NEA’s Read Across America 2009 Resource Calendar and Toolkit Request
Fill out this form and we’ll put your name on the list to receive a 2009 Resource Calendar and Toolkit (should be available in the fall of 2008). Be sure to select your correct member status. Requests are filled on a first come, first served basis.
Source: National Endowment for the Humanities
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled against the National Archives (PDF; 62 KB) on September 30th, refusing to dismiss Judicial Watch’s lawsuit to obtain Hillary Clinton’s health care task force records from the Clinton Presidential Library and denying the Archives’ separate motion to stay the lawsuit for one year [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Civil Action No: 07-1987 (D.D.C.) (PLF)].
The National Archives filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that Judicial Watch’s original Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was overly broad. In the alternative, the Archives asked the court to stay the lawsuit for one year, citing a lack of resources and a backlog of requests. Judge Friedman rejected both requests (PDF; 63 KB).
Source: Judicial Watch
Robert Penn Warren: Online Resources
On February 26, 1986, Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin announced the appointment of Robert Penn Warren as the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.
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This guide compiles links to resources on Robert Penn Warren throughout the Library of Congress Web site, as well as links to external Web sites that include features on his life or selections of his work.
Source: Library of Congress
Military Essays and Articles by General George S. Patton, Jr. (PDF; 883 KB)
“The only thing to do when a son-of-a-bitch looks cross eyed at you is to beat the living hell out of him right then and there.”
Source: The George S. Patton, Jr. Historical Society (Charles M. Province, editor)
Hat tip: Combined Arms Research Library
From the article:
The records of millions of British emigrants who sailed Canada in search of a new life are now available online through The records of millions of British emigrants who sailed Canada in search of a new life are now available online through Ancestry.co.uk.
The Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, the originals of which are held by the Library and Archives Canada, contain over seven million names..
Source: vnunet.com
Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), completed the repatriation of 1,046 cultural antiquities to the Government of Iraq that were seized in four separate investigations dating back to 2001.
The items, which included terra cotta cones inscribed in Cuneiform text, a praying god figurine that was once imbedded in a Sumerian temple and coins bearing the likenesses of ancient emperors, are an illustration of the long and varied history of the country now known as Iraq. Remnants of ancient Cuneiform tablets, which were seized by the Customs Service in 2001, were recovered from beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NOAA Historical Hurricane Tracks Web Site Helps Users Prepare for Big Storms
As the U.S. coastal population continues to grow, so do the hazards when big storms approach. Now, an on-line tool, Historical Hurricane Tracks, helps users get a quick picture of coastal areas with the greatest frequency of hurricanes and tropical storms — and that historical “snapshot” can help community members and local emergency managers develop better plans for storm preparation and recovery.
NOAA’s Historical Hurricane Tracks includes data on storm strikes through 2007. Current hurricane activity can be followed at the National Hurricane Center Web site.
Source: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
From 10,000-year-old American Indian tools and weapons to 20th century African masks, more than 26,000 artifacts in the Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology’s collections will be accessible online in a searchable database.
Beginning Sept. 9, the public will be able to search the online database, www.wfu.edu/moa/database, and find a photograph and description of each object, including information about where it was collected.
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with Ulysses S. Grant.
Source: Library of Congress
The History Engine is an educational tool that gives students the opportunity to learn history by doing the work—researching, writing, and publishing—of a historian. The result is an ever-growing collection of historical articles or “episodes” that paints a wide-ranging portrait of life in the United States throughout its history and that is available to scholars, teachers, and the general public in our online database.
Source: University of Richmond
See: The Little Engine That Can (Inside Higher Ed)
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, Second World War Service Files: Canadian Armed Forces War Dead.
Through this online database, researchers can access references to the service files in the Department of National Defence Fonds (RG 24) for the members of the Canadian Armed Forces who lost their lives during this conflict. Over 1,159,000 men and women served in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War (1939-1945) and 44,093 people lost their lives. The database is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/war-dead/index-e.html
Read brief summaries of past Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
PDF files.
Source: Humanities and Social Sciences, Library of Congress
NEH Awards $27.6 Million for 222 Humanities Projects
Today the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced $27.6 million dollars in grant awards and offers to 222 successful applicants. By offering diverse and competitive grant opportunities to teachers, scholars, and filmmakers as well as to museums, historical societies, and libraries, NEH strives to promote excellence in the humanities and increase the public’s awareness of their vital role in our national life.
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The funding announced today will help institutions improve and secure long-term support for their humanities programs and resources; enrich humanities education; support educators’ professional development; and help scholars use digital tools to enhance scholarship and make humanities resources more accessible. Funding also will provide high-quality media, library, and museum programming for public audiences at local, national, and historic sites; and will support state humanities council programs exploring significant events and themes in American history.This award cycle, institutions and individuals in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories received support from NEH. A complete state-by-state listing of total grants and offers of matching funds is available below:
- Alabama to Kentucky (11-page PDF),
- Louisiana to North Dakota (11-page PDF), and
- New York to Wyoming and U.S. territories.(13-page PDF).
Source: National Endowment for the Humanities
New Genealogy Program Started By Feds
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service are making it easier to find your family’s immigration history. The agency started a new Genealogy program to streamline the process of finding information.
USCIS has records dating back to the late 1800’s documenting the arrival and naturalization of millions of immigrants. The agency also has records of those people who were naturalized citizens between 1906 and 1956.
The new program replaces a Freedom of Information Act process that was required to get the information. USCIS reported receiving over 40,000 requests for historical records in the last four years.
There will be a charge to use the program of 20 dollars. If you need a copy of a file on microfilm it will add 20 dollars to the fee, and if you need a copy of text file, that’ll tack on another $35.
Source: cbs4.com
National Endowment for the Arts Announces 13 Fellowships for Literary Translation Projects
Today the National Endowment for the Arts announced that it will award 13 literature fellowships totaling $200,000 to support projects by literary translators. These fellowships are available to published literary translators for specific translation projects. The grants are for $10,000 or $20,000 depending on the scope and merit of each project. (The amount of the awards is pending Congressional approval of the NEA’s FY 2009 budget.) The grants will support the translation of six works of prose, including a play, and seven works of poetry. These works will be translated from nine languages including Japanese, Czech, Portuguese, and medieval Cretan Greek. The NEA also announced significant changes to the guidelines for the Literary Translation fellowships, to foster more translations of world literature into English.
Source: NEA