History
History - More than a Series of Dates
History is the story of our ancestors and ourselves because we are profoundly affected by the past. Every event builds upon the previous event and is a building block for the next event. With this in mind, we can begin to appreciate why understanding the people of 1,000 years ago, or even 4,000 years ago helps us understand ourselves. Conversely, the more we understand ourselves, the more we can relate to people who have lived before us.
Experts believe that humans have been walking the Earth for approximately 40,000 years. There is archeological evidence that cities existed 11,000 years ago. Questions naturally arise in our minds; what was life like in the past? Will our way of life pass away like so many other civilizations? History prompts not only to questions of the past, but also of the present and future.
History Links:
- The Library of Congress: The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts.
- America's Library: This Web site is brought to you from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world and the nation's library. The site was designed especially with young people in mind, but there are great stories for people of all ages.
- OurDocuments.gov: We invite all Americans to participate in a series of events and programs to get us thinking, talking and teaching about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy. At the heart of this initiative are 100 milestone documents of American history. These documents reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, and mostly our commitment as a nation to continue to strive to “form a more perfect union.”
- National Museum of American History
- Today in History: From The Library of Congress
- USInfo.State.Gov: Outline of U.S. History
- FirstGov for Kids
- AmericanHeritage.com
- HistoryNet.com
- HistoryPlace.com
- EarlyAmerica.com
