Additional resources for this issue of History Now Overview of the West The Great Plains The Wild West American Indians Women in the West

Books:

Your best overall printed resources for this subject are likely to be:

Milner, Clyde A., Carol A. O'Connor, Martha A. Sandweiss, eds. The Oxford History of The American West. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. The chapters are essays by scholars from all over the country who are experts in their fields.

White, Richard. "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A History of The American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991

Hine, Robert V., and John Mack Faragher. The American West: A New Interpretive History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

Internet Resources:

Wikipedia entries for people, events, etc., for the American West are generally reliable. Some are exceptionally good, and I’ll draw your attention to them below.

There are several excellent websites covering a broad range of events and issues related to the history of the American West. You might want to start with these:

1. "Exploring the West" was recently launched by the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West at Stanford University. It contains over 100 worksheets and dozens of lesson plans that present the West as a contemporary, diverse, transnational, and dynamic region:
   
   http://exploringthewest.stanford.edu/
   
   
2. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center website:
   http://www.bbhc.org/home/index_flash.cfm
   
   The Historical Center is not one but five museums in and near Cody, Wyoming:
   • The Buffalo Bill Museum. Centers on the personal and public lives of W.F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, and seeks to interpret his story in the context of the history and myth of the American West.
   • The Whitney Gallery of Western Art. Masterworks of the American West. Original paintings, sculptures and prints trace artistic interpretations of the West from the early 19th century to today.
   • The Plains Indian Museum. Collections of Plains Indian art and artifacts, including the Arapaho, Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Blackfeet, Sioux, Gros Ventre, Shoshone and Pawnee.
   • The Cody Firearms Museum. American arms, as well as European arms dating to the 16th century.
   • The Draper Museum of Natural History, interpreting the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
   
   Of special interest, the “lending materials” section of Educational Resources with opportunities for borrowing museum kits, "trunks,” videos and other resources from the Cody Center:


http://www.bbhc.org/erg/index.cfm


3. The Autry National Center in Los Angeles is an intercultural history center formed from the merger of three important museums: the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West (formerly the Autry Museum of Western Heritage), and the Women of the West Museum. Virginia Scharff, one of the contributors to this issue is deeply involved in the work of the Women of the West Museum. The Autry Center’s homepage is:

   http://www.autry-museum.org/

   You’ll enjoy the whole site, but you may want to go first to their terrific lesson plans on all aspects of western history, for different grade levels:

   http://www.autry-museum.org/lessonplans.php

   Don’t ignore the Museum’s “exhibitions” sections (past, present, and future) either. They’ve done a great job of mounting historical essays and a generous sample of images from these exhibitions:

   http://www.autry-museum.org/past_exhibitions.php

   And their “Collections Online” offerings grow constantly, so check them from time to time.

   http://www.autry-museum.org/collections/

4. Our friends from public television are of great help, as usual, with PBS’s “New Perspectives on the West” website:

   http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/

   In addition to “People” (biographical sketches), “Places,” (with neat interactive maps), and “Events” (a satisfyingly-detailed timeline), there’s a very interesting and imaginative group of lesson plans:

   http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/

   And the excellent “Archives” section that provides lengthy excerpts from original source materials:

   http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/index.htm

   Finally, the site provides a first-rate list of links to other Internet sites:

   http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/links/index.htm

5. Another old and valued contributor to this column, the Library of Congress’s American Memory program, offers a “Learning Page” on The American West that provides links to materials in online Library collections:

   http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/riseind/west/west.html
   
   

6. “American West” is a highly commercial site, and its links aren’t as up to date or reliable as many others. Still, you’ll often find material here that’s otherwise hard to find:

   http://www.americanwest.com/
   
   

7. A commercial site that I found far more useful is “Legends of America”, which promotes tourist attractions in the American West. Ignore the ads and focus on the good historical essays and the great images (often samples of what’s being sold, but you can still download them for classroom use), and you’ll have a lot of fun:

   http://www.legendsofamerica.com/index.html
   

8. And the online Harpweek comes through with flying colors in this free segment providing samples of materials from Harper’s on the American West:

   http://thewest.harpweek.com/

State and Local History Sites

I hope that some Western librarians and archivists throughout the West won’t be offended because I haven’t cited websites from their states for this issue. I’ve had to limit myself to state historical societies and archives that relate directly to people and issues raised in this History Now. In the course of my searching, I’ve come across some sites that deserve special attention:

California History Online, mounted by California Historical Society provides images and text linked to a timeline of state’s history. Excellent starting point for any aspects of this state’s history:

http://www.californiahistory.net/

The Colorado Historical Society’s excellent “Kids Page” is also being constantly expanded:

http://www.history.state.co.us/kids/kidsbios.htm

For Nebraska history, go to the Main Timeline page of the “Nebraska Studies” Website. You’ll find really nifty sections on all elements of Nebraska history, from Indian nations to WWII defense industries. Teachers’ materials are still being developed, so keep checking to see what the folks in Nebraska have added

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/index.html

The Texas State Historical Society’s lesson plans in Texas history are geared to 4th and 7th grade levels, points at which state history is emphasized in Texas school system. Even teachers outside the Lone Star State will find them useful:

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/tools/lessonplans/browse/index.html

The University of North Texas’s fine “Portal to Texas History” series does a fine job of providing lesson plans based on primary sources for 4th, 7th, and 8th grades:

http://texashistory.unt.edu/young/educators/alamo/index.shtml