in Ohio: Selections from the Ohio Historical Society
The collection includes more than 30,000 items relating to African American life in Ohio between 1850 and 1920, including personal papers, association records, a plantation account book, ex-slave narratives, legal records, pamphlets, and speeches. More than 15,000 articles from eleven Ohio newspapers and the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, perhaps the oldest African American periodical, are included. Also provides more than 300 photographs of local community leaders, buildings, ex-slaves, and African American members of the military and police. Materials represent themes such as slavery, abolition, the Underground Railroad, African Americans in politics and government, and religion. Items include an extensive collection of correspondence by George A. Myers, an African American businessman and politician, as well as prominent political speeches.
African-American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907
Nineteenth-century African American pamphlets and documents, most produced between 1875 and 1900, are presented on this website. These 350 works include sermons, organization reports, college catalogs, graduation orations, slave narratives, Congressional speeches, poetry, and play scripts. Topics cover segregation, civil rights, violence against African Americans, and the African colonization movement. Authors include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Benjamin W. Arnett, Alexander Crummel, and Emanuel Love. Publication information and short content descriptions accompany each pamphlet. The site also offers a timeline of African American history from 1852 to 1925 and reproductions of original documents and illustrations. A special presentation "The Progress of a People," recreates a meeting of the National Afro-American Council in December 1898. This is a rich resource for studying nineteenth- and early twentieth-century African American leaders and representatives of African American religious, civic, and social organizations.
African-American Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century
These fifty-two published works by black women writers are from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth. The full-text database offers works by late-eighteenth-century poet Phillis Wheatley, late-nineteenth-century essayist and novelist Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Harriet Jacobs, a woman born into slavery who published her memoirs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, in the late nineteenth century. Users can browse by title, author, or type of work (fiction, poetry, biography and autobiography, and essays). Each browse category also contains a keyword search for subjects such as religion, family, and slavery. Brief biographies of the thirty-seven featured writers are available. This site is easy to use and is ideal for learning about African American history, women's history, and nineteenth-century American literature.
Africans in America
Created as a companion to the PBS series of the same name, this well-produced site traces the history of Africans in America through Reconstruction in four chronological parts. The site provides 245 documents, images, and maps linked to a narrative essay. "The Terrible Transformation" (1450–1750) deals with the beginning of the slave trade and slavery's growth. "Revolution" (1750–1805) discusses the justifications for slavery in the new nation. "Brotherly Love" (1791–1831) traces the development of the abolition movement. "Judgment Day" (1831–1865) describes debates over slavery, strengthening of sectionalism, and the Civil War. In addition to the documents, images, maps, and essay (approximately 1,500 words per section), the site presents 153 brief (150-word) descriptions by historians of specific aspects on the history of slavery, abolition, and war in America. The site provides a valuable introduction to the study of African-American history through the Civil War.
After the Day of Infamy: "Man on the Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor
More than twelve hours of audio interviews conducted in the days following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and in January and February, 1942, are included on this site. Interviews include the voices of 200 “ordinary Americans” recorded in ten places across the U.S. December recordings were made by fieldworkers contacted by the Library of Congress Radio Research Project to gather opinions of a diverse group of citizens regarding American entrance into war. In the 1942 recordings, produced by the Office of Emergency Management, interviewees were instructed to speak their minds directly to the President. Interviewees discuss domestic issues, including racism and labor activism, in addition to the war. Related written documents and biographies of the fieldworkers are also presented. The interviews are available in audio files and text transcriptions, and are searchable by keyword, subject, and location.