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Sites With Redeeming Social or Educational Value
Last checked 3/13/2024

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  • Library of Congress American Treasures5 stars "To celebrate the treasures in its over 110 million item collection, the Library of Congress simultaneously opened an ongoing exhibition and this website on May 1. The site is divided into three parts: memory (history), reason (philosophy), and imagination (fine arts). At present there are 61 treasures, including the items found in President Lincoln's pocket after his assassination, Alexander Graham Bell's notebook entry for March 10, 1876 ("Mr. Watson--Come Here--I want to see you"), and an example of imaginative book design from the Janus Press. The top treasure is a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. Each treasure is briefly introduced, and the user can then click on a thumbnail image to retrieve a much larger image and more detailed explanation. The online exhibition will provide a "cumulative record of many items that have been on display."
  • Library of Congress5 stars is a great site including thousands of images, documents, etc.
  • Library of Congress Video Library5 stars This is a great collection of videos of all kinds including movies, interviews, concerts, etc.
  • American Life Histories is part of the Federal Writer's Project, 1936-40, that attempted to record the plight of writers. The collection contains "...Over 2,900 documents...representing life in more than 20 states. Most of the manuscripts are narratives based on interviews with average people around the country, sort of a 1936 equivalent of a personal homepage. Start with an introduction to the Writers' Project and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and then dive into the thousands of stories.
  • National Geographic5 stars does not disappoint.
  • Google Arts and Culture5 stars This is a collection of Web sites of great art and cultural institutions around the world. Many allow you to virtually tour the institution.
  • The Discovery Channel5 stars has a web page that contains companion information associated with their television programming.
  • NOVA4 outta 5 As slick as the TV program.
  • BBC
  • Open Access is the Smithsonian Institute's image library where you can access 2D and 3D images for free. The project is based on the CCO (Creative Commons Zero) project which makes images, sound recordings, and other digital data available to the public without copyright restrictions of any kind.
  • Open Culture is a great site that has links to all kinds of free art, books, maps, lectures, etc.
  • YouTube Bob Ross Episodes has every episode of Bob Ross painting happy clouds and trees for free viewing.
  • SciCentral This is a gateway to all other science sites. The intent here is to "...centralize access to the most valuable scientific resources online..."
  • Smithsonian Institute This is truly a national treasure with huge amounts of museum and educational material presented in professional Web pages.
  • Selected Photographs of the Civil War is another great collection from the Library of Congress.
  • Civil War Letters are letters from three brothers fighting in the Civil War.
  • Civil War Album has a lot of links to sites that are related to the Civil War including a collection of great, present day panarama photos.
  • Abraham Lincoln Papers The Library of Congress has transcribed hundreds of letters and has made them digitially available on the Internet.
  • Even the Smithsonian Museum of American History
  • What is Your Favorite Deep, Elegant, or Beautiful Explanation - from the Edge site. 192 responses - many are very thought provoking. Check out the other 'Annual Questions' which are equally interesting.
  • Edge The state purpose of this site is... "to arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves."
  • archive.org is a collection of audio and video files of just about everything. There are books, podcasts, sounds, video clips, music, etc. This site is also known as the Internet Archive, for good reasons.
  • National Emergency Library This site is making millions of ebooks available especially for students who are restricted to home schooling. Great source of reference books. This site is part of the archive.org project.
  • WWF Global Network has information on conservation.
  • The Wall has a complete database of every name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall.
  • About The Vietnam Wall
  • Official Olympic Committee Web Site
  • Mysterious Places like Easter Island, etc.
  • The Official Shroud of Turin Site
  • The Nevada Test Site Page
  • Woodstock '69 includes many pictures donated by attendees.
  • NSArchive has government documents that have been recently declassified.
  • NightLine has some videos from the recent late night shows.
  • Carnegie Hall
  • Beatles - over 36,000 links.
  • The Einstein Papers Project hopes to make available all of the writings of Albert Einstein including correspondence..
  • Biographies is a companion to A&E's TV series. It has a searchable collection of 15,000 biographies.
  • The Strange and Curious History of the Lobotomy Try it. You'll feel better.
  • The Academy of Achievement brings you "...face to face with the individuals that have shaped the 20th century."
  • TED Talks on Psychology
  • Temple Online Learning Institute Continuing education online sponsored by Temple University.
  • The Oregon Zoo
  • ZooWeb has links to all thing zooish. Includes links to zoos and aquariums, webcams at zoos, etc.
  • A Moment in Time has resources associated with historical moments in time. There are sound, picture, and text elements that are interesting and informative.
  • Life Magazine has a few of their photo essays online as well as other photojournalistic publications.
  • Naval History has material associated with ships of war.
  • The Privacy Forum has information and other links to related topics.
  • Eliza is early natural language experiment. You can talk with the computer program by typing your responses.
  • Judy Blume's Official Web Site
  • Crystal Radios
  • The Electric Franklin - great site for Ben Franklin fans.
  • Eyewitness is history as told by those who experienced it. Death of an Air Ace, Massacre at Wounded Knee, U-boat Attack, plus 14 others.
  • Digital Public Library of America - is a great place to peruse 'exhibits' which are collections of material from archives and libraries focusing on a specific topic.
  • New York Public Library Digital Collections - a great collection of photos, videos, maps, documents, etc. with a nice search engine to help find stuff.
  • Idealist has links to thousands of non-profit organizations looking for volunteer help.
  • Galileo Galilei's Notes This site has images of his original notebooks on motion.
  • Statue of Liberty Tour
  • Thomas Jefferson This is part of the American Memory site and said to contain more than 27,000 documents associated with Thomas Jefferson.
  • Betsy Ross includes a virtual tour of the Betsy Ross House.
  • Freedom Forum is full of news about encroachments on somebody's freedom all over the world.
  • The First Amendment
  • Corporate Watch has information about corporate misbehaviour.
  • Women Inventors has biographies of great women inventors.
  • The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner has a history of the song.
  • Noise Pollution Clearinghouse
  • The Library of Congress' Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers has digital impages of Bell's papers.
  • eHow - a collection of how-to's with links to associated products - how to bike over a curb, how to rappel down a cliff, how to watch olympic diving, etc. - tutorials include video
  • First Gov has links to all kinds of government related or sponsored sites.
  • Seven Wonders of the World has a little bit of information on all seven.
  • Watergate Tapes has transcripts and audio recordings of the entire collection of Watergate tapes.
  • Culture Finder is a search engine that finds cultural events in your city.
  • Tobacco Archives has all of the tobacco trial background material including studies on the addictive nature of tobacco.
  • Marconi Calling is all about the inventor of the wireless.
  • Pearl Harbor
  • The Wright Brothers
  • New York City Public Library Digital Gallery You can browse for hours through photos and pictures, manuscripts, maps, etc.
  • Colossal is a site that displays photo-realistic art. Usually, unusual subject matter.
  • OpenCulture is a collection of links to free culture - ebooks, courses, audio books, movies.
  • Letters of Note is a collection of letters and other written communications which are, at least, fascinating. Some are historically significant while others are just poignant.
Art/Photos
Museums

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