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Overviews of the Period
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Buckaroos in Paradise
This online exhibition produced by the American Folk Life Center and the Library of Congress documents post-1945 cowboy culture. By studying the family-run Ninety-Six Ranch located in Paradise Valley of northern Nevada, students can learn about tradition and innovation in post-war life and the intermixing of cultures in the American west. The site is an outstanding introduction to the domestic history of the American west and is a reminder that not all elements of U.S. life revolved around large socio-political issues.
The site focuses on the years between 1945 and 1982 and includes a variety of unique assets. Students can learn about the basic history of the ranch, how technology changed the working life of cowboys, and how researchers conduct field research. Of particular interest are the forty-one motion pictures, twenty-eight sound recordings, and 2,400 still photographs that tell the story of life and work on the Ninety-Six Ranch.
The site is easy to use and should excite the imagination of young historians and help broaden their understanding of a slice of postwar American life. It is a useful introduction into American cultural history.
 Buckaroos in Paradise
Conversations With History
This Web site produced by the Institute of International Studies at the University of California-Berkley features over 275 interviews with diplomats, soldiers, activists, politicians, and artists who have shaped and made contemporary history. The host, interviewer, and producer of the site, Harry Kreisler, aims to introduce students to distinguished individuals whose life and work have significantly molded our times.
Students can peruse the research galleries for interviews with individuals touching on twenty-three different topics. Among these themes are the Conservative Movement, the Environment, and Movies and the Imagination. For example, students can view an interview with activists such as Norman Meyers to understand the roots of the Environmental Movement. Moreover, this site features interviews with very significant figures who reveal the inside story of recent history and offer insightful perspectives into the recent past.
The number and diversity of figures interviewed renders this site a valuable resource for the classroom. The wide range of topics ensures that every student can pick a theme and subject that piques their interest. In addition, the site offers an international flavor to modern history so that students can understand that events do not occur in a vacuum. For instance, the section on the Sixties features interviews with Americans such as former Black Panther Ron Dellums and Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi.
The site can be utilized a number of ways in the classroom. Due to the number of categories and interviews students are freed to choose their own topics and subjects without overlap.
Conversations With History
Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium
The Library of Congress produced this Web site dedicated to honoring and collecting the best work of the legendary political cartoonist Herbert Block. Block worked for the Washington Post and other major newspapers for over fifty years and has won four Pulitzer Prizes for his craft. The site chronicles Block's personal and professional history and most importantly features some of his most significant political cartoons.
This site is an invaluable asset because it contains primary sources and challenges students to understand the nuances of events. For example, one of Block's famous cartoons depicts President Eisenhower in a fireman's uniform looking out on a burning town claiming to a shocked Uncle Sam, "Tsk Tsk -- Somebody Should Do Something About That." This cartoon perfectly underlines the prevailing wisdom of the mid-1950s that Eisenhower failed to use federal power to enhance civil rights and tacitly encouraged southern white resistance. These cartoons can be used to test whether students comprehend historical events in a sophisticated manner rather than merely memorizing dates and names.
The value of this site and Block's cartoon's is that they chronicle the domestic history of the United States since the 1930s and reveal how mainstream journalists interpreted current events. Students can evaluate how prescient Block's interpretations were, how his interpretations differ from our historical perspective, and can comment on journalistic bias.
This site is for very advanced students of U.S. history so it is not for most classes. However, Block's cartoons are so brilliant and entertaining that it is a useful and non-traditional way for students to test their knowledge of U.S. history and delve into the nuances of domestic politics.
Herblock's History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium
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