Biography, Genealogy, World History, United States History, Wisconsin History, Local History

Historical and Genealogical Societies

Almond Historical Society
8256 2nd Ave
Almond, WI 54909
Phone: 715-366-2582

Portage County Historical Society
PO Box 672
Stevens Point, WI 54481
Phone: 715-344-5752

Stevens Point Area Genealogical Society
1001 Main
Stevens Point, WI 54481

WIGenWebProject, Portage County

Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles --http://www.shsw.wisc.edu/wlhba/index.asp.
Images files of historical and biographical articles preserves in scrapbooks at the Wisconsin Historical Society, mainly between 1860-1940. Searchable by headline, subject, newspaper, location, date, and name. It is not possible to search the full text of the article, only to display them. Printing and downloading aren't fully supported as yet.

Biography.com -- http://www.biography.com/search/index.html
The on-line companion to the television series, with over 20,000 short biographies, some with links to more information. Also includes a Classroom section, designed for teachers.

Dead People Server -- http://www.dpsinfo.com/dps/index.html
"...a list of interesting celebrities who are, or might plausibly be dead, with information as to who has really Rung Down the Curtain and Joined the Choir Invisible, and who's Just Resting." 

Lives, the Biography Resource -- http://amillionlives.com/
Links to thousands of biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, letters, narratives, oral histories and more. Listed by name, profession, eras and regions.

Nobel Prize Winners -- http://nobelprizes.com/
Information on Nobel Prize winners (from 1901 to the present) and the achievements for which they won. Also the latest news on Nobel Prize laureates.

Pegasos: Literature Related Resources  -- http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/indeksi.htm
This site has good biographical material on over 1,000 authors, including bibliographies. Based in Finland, the translation shows occasionally.

Star Archive -- http://www.stararchive.com/frame.htm
Fee based -- contains over 6,000 celebrity addresses, a lot of information about the stars and more than 1,700 scanned autographs!

Inventors & Scientists
Mathematicians -- http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/BiogIndex.html
The archive contains biographies of more than 1,100 mathematicians. Most of these biographies are detailed and many are accompanied by pictures. The site is searchable and has alphabetical and chronological indexes.

National Inventors Hall of Fame -- http://www.invent.org/book/
Hundreds of inventions and inventors, biographies, pictures, indexes of inventions and inventors.

Invention Dimension -- http://web.mit.edu/invent/i-archive.html
Web site devoted to American inventors and information related to past and current inventors.

4000 Years of Women in Science -- http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/
The Women in Science site includes biographical information on about 125 women astronomers, physicists, mathematicians, chemists, natural philosophers, inventors, writers, etc.

Wisconsin Biography
Frank Lloyd Wright -- http://www.pbs.org/flw/
This beautifully designed PBS site is a companion to the new film by Ken Burns about the Wisconsin born architect.

Mildred Fish Harnack -- http://www.dsha.k12.wi.us/harnack.htm
Wisconsin native, anti-Nazi spy, executed in 1943. The DPI has declared a day in her honor, but this is the only good source for information on her.

Ancestry.com -- http://www.ancestry.com/
A commercial site with much free information. Free name searches will give brief genealogical records. Source documents require a subscription.

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Internet Sites -- http://www.CyndisList.com/
A collection of around 100,000 links that have been organized and cross-referenced in over 100 categories, this site is one of the richest resources for genealogy studies.

Family Search -- http://www.familysearch.org/
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' (aka Mormon or LDS) genealogical site, with access to over 35 million names in its Ancestral File, over 360 million names in the International Genealogical Index (Britain, North America, and Finland), and the Family History Library Catalog with records from more than 2 millions rolls of microfilm, as well as thousands of indexed Web sites.

Genealogy Home Page -- http://www.genhomepage.com/
A clearinghouse with links and directions to everything that someone interested in genealogy might need to proceed.

Genealogical Resources on the Internet -- http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/internet.html
Covers mail and Web resources.

Heraldica  -- http://www.heraldica.org/
Articles and images devoted to heraldry, including information on coats of arms and characteristics of heraldry by country. Also a glossary of terms in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch along with over 500 illustrations for all the terms.

Internet Genealogy -- http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/mcm/programs/genealogyprogram.html
A program presented nationally by Donald Litzer of McMillan Memorial Library.

Librarian's Index to Internet - Genealogy Sites -- http://lii.org/search?title=Genealogy&query=Genealogy&subsearch=Genealogy&searchtype=subject
A librarian's list of best sites.

Links for Adoptees searching Birthparents -- http://www.kichline.com/carrie/page3.html
Also helpful for genealogists.

RootsWeb -- http://www.rootsweb.com/
The main genealogy discussion list Web site. Home of the ROOTS-L library, with files on how to obtain vital records, useful tips for beginners, book lists, etc.; the Roots Surname List of over 350,000 surnames and contact information for the people researching them; GENSERV, a massive database of submitted GEDCOMs;  Civil War Units file; United States Resources: Web pages for every state in the United States; and theROOT-L archives, searchable.

Social Security Death Index -- http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi/advanced.htm
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a searchable database of over 50 million records created from SSA payment records. The database can contain name, social security number, date of birth, date of death, and last residence when available.

Telephone Directories on the Web -- http://www.infobel.com/teldir/
A world wide listing of phone books, arranged by country. Some sites do not have English instructions.

