http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 08:23:18 PDT Tue, 21 May 2013 08:23:18 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=79685 The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674 to 1834: A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court, 1674-1834.  In addition to the text, accessible through both keyword and structured searching, this website provides digital images of the 60,000 original pages of the Proceedings, advice on methods of searching this resource, information on the historical and legal background to trials at the Old Bailey, links to descriptions of published and manuscript materials relating to the trials covered in the Proceedings, and a special section for schools. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=362411 Hundreds of photographs, documents, and film clips to browse to discover the connection between some of the National Archives' most treasured records. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=77400 Although the Medieval Sourcebook has now become a part of ORB (the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies), it is often treated separately and still deserves its own listing. It contains thousands of primary documents from the Middle Ages (excerpts and full texts), as well as maps, secondary sources, links to course syllabi, and links to other academic resource sites. There are special sections for "Saints Lives," "Medieval Legal History," etc. The site is searchable. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=367947 The Shays' Rebellion & the Making of a Nation: From Revolution to Constitution website was created by Springfield Technical Community College in partnership with the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) using funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The website provides an opportunity for 21st century Americans to better understand the nature of the U.S. Constitution and how it came to be by providing a digitally interactive window into the pivotal period from the end of the Revolution up to the creation of the Constitution, a forgotten but crucial period in the nation's founding when the survival of the republican experiment was neither foreordained, nor assured. Shays' Rebellion occurred on the site of the Springfield Armory, established in 1777 as the principal armory for the northern states during the War for Independence. In 1787, it was the site of an armed rebellion by a group of disaffected farmers and ex-Continental soldiers, led by former Continental Army officer Daniel Shays, protesting eastern merchant loan practices. The rebels were beaten back by a militia of 4,400 soldiers who defended the arsenal. The interactive elements of the Shays' Rebellion website include the Primary Source Database, which creates an interactive multimedia approach to discovering the rich resource of primary historical sources, including an interactive "magic lens" function. Users on the website are able to interact with these primary sources in a series of Interactive Thematic Activities, based on primary source materials that engage visitors in a hands-on and concrete exploration of the thematic content. Users can click on individual primary sources embedded within each activity, as well as a series of Character Narratives, to further explore the content within the context of Rebellion and its impact on constitutional law. The voices of real people illustrate a variety of conflicting points of view, and the Interactive Thematic Activities and primary source materials will help illuminate key ideas which led to Shays' Rebellion and the consequences of the Rebellion's aftermath on the formation of a strong federal-based U.S. Constitution. The Shays' Rebellion & the Making of a Nation: From Revolution to Constitution website was recently awarded $10,000 from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities for the creation of two interactive exhibit displays, to be housed at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum of the Springfield Museums and the Springfield Armory National Historic Site museum. The two pedestal kiosks will house computers displaying the Shays' Rebellion website with which visitors can interact. Visitors to the museums will be able to interact with on-site artifacts alongside the cutting-edge Shays' Rebellion website in order to learn more about the times and context surrounding Shays' Rebellion, an event of national historical significance. These two kiosk displays are tentatively scheduled to open in June 2009. At the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, there will be an estimated 5 artifacts placed on indefinite loan from the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, from whose collection over 75% of the artifacts used on the Shays' Rebellion website come. These artifacts will be displayed next to the interactive Shays' Rebellion website kiosk. At the Springfield Armory National Historical Site, the historic Wait Monument, an engraved sandstone road marker located on the Armory grounds during the time of Shays' Rebellion (and still bearing bullet holes and marks from being used as cover during the fight) will be prominently displayed on the museum floor, in proximity to a small collection of firearms from the Armory already on display at the Armory alongside the new Shays' Rebellion website kiosk. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=82362 This web site contains a plethora of material on any historical subject matter imaginable. Links to primary source documents, charts, graphs, maps, and statistical information make this web site a tremendous resource for the study of history. United States and Global History links to information are available here. