In the minds of some, the mere mention of the city of Bethlehem conjures up images of an industrial landscape complete with massive steel mills. These days the city has been greatly transformed, and before the period of heavy industrialization in the late 19th century, the city was quite different. With funds (and active participation) from a host of organizations, the Bethlehem Digital History...

Regions like the Lehigh Valley have been reinventing themselves since the extended period of deindustrialization began many decades ago. This rather fascinating online exhibit and archive from the Lehigh University Digital Library initiative is designed to aid "researchers in understanding not only the lives of railroad barons and steel titans, but also the experiences of the regular folks who...

A town of approximately 3,500 people on the Sheboygan River in Wisconsin, Kiel has had its history captured exceedingly well by a fellow townsman who collected over 110 notebooks of historical documents about Kiel and its people. These notebooks have been recently donated to the Kiel public library. The 120 years of images and documents give a unique view of how the small city weathered two world...

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) has created this arresting and stimulating digital exhibition to complement a traveling exhibit that is making its rounds across the country. The exhibition is designed to explore the contributions that African Americans made during the Civil War as nurses, surgeons, and hospital workers. Visitors who click on the "Exhibition" button can view images and...

The Birmingham Public Library has a marvelous trove of maps in their collection and this site is the perfect place to explore almost 1,000 cartographic gems. As might be expected, the maps housed here depict various sections of Alabama, along with maps and atlases from Europe, Africa, and other regions of the world. First-time visitors might start by giving close attention to the Persia sive...

Through a series of strategic initiatives and focused work, the Birmingham Public Library has digitized thousands of items and placed them online on their digital collections page. The site has two dozen different thematic collections, and visitors can browse them by material type (maps, newspapers, etc.) or just scroll down the alphabetically organized list. Amidst these unique collections, there...

African Americans have lived in Wisconsin since the mid-19th century, and their story is an important part of Wisconsin's history. This online collection from the Wisconsin Historical Society brings together documents that tell the story of the state's African American community. The materials here are divided into six sections, including "The Fur Trade Era," "The Later 19th Century," and "The...

The Blackstone River Valley of Massachusetts and Rhode Island is commonly known as the "birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution." The National Heritage Corridor established to tell the story of this region is quite a gem, and this website provides delectable information about the history, culture, and natural setting of the places covered throughout these two states. A good place to start...

Held in a state of arrested decay, the ghost town of Bodie, California is one of the best known ghost towns in the United States. As with many a small town in the western part of the country, the town was part of the boom and bust cycle that was emblematic of the raucous world of mineral extraction, and as the gold in the region came and went, so did most of the residents of Bodie. This whole...

The Massachusetts Historical Society provides this online exhibit on the abolitionist movement in Boston, both prior to and during the Civil War. The website includes seven distinct sections, each highlighting manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts. One section touches on William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator, an important antislavery newspaper; visitors can read the entire first issue of the...