www.Virginia
Here are the most useful websites for teaching Virginia history and social studies. We have carefully selected and screened each website for quality and provide a paragraph annotation that summarizes the site’s content, notes its strengths and weaknesses, and emphasizes its utility for teachers.
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Thomas Jefferson on Politics and Government
Eyler Robert Coates, Sr
This site provides access to more than 2,700 quotations by Thomas Jefferson. Hosted by the University of Virginia, the site is designed and maintained by an individual admirer of Jefferson. The home page provides a 350-word description of the site, which is divided into six sections and 56 subsections of about 50 quotations each. For each quotation, from five to 100 words, the site provides a date, context, and citation information. Visitors may download a collection of 400 popular Jefferson quotations. Sections range from the "Fundamentals of Government" to the "Prospects of Self-Government." Subsections cover topics such as inalienable rights, foreign relations, and the duties of citizens. The site may be searched by subject and search terms are highlighted within search results. There are links to 27 archives of Jefferson material, while 11 other links lead to sites about ideas that Jefferson is associated with, such as liberty and human rights. An annotated bibliography includes eight books about Jefferson. This site will be useful for anyone interested in what Jefferson had to say on topics related to government.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
African-American Women
The Digital Scriptorium, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Writings of three African-American women of the 19th century are offered in this site. Features scanned images and transcriptions of an 85-page memoir by Elizabeth Johnson Harris (1867-1923), a Georgia woman whose parents had been slaves, along with 13 attached pages of newspaper clippings containing short prose writings and poems by Harris; a 565-word letter written in 1857 by a North Carolina slave named Vilet Lester; and four letters written between 1837 and 1838 by Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson, slaves on an Abingdon, Virginia, plantation. The documents are accompanied by three background essays ranging in length from 300 to 800 words, six photographs, a bibliography of seven titles on American slave women, and eight links to additional resources. Though modest in size, this site contains documents of value for their insights into the lives of women living under slavery and during its aftermath in the South.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
Virtual Jamestown
Crandall Shifflett, Virginia Center for Digital History
A work in progress, Virtual Jamestown is a good place to begin exploring the history of Jamestown. This site includes 63 letters and first-hand accounts, available in original-spelling or modern-spelling versions, 100 public records, from census data to laws, 55 maps and images, and a sample of documents on labor contracts. The site will add court records, including deeds, wills, and court order books. There are a number of excellent K-12 teaching tools and classroom activities, including "Jobs in Jamestown" that teaches students to use census data to research occupations of colonial settlers, "Jamestown Newsletter," that helps students research questions about life in the colony, and "Planning an Escape," in which students study runaway slave advertisements and investigate the range of factors a slave had to consider before escaping. The reference section includes a timeline extending from 1502 to the present, narratives by prominent historians, including Bernard Bailyn, links to 25 related sites, and a bibliography of over 20 primary and secondary sources. The Complete Works of John Smith and John Smith's Map of Virginia have recently been added to the site, while 3-D recreations of Jamestown's Statehouse and Meetinghouse as well as an archive of Virginia's first Africans will be added in the coming months.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-10-23.
Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
Melvin I. Urofsky, editor; published by the United States Information Agency
This site features 73 documents, presented with brief introductory essays, chosen to illustrate "the essential idea of American democracy, that of many peoples seeking to find common ground." The term "document" is interpreted broadly. Traditional documents such as court decisions and legislation are supplemented by letters, essays, and speeches. The selections are arranged by topics, each with a brief introduction, such as Creating a Government, The Crisis of Union, On the Road from Slavery to Freedom, and Cold War Issues. Editor Melvin I. Urofsky is Professor of Constitutional History at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 0000-00-00.
Historical Census Browser
Fisher Library at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Provides data gathered by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research from census records and other government sources for a study entitled "Historical Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-1970." For each decade, users can browse extensive population- and economic-oriented statistical information at state and county levels, arranged according to a variety of categories, including place of birth, age, gender, marital status, race, ethnicity, education, illiteracy, salary levels, housing, and specifics dealing with agriculture, labor, and manufacturing. Allows users to select up to 15 variables when conducting searches and displays both raw figures and statistical charts. Categories are inconsistent between census periods and even within particular periods: for example, the database can show that out of 13,604 Bulgarian immigrants living in 1930 in Connecticut, 230 resided in Middlesex County, but it provides no information about Bulgarian immigrants in New Hampshire, Maine, or New York State in the same year. The site includes a 3,750-word essay on the history of American censuses. Although incomplete, this database is a great statistical resource for students of American history.
Listen to the audio review:
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2007-10-23.
