This site compiles historic films, images, and text related to the coal miners' strike that took place in Kentucky's Bell and Harlan Counties during 1931 and 1932. Created by the Appalachian Studies Program at the University of Kentucky, this educational resource profiles the cultural and economic milieu surrounding this event. First-time visitors would do well to read the introduction to a recent...

The Young Woman's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A) may not have a catchy song written about it, but the Y.M.C.A.'s sister organization does promote leadership and aims to be a "membership-directed organization for 'all kinds of women and girls.'" Smith College, in Massachusetts, has the collection of historical records of the Y.W.C.A. of the USA, and has created an online exhibit of such...

This week Merriam-Webster Inc, the company responsible for producing that venerable dictionary announced its top 10 "words of the year" list, with the immensely popular "blog" taking the number one place. The company compiles the list each year by taking the most researched words on its various Web sites, and of course, always omits such consistently favored profanities. Interestingly enough,...

Apartment envy is not unique to New York City, but it is certainly one of the closest watched real estate markets in the world. As the twentieth century began, savvy real estate developers worked to create ever-grander buildings around Central Park and other prominent locations around the city. This digital collection from the New York Public Library brings together 1300 images that depict...

How can we best learn about the world around us? The talented individuals at the National Park Service have continued to answer this question by carefully creating the Teaching with Historic Places Lessons over the past few years. Each lesson plan contains teaching guides, activities, and helpful primary documents. This plan looks at the Confederate Guard Camp at the Florence Stockade in South...

American filmmaker Julien Bryan set out to chronicle life in Poland and Nazi Germany in the 1930s. His situation became quite precarious when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, but he remained in order to document the siege of Warsaw. This site was established by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in order to bring some of his images and films to the general public. All told, the...

Located on the Ariege River in the south of France, the town of Pamiers is an important part of the attractive rural setting in these parts. Some may find it surprising that the town was where a key text in the history of mathematics was written almost 600 years ago. This wonderful feature from the Mathematical Association of America's "Loci" feature describes the Pamiers Manuscript and its...

At the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy, that austere man of letters, Robert Frost, had intended to read a poem entitled "Dedication", but was unable to do so because of the glare of the sun, which effectively prevented him from seeing (and reading) the text. Instead Frost read "The Gift Outright" from memory, and yet another legendary moment in presidential inauguration lore occurred....

Resources for people suffering from intellectual or mental disabilities are in short supply throughout most of the world. The Human Rights Watch organization released this 74-page report in September 2010, and it addresses the plight of the thousands of people with such disabilities living in Croatia. The report is based on interviews conducted by the Human Rights Watch in November and December...

Blek le Rat, the man who gave birth to Banksy http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4066727.ece Banksy [Macromedia Flash Player] http://www.banksy.co.uk/ Tate Modern: Street Art http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/streetart/default.shtm TIME: Art of the Street Photo...