The Holocaust Memorial Center has facinating primary resources which include oral testimonies, art, and photos. This resource provides powerful personal connections between the artifacts and the researcher. Materials would be appropriate for students in grades 6-12 studying the holocaust, history, or comparison/contrast with global current events involving genocide . Educator and student resources are available.
The United States Census Bureau provides population, economic, and geographic resources. This site would benefit students and educators in social studies, mathematics, economics, and geography. Interesting features include comparisons among resources and the U.S./World population clocks. There are various methods of accessing information (by state, region, use of data tools, etc.).
Our documents includes 100 Milestone American historical documents compiled to span United States historical events from 1776-1965. Documents can be accessed by listing/year or visual/digital scroll bar. This resource would be valuable for intermediate elementary students through high school students as well as educators. Primary sources would be beneficial in U.S./American history and government education.
Nebraska Legislature site is the official resource for the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature. Resources include transcripts and photos along with the Nebraska Blue Book. This would be appropriate for students in the fourth grade through high school for social studies and local government/historical information. The students and teachers section is divided nicely for easy access.
The Louisiana Digital Library features digital collections of maps, manuscripts (letters, diaries, etc.), images/photos, video/audio recordings, newspapers and more. Collections can be accessed by topic, institution, media format, geographic focus, and time period. The time period collection includes a great visual time line with prominent historical events featured for easy acquisition. This would be useful for student/educator historical research; jazz music and New Orleans culture as well as state hurricane information. Many collections would be beneficial in establishing of geographic/cultural context for several literature connections.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's photo library is a primary source for ocean and nature photographs. It is arranged by topic collections. Some of my favorites include: National Severe Storms Laboratory Collection (severe weather), It's a Small World Collection (around the world in alphabetical order), and Coral Kingdom Collection (vertebrates/invertebrates,plants). Excellent examples are provided for use with student lessons (i.e. coral kingdom for living vs. nonliving organisms) as well as student research materials.
The museum of Edgar Allan Poe collection database includes primary source documents such as letters, photos, and personal/family items. This is a good literary resource for middle and high school students-complete with teacher and student resources. Great opportunity for English/Language Arts department and library collaboration.
Read.gov is a resource for accessing book information and reading lists, literature events, author webcasts, and local/community resources. This resource is appropriate for use by kids, teens, adults/parents, and educators. As a school librarian, I can see this resource as being valuable for lessons, educator collaboration, and student/family outreach.
Digital History:Explorations is a resource with time period/theme specific "webquests" for both students and teachers. Primary source documents (photos, documents, letters, etc.) along with teacher resources and lesson plans make this an excellent multiple literacies must for teachers and school librarians.
Eyewitness:American Originals form the National Archives provides first-hand and personal testimonies of select historical events as told from the point-of-view of presidents: Jefferson, Washington, Truman, JFK, Bush Sr., John Adams, Carter, Eisenhower-as well as other influential individuals. This would be great for time period specific research projects. Easy to read and compact digital arrangements make this user friendly for young students, teens, and educators.
The Library of Congress features collections such as: American Memory, prints & photos, historic newspapers, performing arts, veteran's history, sound recordings, film, maps, manuscripts. Resources can be accessed by topic and audience as well. Users of this site include: kids, librarians, and teachers. It would be a great primary resource site for lessons and research.
The Nebraska Partnership for American History Education provides a variety of primary source resources by theme, time period, photos (1850-1938), and bibliographic collections. This site is useful for Nebraska history, United States history, women's history, Native & African American histories. It would definitely be appropriate for intermediate elementary students through high school students and all educators (lesson plans can be found here).