America's Library

America’s Story from America’s Library presents history in a fun and accessible way to students. The America’s Library website can be the starting point for students in middle school when they study about America’s history. The website narrates America’s history very simply, and students may easily find a lot of information and references. America’s Library is linked to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., which contains the largest library and archival holdings in the nation. If students want to discover more resources, they can simply click on the hyperlinked icon on top of each page which will lead them to the Library of Congress website.

America’s Library is divided into the following five sections: historians, timeline, U.S. 50 states, story-telling, and entertainments. The materials in each section include texts, images, videos, and sound files of primary sources such as diaries, letters, films, maps, and records and tapes. (Primary sources are documents, speeches, or other kinds of written or documentary evidence that were created during the time under study.) According to the Librarian of Congress, James Billington, students may find what Abraham Lincoln had in his pockets when he was assassinated. There is also an image of a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Jefferson wrote, so students can compare how the words in Declaration of Independence have changed over time. Plus, one of the strong points of this website is that site navigation is straightforward for younger students. Each page of the website is self-explanatory and attracts students’ attention with real pictures, relevant animations, and interactive opportunities. For instance, there is a place under the Jump Back in Time section where students may insert their birthdays and discover what happened on any specific date in history.

America’s Library website uses the U.S government’s official web portal, .gov, which guarantees the quality of materials and their credibility. Future educators may use interesting materials from America’s Library website to connect students to America’s history. Therefore, I highly recommend this site to fellow educators.