Offered as part of the Five College Archives Digital Access Project, many key documents from the history of Amherst College are contained within this remarkable collection. The site consists of four smaller collections: Annual Catalogues, 1822-1900; Coeducation Collection, 1870-1998; Edward and Orra White Hitchcock Papers; and Snell Family Papers. In this last collection, visitors can look over...

Summer Heat Wave Before AC: History of Air-Conditioning http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2003081,00.html Gorrie's Fridge http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~ihas/gorrie/fridge.htm John Gorrie Museum State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/johngorriemuseum/default.cfm HowStuffWorks: How Air Conditioners Work http://home.howstuffworks.com/ac.htm The Writings of Benjamin...

War of 1812 Bicentennial: Why does no one remember the war that made Andrew Jackson famous? http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2012/05/war_of_1812_bicentennial_why_does_no_one_remember_the_war_that_made_andrew_jackson_famous_.html New Washington museum exhibit explains War of 1812 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48042369/ns/travel-destination_travel/#.T_LhdI7N5FI Tall ships provide a...

This phenomenal site from the Brooklyn Historical Society traces the early history of this American city through the narrative of a single family. In 1661, Dutchman Pieter Janse Hagewout immigrated to the burgeoning colonies and purchased land in what came to be known as King's County. Over the decades, his descendants, the Lefferts, amassed land, wealth, and power, transforming the fertile soil...

Landscape architect Martin Hogue recently published this interesting and detailed history of the picnic table for Places Journal (for more about Places, check out the 09-09-2016 Scout Report). In this essay, Hogue traces the history of the picnic table back to the nineteenth-century picnicking craze, portrayed in idyllic paintings such as Thomas Cole's 1845 A Pic-Nic Party. As Hogue notes,...

This excellent interactive site, produced by the British Museum, contains a wealth of information about ancient China. Explorers can follow any of five links that cover major sections of the website, including Crafts and Artisans, Geography, and Tombs and Ancestors. Each section contains historical information in the topical area and Story, Explore and Challenge links. The Challenge links are...

The Ancient History Encyclopedia offers a wealth of resources that may appeal to teachers and students of ancient history, philosophy, classics, and art. In addition, this highly engaging website is delightful to browse and may also appeal to the generally curious. The Encyclopedia was founded in 2009 by Jan van der Crabben, a former game designer who "realized that the internet was missing a...

The nonprofit Ancient History Encyclopedia (last featured in the 10-17-2017 Scout Report) has expanded considerably in the decade since its launch. One of the more recent additions is its Education section, where visitors will find a handy portal to numerous resources created and curated by AHE staff. For example, its collection of Teaching Resources contains free lesson plans and collections of...

Located in the northwest corner of New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is a shallow, ten-mile canyon accessible only by washboard dirt roads. It is an area of tremendous cultural importance, as it was once the center of an elaborate system of buildings, roadways, and other construction. Intense building activity continued at the site until about AD 1150, and then it was quickly abandoned. Today, it is a...

Located on a limestone plateau in the northern area of the Yucatan peninsula, the dramatic ruins of Chichen Itza stand as a testimony to the ingenuity of the Mayan civilization. Many visitors flock to the area to view these structures, and now it is also possible to view them via this fine exhibition created by the Exploratorium Museum. With substantial funding from the McBean Family Foundation...