Secondary Source

This large site contains much information about the institutional workings of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Great Britain. The site describes the establishment of general practice (primary care/family medicine) as a speciality and academic discipline. Background information is given concerning the history of general practice, foundation of the College, history of the College and its building, and a detailed chronology. The archives of the college also include institutional records, personal papers, photographs and recordings, although only a guide to these resources is available online. This site would be helpful to wide range of historians, especially those interested in the history of modern medicine in Great Britain or events following the shift in British medicine to fit the newly established national health system.

This is an online companion to an exhibit on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female M.D., that was held in 1999 at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. The site is well designed and easily navigated. The exhibit contains a narrative description of Elizabeth Blackwell's college career, and there are some images of documents such as her Geneva Medical College diploma; however, the images do not have enough resolution to be easily used as a primary sources online. The site is a good background source, and the captions of the images have references to the location of the original documents for visitors who are interested in pursuing further research.

John Phillip Holland was a Irish born teacher who designed and built the first a series of submarines, several of which were purchased and used by various nations in warfare around the turn of the twentieth century. Holland also developed the U.S. Navy's first modern submarine and become known as the Father of the U.S. Submarine Service. This site is basic with a little navigation, but links within the text point visitors to several alternate sites concerning Holland and his submarines, several of which include images, drawings, and primary source materials from newspapers, correspondence, etc.

The Virtual Laboratory is a resource for the history of the human and life sciences (especially psychology) and the "experimentalization of life." In addition to the typical aspects of science and technology, this site adds a dimension dealing with how art intersects these areas. The site is broken into logical sections including, experiments, technology, objects, sites, people, etc. The "people" section contains an extensive collection of career sketches for many important scientists. After each entry, a user can click a link to search the technology database and library for related materials. Other sections offer the same linking capabilities, thereby connecting experiments to concepts to technology to essays and more. This cross-linking makes the large site seem small and easy to navigate. The site archives historical texts and images, as well as new essays. The virtual Laboratory is in English, but much of the archived material is in German.

This site chronicles the history of the city of Pittsburg. The site includes a timeline that offers a general overview with brief entries, but the researcher who wants in-depth information can head to the collection of more than 500 full-text books, thousands of images, and hundreds of maps available on the site. The books and images are searchable and the maps are indexed with lists of important landmarks linked to their location on each map. Census records are also available for the mid-nineteenth century.

This site chronicles how Charles Dow devised the now famous Dow Jones stock averages, and how they developed from 1884 to 1995. Besides terminology that may sometimes leave the uninitiated scratching their heads, this site is a good starting point for understanding the history and function of today's stock exchanges. The short and rather basic story of Charles Dow's average is supplemented through links to information such as lists of companies tracked by each of the Dow Jones averages, an explanation of the OTC market and Nasdaq, and listing standards for the New York Stock Exchange. A table also lists historical records for the NYSE. The navigation within the site is not facilitated by tabs, a side bar, or search tool, but the site is small enough to navigate easily.

Airshipsonline exists to provide viewers with access to the archives of the Airship Heritage Trust. The trust was originally established by enthusiasts and relatives of crew members, and continues as an effort to preserve airship history. The site includes a vast array of information relating to all aspects of lighter-than-air technology, especially in the U.K. Uninitiated readers can visit the online reference section to read an elaborate history of airships in general, or individual models. There is also an online discussion forum, dozens of images, and 25 short movie downloads created from original film footage of ships flying, landing, and "on the mast." Designs and flight plans are interesting features of the site as well. The material is not searchable, but a helpful index allows users to jump directly to the information they need, and the site provides an long list of related links with notes.

This site, dedicated to the history of a Turkish aircraft industry, gives a summarized version of the material available in a book by the site's author, an aviation enthusiast who was born in Turkey and grew up in Germany. The site has a very basic design and the navigation is difficult because the pages are labled in many cases by Turkish names and acronyms that are not readily understandable by an english-speaking audiance. Also, each page is not cross-linked, so viewers will have to back-click to the first page before continueing to each following section. But despite the navigational difficulties, the site does offer some interesting information about the Turkish government's interest in aircraft and the partnerships between Turkish groups and foreign manufacturers. The site includes tables that list aircraft licenced for production in Turkey, the years of production, and the actual numbers produced. There are also a few images.

An interactive cartographic history of the relationship between hydrological and hydraulic systems and their impact on the urban development of Rome, Italy from 753 BC to the present day.

Illustrated review by Yoshitaka Mouri in Art Watch of the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition on inhabited bridges, including historical examples and past utopian bridge plans.