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=86084 Dentons work was the first English account intended to promote settlement of the region recently seized from the Dutch. It is of particular interest for 1) its description of the geographic and topographic features of the region from Albany in the north to the mouth of the Delaware Bay in the south, and from the eastern tip of Long Island to the interior of modern-day New Jersey; 2) its enumeration of the plants, animals, and commodities of the area; 3) its impressive and extended account of the customs and livelihood of the Indians of the region; 4) its early suggestion of manifest destiny, whereby the Indians are providentially removed by a Divine hand; 5) its depiction of the region as a terrestrial paradise for English settlement and agriculturea land flowing with milk and honey; and 6) its invocation of an early form of the rags-to-riches potential of American life.Rather than depict the rigors of colonial life, Denton focuses on the richness and opportunities of the New World, describing an almost carefree and sensually suggestive existence in a land rich in all sorts of fruits, including Strawberries, of which last is such abundance in June, that the Fields and Woods are died red : Which the Countrey-people perceiving, instantly arm themselves with bottles of Wine, Cream, and Sugar, and instead of a Coat of Male, every one takes a Female upon his Horse behind him, and so rushing violently into the fields, never leave till they have disrobd them of their red colours, and turned them into the old habit.Denton (c.16261703) was born in Yorkshire, England, and emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1640s. He was the son of the Reverend Richard Denton, considered the first Presbyterian minister in America. He became a town official and land developer in Long Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. His tract was published during his only return trip to England in 167072, and is a lively and unabashedly promotional picture of an Anglo-American agrarian paradise, including such examples as the following: How many poor people in the world would think themselves happy, had they an Acre or two of Land, whilst here is hundreds, nay thousands of Acres, that would invite inhabitants. I may say, and say truly, that if there be any terrestrial happiness to be had by people of all ranks, especially of an inferior rank, it must certainly be here : here any one may furnish himself with land, and live rent-free, yea, with such a quantity of land, that he may weary himself with walking over his fields of Corn, and all sorts of Grain. Here those which Fortune hath frownd upon in England, to deny them an inheritance amongst their Brethren, or such as by their utmost labors can scarcely procure a living, I say such may procure here inheritances of land, and possessions, stock themselves with all sorts of Cattel, enjoy the benefit of them whilst they live, and leave them to the benefit of their children when they die. I must needs say, that if there be any terrestrial Canaan, tis surely here, where the Land floweth with milk and honey. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=86101 This edition of A Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusets Colony Anno 1628 is based on the first edition published in Boston in 1694. The spelling, orthography, punctuation, and capitalization of the original have been retained; only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Scottow's Narrative is the sequel to Old Mens Tears for their Own Declensions, published three years earlier. It is an expansion of the argument that God and history are being unkind to New England because its churches have strayed from the strict practice of the unanimously-minded early founders of the Congregational Way. Scottow treats of the miraculous events and deliverances that characterized the first generations, and contrasts these with the reverses and humiliations suffered by the later generation, including bad neighbors (the French and the Dutch), natural disasters, Indian wars, witchcraft, the loss of the colony's charter, the imposition of imperial rule, the non-support of ministers, and the abandonment of the office of the Ruling Elders in the churches. Perhaps the most famous quote (found in both works) is "That NEW-ENGLAND is not to be found in NEW-ENGLAND, nor BOSTON in BOSTON." http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=86094 This description of the city and inhabitants of New York and its environs was written by the Anglican chaplain who resided there in the years 16781680, who published it twenty years after his return to England.A large portion concerns the life and manners of the Native inhabitants, obtained both by direct observation and conversation, and by reports from the official government interpreter. The remainder concerns the habits and commerce of the largely Dutch inhabitants of the city. It is an anecdotal description, sprinkled with quotations from English and classical writers, but very homely in its accounts of such diverse incidents as a bear hunt near what is now Maiden Lane, a dinner party for the Calvinist and Lutheran ministers (who had not spoken for six years), breaking up a fist-fight in the street outside his window, the prices of furs and various commodities, the price of land (2 or 3 pence an acre), the death of his pet raccoon, the menu on a trans-Atlantic voyage, the (non-)wearing of shoes by Dutch women, the manner of whaling, the custom of giving New-Years gifts, the Dutch penchant for aurigation (i.e. riding about in Wagons), and the practice of treating rattlesnake bites by sucking out the poison.The first edition was published in London in 1701. A second edition was edited by Dr. E. B. OCallaghan and published by William Gowans in New York in 1860 as the second in his Bibliotheca Americana series. A third edition was edited by Edward Gaylord Bourne and issued by Burrows Brothers in 1902; and this last edition provides the text, notes, and essay included here. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=357360 Survey Course in American History http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=326074 An "online exhibition of letters and audio, created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute and the Legacy Project, features correspondence from over 200 years of American conflicts, ranging from the Revolution to the war in Iraq. This exhibition uses the words of famous generals and lesser-known troops, as well as parents, sweethearts, and children, to explore such themes as leaving home, life in the military, the pride and worries of those left behind, and ultimate sacrifice." Keyword searchable.