Archaeology | Gravestone Studies | Architecture | Ethnic Studies | Primary Documents Research | Local History Sources | Local Preservation | Material Culture Studies | Census Research | Genealogy
ArchNet
A directory of archaeology resources on the WWW, provided by the University of Arizona. Offers access to sites on various archaeological regions and topics. Links to museums, news items, electronic journals, newsgroups, and publishers.
Big Dig Archaeology
Exhibit at the Commonwealth Museum in Boston that explores the city’s past through artifacts that have been uncovered through the Big Dig Project.
Links to the Past: National Park Service
Provided by the U.S. National Park Service, links to educational resources for students and teachers on archaeology, historic places, and maritime.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Explore exhibits focusing on archaeology: its tools, methods, and discoveries.
Data Recovery Methods
An introduction to archaeological digs from the Reed Farmstead Archaelogical Dig in Hardy County, West Virginia.
Kids Dig Reed
Despite being geared toward younger students, there is a lot of useful information on this site, including photos of artifacts.
Cemetery Studies 1680-1820 New England Project
Links to resources on cemetery history and preservation (by Lawrence Kestenbaum)
An extensive list of links, divided geographically, and by subject.
Tips for Photographing Gravestones (by Maureen Taylor)
This is a useful article from Genealogy.com is a guide to using the right lighting and other photographic techniques.
Gravestone Studies
This society, based in Greenfield, MA, is dedicated to the preservation and study of gravestones. Includes a guide to interpreting symbolism in gravestone art.
Cemeteries of Martha’s Vineyard
This is an incomplete collection of photographs and transcripts of the older gravestones at several cemeteries on Martha’s Vineyard.
Life in the Stones: Gravestones of Geauga County, Ohio, 1800-1825
An article on how the “gravestones of Geauga County reveal how the curious parallelism of religiosity and iconography might be misinterpreted”, including an overview of the history of gravestones studies in general.
Stones and Bones: Gravestones as Textbooks
This page originates from Vermont Community Works, and includes etchings as well as useful information.
Digital Archive of American Architecture
Produced by the fine arts department at Boston College, this site offers a wealth of information divided by architect, by building type, by style, and by time period (17th century to present).
Friedberg, Betsy. “Postwar Housing Comes of Age” Preservation Advocate (Spring 2003). This publication from the Massachusetts Historical Records Advisory Board includes Beverly in its study of post-war Campanelli housing.
Architecture in Salem
This page from Salem’s official website features overviews and interpretations styles of various historical periods, including Greek Revival.
Architectural Features and Historical Spaces of the U.S. Capitol
This section of the U.S. Capitol website includes construction history and images.
Classical Architecture of Sturbridge Village
This online tour of 1830 Sturbridge includes images and descriptions of significant buildings.
American Architecture
This site, provided by Real Site Designs, a corporation that services the real estate industry, features useful information and quality images of early American Architecture in New England.
House Styles
This guide from About.com is designed to help readers identify the style of thier houses. Brief descriptions accompany sample photographs.
Architectural Terms
This useful glossary from the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site includes example images of each term.
Boston Family History
A result of the Boston History Collaborative, this site features timelines, ethnic histories, genealogical resources, and histories of Boston neighborhoods.
Primary Research through Documents
DoHistory
This exciting website makes use of a large collection of primary documents. Explore the life of Martha Ballard, a midwife in Maine 200 years ago, through her own writing.
City Directories Online
This is a fee-based database of city directories from diverse towns and cities across the country. A handful are available for free.
National Archives and Records Administration
The agency that houses the records, both institutional and historical, of the federal government. Includes NAIL (National Archives Information Locator), a database of archival holdings across the country, and many digital exhibits of primary sources.
Massachusetts Historical Society
The Massachusetts Historical Society is an independent research center founded in 1791 for the purpose of collecting, preserving and disseminating sources for the study of American history. The Society holds more than 3,000 collections of manuscripts (letters and diaries) as well as extensive collections of supporting historical research materials.
Concord Review
Read examples of exemplary papers and essays by high school students in history in the online version of this quarterly journal.
Beverly Educational Archives
A growing collection of digitized documents from our own archives.
City of Beverly: Official Documents
Searchable database, produced by the Beverly Public Library, of meeting minutes and other official documents of the City Council, as well as many other city boards, commissions, and councils dating back several years. “Full text of the City Council meetings and other departments and committees. Choose the Board of Selectmen for records from 1865 to 1893. Records are added weekly.”
Beverly Historical Society and Museum
Investigate the three historical houses the Historical Society owns; explore Beverly History through on-line exhibits.
Bibliographies of New England History
“This database is an electronic version of volume 9 of the Bibliographies of New England History (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1995). It contains 4,231 citations to books, dissertations, pamphlets, and magazine and journal articles, most of which were published between 1989 and 1994, on the history of New England as a region or on any aspect of New England state and local history.” -website
Essex Antiquarian: Subject index to Volumes I-XII (Essex Books)
Provided by Essex Books, “Essex County’s Bookstore on the web.”
Archives and Preservation Resources
This page, part of the National Archives and Records Adminstration’s website, offers guidance and training in all aspects of preservation.
American Studies Web: Material Culture
Links to a collection of websites devoted to material culture studies in the United States. Part of the American Studies Crossroads Project of the American Studies Association, based in Washington,D.C., and sponsored by Georgetown University.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Exhibitions
Guided virtual tours and exhibits make this site an entertaining and informative look at American material culture in a variety of topics.
IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series)
1% samples (5% samples are available for 1980 and 1990) of households enumerated by the Decennial Census between 1850 and 1990. In contrast to what is presented in the “official” Census reports, these data provide data on individual households and the individuals residing in these households.
United States Historical Census Data Browser
Sortable and ‘browsable’ statistics and demographic data for the people and economy of the United States for each state and county from 1790 to 1960.
RootsWeb
Network for genealogists, run by volunteers, whose focus is to collect and connect genealogical data for use by researchers.
Social Security Death Index
Ancestry.com’s Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is generated from the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Death Master File. It contains the records of deceased persons who were assigned Social Security numbers and whose deaths have been reported to the SSA. The index contains over 64,000,000 records.
Genealogy.com (A&E Television)
This website allows researchers to use vital records to find the dates of such events as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Also provides a great starting point for genealogy research.
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (by Cyndi Howells)
This site provides genealogy abbreviations, dictionaries and glossaries, and is a “categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogy sites”.
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