Vital Records Information -- http://vitalrec.com/index.html
How and where to obtain vital records for each county of each state. An official certificate of every birth, death, marriage, and divorce are usually filed in the county where the event occurred. How to obtain birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates <http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm>provides this information for states.

German Genealogy
German Genealogy Home Page -- http://german.genealogy.net/genealogy.html
Excellent source available in both English or German.

Knighthood, Chivalry and Tournaments -- http://www.chronique.com/intro.htm
Articles on how a squire was trained, how a knighting ceremony was conducted and what the code of chivalry is. Includes photos of arms and armour, the complete text of the Magna Carta, and a special Chivalry Kidzone.

Ancient History
Ancient Egypt -- http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html
Information about all aspects of Egyptian life. Each section includes information in a narrative form; an activity that develops skills  within the context of the chosen topic; and help for teachers get the most out of the site. A glossary is also available. From the British Museum. 

Ancient World -- http://www.julen.net/ancient/
A HUGE metasite, with links to the Greeks, Romans and much more.

Daily Life in Ancient Civilizations  -- http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/indexlife.html
Provides basic information and links for the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and China, with an additional section on Early Man. The information is suitable for elementary students, with lesson plans and classroom activities for teachers.

Mesoweb -- http://www.mesoweb.com/
An Exploration of Mesoamerican Cultures "devoted to ancient Mesoamerica and its cultures: the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Teotihuacano, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and others". 

Mummies of Ancient Egypt -- http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/mummy/
This site details what mummies are, how they were made, who they were, and Egyptian beliefs about an afterlife. There is additional coverage of hieroglyphs, dynasties and a glossary.

Perseus Project -- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
Resources for the study of the ancient world, including the Archaic and Classical Greek world, and now has expanded to Latin text and tools and Renaissance materials

Harappa & the Indus Valley -- http://www.harappa.com/har/
Ancient India/Harappa. -- http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCINDIA/HARAPPA.HTM
Two sites that cover the story of the ancient Indus Valley and the city of Harappa.

Calendars & Timelines
Any Day in History  -- http://www.scopesys.com/anyday/
History Net -- http://www.thehistorynet.com/
This Day in History -- http://www.historychannel.com/thisday/
Extensive lists including birth dates, events, and top songs.

Calendar Zone -- http://www.calendarzone.com/
Hundreds of calendars arranged by subject, including religious, cultural and celestial.


Mythology

Encyclopedia Mythica  -- http://www.pantheon.org/areas/all/articles.html
Mythology and more. Over 4,000 definitions of gods and goddesses, supernatural beings and legendary creatures and monsters from all over the world.

Mythology -- http://www.windows.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/mythology/mythology.html
Find out about the gods and goddesses of different cultures around the world, and the works of art people have created to give them expression. Covers all the constellations.

Bulfinch's Mythology -- http://www.bulfinch.org/
Bulfinch's covers from the Greek gods to Charlemagne, with excellent additional links to enhance the classic text.

American Cultural History: The Twentieth Century  -- http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decades.html
A decade by decade look at American art and architecture, music, fashion, and historic events. Yahoo also provides links by decades.

American History 102: Civil War to the Present  -- http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/
The online course materials for a UW undergraduate U.S. history class. It includes 30 lecture-by-lecture "Web notes," with profiles of important figures, outlines of big trends, links to original documents, a photo gallery (by name and subject), and even exercises, sample midterms, and final exams from previous semesters.

American Treasures of the Library of Congress  -- http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/
An "unprecedented permanent exhibition of the rarest, most interesting or significant items relating to America's past."

Battlefield: Vietnam  -- http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/
An excellent overview by PBS that provides a brief history of the conflict and many details.

Core Documents -- http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/locators/coredocs/index.html
The basic documents of U.S. democracy from the GPO.

Digital Classroom -- http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/index.html
The well organized site provides materials from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), methods for teaching with primary sources, and sample lesson plans for K-12 teachers.

Explorers -- http://www.kidinfo.com/American_History/Explorers.html
A listing of sites where you can find out about North American explorers.

End of the Oregon Trail -- http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/
Historical information on the Oregon Trail from the time of the British presence through the influx of American settlers.

U. S. Historical Census Data Browser -- http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~census/
"The data presented here describe the people and the economy of the US for each state and county from 1790 to 1970." Customize historical statistics from the U. S. census at a state or county level.

Pioneering the Upper Midwest -- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/umhtml/
Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 portraying the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century through first-person accounts, biographies, local histories, colonial archival documents, and other works drawn from the Library of Congress.

State Historical Society of Wisconsin -- http://www.shsw.wisc.edu
Offers a number of links (under Archives) to sites of historical interest in Wisconsin. For the holdings of the State Historical Society, use the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s card catalog <http://madcat.library.wisc.edu>.

Wisconsin: Celebrating People, Place and Past -- http://www.ecb.org/wisconsin/index.htm
Overview of Wisconsin--its industries, people, geography, and more--from the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

Wisconsin Electronic Reader -- http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Contents.html
Stories, letters, biographies and other tidbits from Wisconsin history.

Wisconsin Music Archives -- http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Music/wma/
Established to help interested people locate information about Wisconsin music and Wisconsin composers. With a list of Wisconsin composers and sheet music.