The Documenting the American South project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has created a number of very fine online exhibits and digital collections over the years, and this recent addition certainly follows in that tradition. Working with funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, this pilot project includes 21 interviews related to environmental...

In the summer of 2001, noted author Eudora Welty passed away in her home state of Mississippi. Throughout her ninety-years she made significant contributions to the art of the short story and other literary forms, and she remains the subject of scholarship and admiration in many quarters. Fortunately, the Eudora Welty Foundation was established in 1999 to celebrate her works and also to make sure...

The films of Ken Burns have covered the exuberance of jazz in the United States, the world of baseball, and most recently, the experiences of Americans during World War II. Working with the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, Burns and staff members created this companion website to the film series. The site includes letters, diaries, interviews, and memoirs that cover the...

It’s hard to get close to General George Washington or peek inside the mind of President Harry S. Truman, and not just for the obvious reasons. Fortunately for the web-browsing public, there is this interactive exhibit, which is designed to complement an in situ exhibit at the National Archives. Simply titled “Eyewitness: American Originals from the National Archives”, the exhibit allows visitors...

During the 1930s and 1940s, teams of writers and scholars scoured the United States on behalf of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) collecting materials about the places they saw and the people they met. This particular digital ethnographic field collection brings together materials which document the Arabic, Bahamian, Cuban, Green, Seminole and Slavic cultures across Florida. Here visitors...

As part of their Turning Points in Wisconsin History collection, staff members at the Wisconsin Historical Society have digitized a rather compelling set of folklore pamphlets. The folklore pamphlets were created by Charles E. Brown, who served as the curator of the Museum of the State Historical Society and secretary of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society. Published between 1921 and 1945, these...

The hot dog is a powerful symbol of Chicago's past culinary triumphs, and it makes sense that it is one of the first things that visitors to this delightful site will encounter. This interactive site was created by the Chicago History Museum, with funding provided in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The site includes historical fiction stories that help illuminate Chicago's past...

Before he died in 2003, the late classical musician Eugene Istomin sat down with some of his musical compatriots to record a series of programs titled "Great Conversations in Music". These four wonderful programs are included here on this website, which is maintained by the Library of Congress. The programs were produced and directed by Peter Rosen, and visitors may wish to start their travels...

Oral histories can be quite fascinating, and a number of significant collections have been placed online as of late. One of the best-known projects might be Harvard University's own Iranian Oral History Project (IOHP). The collection consists of the personal accounts of over 150 individuals who were eyewitnesses (or active participants) to a range of crucial political events in Iran from the 1920s...

Ernest Hemingway was a red-blooded man of letters, and one of the 20th century's most celebrated and demonized writers. In 1968, Mary Hemingway arranged to have his papers donated to the Kennedy Library. Over the past several decades, materials related to Hemingway's long career have continued to become part of this very extensive collection. The Kennedy Library has created this specific page to...