Chronicling the life and times of former President Jimmy Carter is a formidable task, but the American Experience Web site established to complement the new documentary about his life offers a valuable introduction to this former peanut farmer turned global humanitarian and peace maker. Not surprisingly, the site contains a substantial amount of coverage about the Camp David Accords and the...

Many people enjoy the wide array of programs offered by C-SPAN, and those with a penchant for American politics and related topics will enjoy this website immensely. The site contains a wide variety of unique audio programs culled from materials at the National Archives, presidential libraries, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress and other sources. One place to start is by listening to any...

As with other countries, the United States is very much a "work in progress". Of course, the nation's founders made a concerted effort to form a republic that would be able to govern effectively across a large geographic region and a plethora of different cultural traditions. This thoughtful and introspective online exhibit from the Library of Congress brings together a set of interactive...

With the very official title of "Foreign Relations of the United States" (FRUS), this important United States government series serves as the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions. Produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, many of these printed volumes have been digitized and placed online here as part of the University of Wisconsin Digital...

In a historic and reflective gesture, a special session of Congress met today in New York City in memory of the September 11th attacks. This occasion marks only the third time in the modern era that Congress has met outside of Washington DC. During the War of 1812, Congress convened in a long-demolished building several blocks away from the Capitol and, in 1987, when Congress returned to...

Letters from prominent individuals can yield valuable insights about their relationships and their views on a multitude of important (and, at times, trivial) matters. The University of Vermont recently digitized over 440 letters from three of their former elected officials that provide a number of insights into significant local and national events, traveling to and from Washington, and...

The New York State Library started digitizing a range of New York government documents in a wonderful online catalog and website. The collection covers a wide range of materials including government surveys, state census results, and first had descriptions of the Native American experience throughout the Empire State. In total, there are twelve collections here, including Laws of New York State...

While many of former United States presidents have their own libraries, The American Presidency Project attempts to bring together documents from all of the presidents. Started in 1999 as a collaborative project between Gerhard Peters, John T. Woolley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Project's site contains over 75,000 documents related to the study of the presidency....

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has developed a fine reputation for its electronic briefing books and other publications, many of which have arisen from requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Released in late May 2004, this 123rd electronic briefing book in the ongoing series includes ten telcons (transcripts of telephone conversations) from the...

Contributor to The Federalist, the first Chief Justice of the United States and a two-term governor of New York, John Jay gave much of himself to the fledgling nation. Given that he was an alumnus of Columbia University, it is fitting that this institution has created this omnibus of his collected papers and placed them online. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the...