Related Links

American Studies on the Internet A Guide to Resources

American cultural studies has recently discovered the virtual world; as a result, a wealth of new materials has surfaced-- for scholars seeking information, resources, or documents, for teachers seeking ideas about pedagogy, and for students seeking to use their computers to connect to the rich web of resources on American culture and life.

Resources for Teachers of American Culture and Life

Probably the best single Internet resource for teachers seeking ideas, advice, materials, and resources, is the American Studies Association's Electronic Crossroads Project. This project offers a very rich, but often confusing, collection of options. A teacher should plan to spend a few days going through all its materials, its links to other sites, and thinking about the various uses to which it might be put. Department chairs, teacher trainers, and curriculum directors will probably find this most useful, and they can then download, copy or edit the various materials offered by the Project to tailor it to the particular uses of a school or program.

Of particular value is the page concerning Internet or "web" locations for a huge variety of materials on the broad subjects of American culture and life. This page is by no means complete-- it is often dormant, awaiting updating-- but its materials are still rich.

Another area of the site which may be of greater use to advanced and specialized teachers is the page on curriculum, which includes such materials as bibliographies, course outlines, syllabi and schedules, and even essays about the teaching of particular sorts of courses.
A source of more general usefulness to teachers of humanities in general, and history in particular, is the H-net resource. The project began as a collaboration among international historians, and has grown richer and more multifaceted by the month. Two very valuable aspects of the site concern international studies of American culture and life, which connects international scholars and teachers of American cultural history, and American urban history, which offers similar combinations of articles, book reviews, and "discussion strings"-- that is, discussions via email among scholars, opened so others may see them. Another source of value is the subpage on the teaching of a U.S. History "survey" course, usually to college freshmen.

Also of interest is the Scholastic publishers website at http://teacher.scholastic.com.


Visual Resources on Chicago's History

The Chicago Imagebase is a Web-based project aimed at enhancing knowledge about the built environment of the Chicago region. On this site you will find a wide variety of images and other data along with information on how to use this data to study the city.
http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/