HIST2600: Historical Methods (20th Century U.S. History Focus): Web-Based Digital Collections

DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format.

This helpful archive of links to research, editorials, papers, and other written material on the situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan from 2002 to 2009 is provided by the Project on Defense Alternatives. The Project was founded in 1991, and part of its mission is to "adapt security policy to the challenges and opportunities of the post-Cold War era. Toward this end it promotes consideration of the broadest range of defense options." Their advisory board is made up of an impressive range of scholars, policymakers, and scientists. The War Report page itself contains numerous links to a wide array of sources, including special reports from the United Nations on the opium economy in Afghanistan and reports on the status of nuclear inspections in Iraq. Equally valuable are numerous links to news coverage from around the world, including the Guardian, BBC News, Eurasian Insight, and Global Affairs Commentary.

The Miller Center at the University of Virginia has "systematically and comprehensively debriefed" dozens of important figures from the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. In addition, they are currently building up archives for George W. Bush's presidency, and have gathered many more interviews from key players in the presidencies of Herbert Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson. Transcripts, audio recordings, and sometimes videos of these interviews are available on the website, and it makes for fascinating reading. For instance, an interview with William Harrman, who served as security at President Hoover's rural camp, gives insight not only into Hoover himself, but into how politics was done during the Great Depression.

This new permanent collection at the National Archives showcases documents and images related to "the ongoing struggle of Americans to define, attain, and protect their rights." Readers may want to begin with the Online Exhibit. Here they will find six informative categories: Equal Rights, Rights to Freedom and Justice, Rights to Privacy and Sexuality, Workplace Rights, First Amendment Rights, and Rights of Native Americans. Each category contains well-researched annotations and plenty of primary sources to spice up lesson plans and classroom activities. For instance, the Equal Rights section provides a chronology of the history of rights in the United States, from the 15th Amendment onward. Interested readers may also enjoy the Museum Exhibit, which details the Exhibit Concept and offers sections on African Americans, Women, and Immigrants.

The mission of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is to document "the lives of women of the past and present for the future." The library is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and interested parties can peruse the Library's announcements, scholarship opportunities, and digital collections here. The Picks and Finds area is a great place to start, as it contains a range of interesting posts and essays like "Dining with Dissent: Politics and Protest in Vegetarian Cookbooks." Visitors shouldn't miss the selections from the Kip Tiernan papers. Mary Jane "Kip" Tiernan was known for her work with organizations that aided the poor, homeless, and socially oppressed. One of her most notable accomplishments was the creation of Rosie's Place, which was the first emergency drop-in shelter for women in the United States.

The Krueger-Scott Oral History Collection documents the experiences of African Americans who migrated to Newark, New Jersey between 1910-1970. Launched in the late 1990s, the project is a partnership between Rutgers University-Newark Center for Migration and the Global City, a number of local libraries and museums, and volunteers. The team interviewed over 120 Newark residents who either migrated to the city themselves or were first-generation Newark residents. Visitors to this collection can explore these remarkable interviews in a number of ways. On the site's homepage, visitors can listen to a handful of featured interviews in full. Interviewees include E. Alma Flagg, who was born in Georgia in 1916 and eventually served as the first principal of a racially integrated Newark Public School and later as the district's Assistant Superintendent. Perhaps most notable among this collection is the variety of Media Projects that feature these interviews. One such project centers on an interview with Coyt Jones, father of poet Amiri Baraka and grandfather of current Newark mayor Ras Baraka. As a whole, this collection of powerful interviews adds important insight into Newark's history and the experiences of African Americans during the Great Migration.