John Brown and the Valley of the Shadow
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia
Using contemporary newspaper accounts, eyewitness testimonies, photographs, maps, drawings, and later texts, this site presents "narrative threads" linking the events leading up to John Brown's raid in 1859 on the Harper's Ferry arsenal to "the latent history of life in the two Shenandoah Valley towns of Staunton, Virginia, and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania." Includes 13 issues of newspapers from the towns; five eyewitness accounts ranging from 2,500 to 9,800 words in length; 30 images of the Brown family members and conspirators; approximately 25 additional photos, published drawings, and maps; a brief listing of Brown's day-to-day movements during the latter half of 1859; and short biographical entries of up to 500 words on each conspirator. This site, parts of which are presently under construction, will be of special interest to teachers who want to use contemporary images and written accounts in their classes on Brown and abolitionism, and for those looking to investigate local history perspectives on events of national importance.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
The American Colonist's Library: Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History
Rick Gardiner, Ph.D. Candidate, History Department, Marquette University
This website, maintained by graduate student Rick Gardiner, is a gateway to sites that contain well over 500 primary documents and literature that was "most relevant to the colonists' lives in America." The collection is arranged chronologically and divided into five time periods: 500 BC to 500 AD contains works by classical philosophers and poets such as Aristotle and Socrates, the Bible, and works by figures such as St. Augustine; 500 AD to 1500 contains such works as the Laws of William the Conqueror, Magna Carta, and English law treatises; 1500-1600 provides such documents as the writings of Martin Luther, letters by Christopher Columbus, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs; 1600-1700 contains a variety of colonial maps and charters, an indentured servant's contract, the works of John Smith of Jamestown settlement and John Winthrop of Plimouth Plantation, among other documents; and 1700-1800 contains such documents as the Virginia Slave Laws, William Byrd I's diary, and the works of Lord Bolingbroke. Each chronological category divides the documents into 15 to 25 subject categories. While there is no keyword search, the site's chronological and subject divisions make it easily navigable, and it provides a wealth of resources for those particularly interested in political, cultural, religious, or constitutional early American history.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
Leslie Brock Center for the Study of Colonial Currency, University of Virginia
Leslie Brock, Professor Emeritus
This site, created by Professor Emeritus Leslie V. Brock, deals with the study of American colonial currency. During the colonial period, each colony issued its own paper money, which caused considerable conflict with Britain in the 18th century. This site contains five full-text 18th-century pamphlets on colonial economic and currency issues from 1720 to 1749; ten other contemporary writings about the economic situation in the colonies, including sermons, currency acts, and letters to Britain's Board of Trade, the governing body for colonial economic issues. The site also offers one article and excerpts from a book by scholars of colonial economy, and links to six other scholarly essays on similar topics. There are links to ten tables from Brock's book, Colonial Currency, Prices, and Exchange Rates, as well as a very thorough bibliography of over 70 scholarly works on colonial economies. Additionally, the site offers a link to a site that provides images with roughly 100-word explanations of over 150 species of paper currency, lottery tickets, and fiscal documents from the 18th-century Anglo-American colonies and links to 14 other sources of information on monetary history. This is an ideal source for teaching and researching the colonial economies and money in 18th-century America.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.
Jamestown Virtual Colony
Clifford Bennett, Director; Raymond C. Jones, Asst. Director, Curry School of Education, U. of Virginia
Useful resources for teaching the founding and settlement of Jamestown colony in Virginia. This site offers a series of lesson plans around four themes. "Corporate Colonization" covers the establishment of the London Company, colonial charters, and background to English colonization of the New World. "Development of Government" reviews the economic and social conditions in England that motivated many to migrate to America and the rights of Englishmen. "Economic Matters" discusses the economic goals of colonization, hardships and successes settlers experienced, and development of a tobacco and slave economy in Virginia. "Organization of Society" outlines cultural differences between Indians and English settlers, Indian/white relations, and the roles of religion and women in Virginia. The final section, "Broader Themes of Jamestown", provides general information on geography, competition among European powers for colonization of the New World, and the evolution of Virginia society. Each section contains lesson objectives, outlines, plans, and an annotated bibliography of helpful scholarly works. There are links to 13 online exhibits and ten sites for primary documents. For elementary school teachers looking for creative teaching ideas, this is an extremely useful site.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2001-06-04.
Flowerdew Hundred: A Virginia Historic Landmark
David Seaman, Director of Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia
This site contains information on one of the earliest original land grants in Virginia. For the past 30 years, Flowerdew Hundred has been the site of archaeological excavations and now houses a museum located in an 1850s schoolhouse. The exhibit is divided into four categories. The Museum section describes the current exhibits, educational programs available for classes wishing to visit the site, and two interactive exhibits about the plantation site. One of these exhibits covers "Grant's Crossing," the site of a Civil War event; the other allows the visitor to view and compare images of selected artifacts. The section on the Artifacts Collection is a searchable and browsable database of images of 300 selected artifacts from the museum's collection. Voices of the Past provides brief (100-word) descriptions of the people who lived on the plantation and events that took place in five chronological periods: prehistoric, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The fourth category provides information on the Flowerdew Hundred Foundation and the Foundation and museum staff. This is an excellent site for studying archaeological data and material culture from all periods of Virginia's history.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-06.