The 4th of July brings out orators of all stripes, and over the past two centuries many distinguished Americans have seen fit to offer their own encomia on this day. This lovely collection from the University of Missouri's Ellis Library brings together published pamphlets made on Independence Day from 1791 to 1925. The speeches take a look at crucial topics from this time period, including civic...

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...

eHistory has been around in one form or another since 1995, when it was created by the budding historian Scott Laidig. These days, eHistory is operated and maintained by The Ohio State University's history department. Dedicated to all things historical, the site contains primary sources and documents, original book reviews, digitized books, maps, and multimedia features. These multimedia features...

Online for less than a year, Face-to-Face is written by a team of National Portrait Gallery staff members with diverse responsibilities, from web design to curatorial. The blog is "dedicated to art, history, and the telling of American lives." There are four categories on Face-to-Face: Biography, Events, Exhibitions and News. "Biography" currently features an article series on presidential trivia,...

The Weider History Group publishes a wide range of military history magazines, including "America's Civil War" and "Civil War Times". They've also been generous enough to create this website, which offers a wide range of articles from their different publications. First-time visitors to the homepage may want to start out by taking a shot at the "Daily Quiz", which offers up a range of questions on...

When Grace Greenwood encountered Lake Tahoe in the 1870s, she remarked that "Tahoe is the most beautiful lake I have ever beheld. It is an emerald on the brow of the mountain. Marvellously clear and sparkling, it is surrounded by the most enchanting scenery, and is altogether a surprise, a wonder, a delight." Generations of tourists and locals have enjoyed its charms since. And this remarkable...

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, along with the Verizon Foundation, has developed a website that offers standards-based online resources for teaching and learning American history. This lively looking red, white and blue-themed website has an eye-catching feature on the homepage which highlights an item from the Museum's Artifacts. Visitors should click on the "Learn More"...

The tagline of Teaching Channel is "Great Teaching. Inspiring Classrooms." Educators from kindergarten to college will find hundreds of resources here, including fact sheets, lesson plans, videos, and blogs to help them in the classroom. First-time visitors will need to fill out a short free registration to get started. After this, users can click on left-hand side of the page to browse through...

Son: "What happened today back in 1980 Dad?" Dad: "I don't know son, why don't you look online at the "Today in History" site?" That conversation is perhaps not so far-fetched when readers learn about this very fine and edifying website. Developed as part of The Library of Congress's American Memory project, the site contains informative information about what happened on, say, October 21....