Industrial/Military Technology

The Forest History Society site can be used to begin research on the history of forestry in the United State and abroad. The site contains a history of the U.S. Forest Service, including photographs, bios, and descriptions of ranger experiences. The site also provides an online, annotated guide to the Forest History Society's archival collections and a description of materials available at the Society's library. There are links to current websites for the organizations with materials in the collection, and a search tool for finding collections at other institutions. Curriculums for school children, a sample of the Society's journal, Environmental History, and descriptions of the organization's current activities are also available. The site is basic, easily navigated, and well maintained.

A collection of some of the displays from the above mentioned exhibition. Includes audio files of lectures which were presented, as well as several related articles and activities. Of particular note is a section devoted to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki which contains images, oral histories submitted to the site, and links for further study.

This project, produced by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, looks to expand the recent history of electric lighting and energy issues relating to lighting. An example of "participatory history," there is an attempt to record online the stories and memories of the people who have produced or dealt with electric lighting. This group includes: electricians, engineers, electrical researchers, inventors, utility workers, city planners, architects, retailers, consumers, and anyone else who has taken part in the buying, selling, installing, and designing electric lighting. Extensive input forms are available for each of these groups to add to the electronic archive the Smithsonian is building. The site also includes historical essays on commercial, industrial and residential lighting, particularly focusing on the last 30 years. An extensive bibliography, including articles and books from both professional societies and the popular press, adds to the background material on the site.

This American Memory site records the mapping of North America and the Caribbean from 1750 to 1789 through images of maps in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Most items on the site are also included among the 2000 images in Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789: A Guide to the Collections of the Library of Congress, compiled by John R. Sellers and Patricia Molen van Ee (1981). Currently the site contains roughly 2000 images. Maps and charts will be added to the online exhibit gradually. Selected images include original manuscript drawings by famous mapmakers like Samuel Holland, John Hills, and John Montresor; maps from the personal collections of men like Admiral Richard Howe and the comte de Rochambeau; and large groups of maps by three major 18th-century London publishers: Thomas Jeffreys, William Faden, and Joseph Frederick Wallet des Barres. The online collection allows researchers to compare editions, styles, and techniques of mapmakers from Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Holland, Italy, and the United States, and to follow the development of specific maps from the manuscript sketch to the finished, printed version. Each image is accompanied by descriptive notes (100-150 words) and a list of the medium, date and place of publication, condition, call number, and repository. The site also includes a 1500-word essay on mapmaking during the American Revolutionary era and links to 12 other American Memory sites containing related materials. Researchers can browse this site by geographic location, subject, creator, and title, and can search the site by keyword. This site is ideal for students and teachers interested in mapmaking in the 18th century and in exploring how maps helped to illustrate American culture.

This site is dedicated to the life and work of Leo Szilard, a European physicist who contributed to the development of the atomic bomb, but protested its use. The site focuses on Szilard's role in advocating arms control. The opening page is basic in design, with a couple of images, a small amount of text, and a list of links. A visitor must follow these links to find the bulk of the information. The site contains images, transcriptions of interviews and speeches, audio clips, a short bibliography, a biographical timeline, and links to external sources of information. Perhaps the most useful of these external links take a browser to the online index to the Leo Szilard papers housed at the University of California, San Diego.

Reproduction of 1871 book The History of the First Locomotives In America: From Original Documents And The Testimony Of Living Witnesses.

A Library of Congress Manuscript Division online exhibit to celebrate the Manuscript Division's centenary, this site contains approximately 90 representative documents from the 15th to the mid-20th century. The selected documents include the papers of presidents, cabinet ministers, congressmen, Supereme Court justices, military officers, diplomats, reformers, artists, writers, scientists, and other Americans who made a mark in history. Most items fall with eight categories that reflect the division's strengths: "The Presidency"; "Congress, Law, and Politics"; "Military Affairs"; "Diplomacy and Foreign Policy"; "Arts and Literature"; "Science, Medicine, Exploration, and Invention"; "African-American History and Culture"; "Women's History"; and "Miscellany." Each theme contains a roughly 250-word essay with links to digital reproductions of selected documents. A detailed description (200 words) accompanies each document, and additional information about the collections from which a document came is available through links to the collection records and finding aids. The exhibit also includes roughly 25 images, primarily in the "Science, Medicine, Exploration and Invention" category. There is a special presentation entitled "Collecting, Preserving, and Researching History: A Peek into the Library of Congress Manuscript Division." This site provides a description of the division, its holdings, definitions of terms like "personal papers" and why they are important, how the Library of Congress acquires manuscripts, how the staff prepares, conserves, and stores them, and who uses the documents. The site also has links to the Library of Congress's ordering and reproduction policies, the American Memory site, and to the Library of Congress collection catalogs. This easily navigable site is keyword and subject searchable. This site is ideal for conducting research in many areas of American History, as well as answering the question: "What do archives do?"

Reproduction of photographs from the aforementioned book. Includes pictures of crew, officers, and ships. Part of a larger nautical site.

The Areodrome site offers lists of World War I aces, their combat stats, and a chronology of kills and events. The site offers little historical background or narative text; however, the site is useful for short desciptions of many kinds of WWI aircraft, and short bios of specific aces, which include military honors, time, date, and location of their kills, and what aircraft they flew. The site is not searchable, but all of the records are indexed and linked to make the site very easy to navigate.