Primary Source

In partnership with the September 11 Digital Archive, the Library of Congress is providing this opportunity for you to share your experiences and memories of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In 1999 the Vietnam Center initiated the Oral History Project. An element of the Vietnam Archive, the mission of the Oral History Project is to create and preserve a more complete record of the wars in Southeast Asia by preserving, through recorded interviews, the recollections and experiences of the men and women who participated in these wars, as well as those military and civilian personnel involved in activities surrounding the wars on the homefront. The Archive believes that the history of the wars in Southeast Asia is not complete without the inclusion of the voices of the men and women who were involved in the wars.

The United States Coast Guard, one of the country's five armed services, is also one of the most unique agencies of the federal government. We trace our history back to 4 August 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of the federal revenue. Known variously as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service, we expanded in size and responsibilities as the nation grew.

These added responsibilities included humanitarian duties such as aiding mariners in distress. Our law enforcement functions also continued to expand. Congress tasked us with enforcing laws against slavery, piracy, and enlarged our responsibilities to prevent smuggling. We were also given the responsibility to protect the marine environment, explore and police Alaska, and chart the growing nation's coastlines, all well before the turn of the twentieth century.

The TMI partial meltdown, which was the worst accident at an American commercial nuclear power plant, both altered nuclear regulation policies in the United States and shook the public's confidence in nuclear technology.

Echo has developed an online survey, which invites people to share their thoughts about the TMI crisis. We aim to collect entries from a broad spectrum of people, ranging from residents who lived near the plant to people who lived in a different part of the country (or in another country) and followed the events through the media. Our aim is to build a free and public archive that serves as a resource for activists and scholars alike.

These are the 18 artifact categories at The Bakken. Items can belong to more than one category. We have roughly 2500 artifacts. An electrostatic kit from the 18th century would be listed as a generator, a storage case, electrodes, a Leyden jar -- whatever was in the box the kit lived in. Here on the Web, we'll list things by their most noticeable attribute. You can learn a lot about a collection by studying the categories it is sorted into.

Multimedia Map and Time Line: Photos, footage, firsthand accounts, and narration bring the attack on Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, to life—moment by moment, target by target.

Searchable Archive of Survivors’ Stories: Read personal tales of heroism and disaster, find a long-lost friend, or submit your own true tale of December 7, 1941.

Pearl Harbor Ships and Planes, World War II Time Line, and More: Get the facts in easy-print form, click to related sites, and review recommended resources.

This site is part of a larger dissertation project on the history of video retail and shifting attitudes toward motion pictures in America in the 1970's and 1980's. The person responsible for both the design and maintenance of the site (as well as the dissertation) is Joshua Greenberg, a PhD student in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, e-mail Joshua at jmg48@cornell.edu

Usenet, an Internet discussion board pioneer, marks its 25th anniversary in 2004. Users from around the world have gathered at Usenet's virtual roundtables to discuss topics ranging from aeronautics to zoology, in the process creating vibrant global communities surrounding thousands of subjects and fields. To honor Usenet's place in the Internet revolution, Echo has created this site to gather important recollections of Usenet history. You can join in by adding your memories through our online survey, and you can read about other Usenet participants' experiences on our public board

Project Bionics' mission is:

To recognize individual and corporate contributions to artificial organ history;
To identify the pioneers and their contributions to improved quality and length of life;
To document the experiences of scientists, engineers, clinicians and patients developing
and using artificial organs;
To link these past accomplishments to present and future developments;
To encourage education, scholarship, and research on artificial organ history

The Claude Shannon project seeks to preserve the memory of the man whose mathematical theories lay the groundwork for the digital communication technology underlying the Internet. Shannon’s ideas, initially applied to telephone switching systems and early computing, proved tremendously useful in other scientific fields including genetics, encryption, and quantum physics. Shannon, dubbed the father of modern information theory, also applied his theoretical work to one of his favorite hobbies, juggling. His famous juggling machines illustrated his creativity, inveterate tinkering and great powers of invention. If Shannon or his work has influenced you either professionally or personally, please contribute your experiences and recollections to Echo’s permanent digital archive.