Search for "National Parks" as a starting point. At the top of the results list, note the "Research Starter" which gives an overview of the topic. Use the advanced search for additional keywords, such as "United States" or the name of a particular National Park or Monument. Narrow your results in the "advanced search" options or by using the left-hand column of the results list page. For example, you may limit the results to "articles" or "ebooks." You may find a more clearly defined subject/topic. Consider the importance of the publication year. Determine the type of source needed, such as news, academic journals or magazines.
Slavery and Public History by
In recent years, the culture wars have included arguments about the way that slavery is taught and remembered in books, films, television programs, historical sites, and museums. In the first attempt to examine this phenomenon, "Slavery and Public History "looks at recent controversies surrounding the interpretation of slavery's history in the public arena, with contributions by such noted historians as Ira Berlin, David W. Blight, and Gary B. Nash. From the cancellation of the Library of Congress's "Back of the Big House" slavery exhibit at the request of the institution's African American employees, who found the visual images of slavery too distressing, to the public reaction to DNA findings confirming Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his slave Sally Hemings, "Slavery and Public History "takes on contemporary reactions to the fundamental contradiction of American history--the existence of slavery in a country dedicated to freedom--and offers a bracing analysis of how people remember their past and how the lessons they draw from it influence American politics and culture today.
Of Caves and Shell Mounds by
Ancient human groups in the Eastern Woodlands of North America were long viewed as homogeneous and stable hunter-gatherers, changing little until the late prehistoric period when Mesoamerican influences were thought to have stimulated important economic and social developments. The authors in this volume offer new, contrary evidence to dispute this earlier assumption, and their studies demonstrate the vigor and complexity of prehistoric peoples in the North American Midwest and Midsouth. These peoples gathered at favored places along midcontinental streams to harvest mussels and other wild foods and to inter their dead in the shell mounds that had resulted from their riverside activities. They created a highly successful, pre-maize agricultural system beginning more than 4,000 years ago, established far-flung trade networks, and explored and mined the world's longest cave--the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky. Contributors include: Kenneth C. Carstens, Cheryl Ann Munson, Guy Prentice, Kenneth B. Tankersley, Philip J. DiBlasi, Mary C. Kennedy, Jan Marie Hemberger, Gail E. Wagner, Christine K. Hensley, Valerie A. Haskins, Nicholas P. Herrmann, Mary Lucas Powell, Cheryl Claassen, David H. Dye, and Patty Jo Watson
Archaeology and Created Memory by
Archaeology can either bolster memory and tradition, or contradict the status quo and provide an alternative view of the past. An archaeology of Harpers Ferry's wartime and Victorian eras confronts time-honored historical interpretations of the past (created and perpetuated by such interest groups as historians and the National Park Service) and in so doing allows us to be more inclusive of the town's forgotten histories and provides alternative voices to a past.