MVRHS Library

Guides

The Life and Times of Hamlet

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Background info on Shakespeare’s Hamlet for Ms. Cowan’s classes.

Also check out the cart of books in the library!

Life in Elizabethan England: a Compendium of Common Knowledge
Great site with links to various topics and subjects.

Elizabethan Era Life
This site covers life in England during the Elizabethan Era and includes specific sections on fashion, daily life, and literature.

Elizabethan England (Shakespeare Research Center)
Good starting point with many, vetted, web links

Daily Life in Elizabethan England (Questia School ebook)
Login to your Questia School account to access this book. Need help with username / passwords? Click here.

Understanding Hamlet: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (Questia School ebook)

Description of England, 1577
The Modern History Sourcebook provides this from William Harrison’s Holinshed’s Chronicles.

“United Kingdom.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9 Aug. 2016. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/110750#214519.toc.
Scroll down to the section on Elizabethan England.

Hamlet: Sources
This section of the Wikipedia article focuses on the sources of the play.  Where might have Shakespeare gotten his ideas?

Resource Guide to Elizabethan Era Costumes

 

Imperialism Newspaper Project (Fairchild)

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Your assignment is to create a newspaper from an earlier time in U.S. History.  Start with this template.

Great sources of info

Gale Virtual Reference Library The GVRL includes History in Context, opposing viewpoints on many of the topics.

 

U.S. History in Context History published by historians.

Primary documents

Library of Congress American Memory Search the Library of Congress for images, maps, audio, video, and more.

 

African-American Heritage Trail Research Project Topics

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General

U.S. History in ContextSearch  this database of published articles for everything from overviews to in-depth information written by historians.

Biography in ContextUse this database for over 400,000 biographies covering literary figures, science, multicultural studies, business, entertainment, politics, sports, government, history, current events and the arts. Indexes all print volumes of the series.

 

Vineyard Gazette Time machine

MV Museum Oral Histories

Martha’s Vineyard African-American Heritage Trail (official site)

Past Projects

General

Lee, Denny. “Shifting Sands At a Historic Black Enclave.” New York Times (New York, NY), July 25, 2003.

Hunter, Charlayne. “More Negroes Vacation as Barriers Fall.” New York Times (New York, NY), September 7, 1970.

Tankard, Carrie, and Elaine Weintraub. “Innkeepers of Oak Bluffs: They Dared to Dream.” Vineyard Gazette [Edgartown, MA] 6 Oct. 2000: 1. Print.

Jones, Je’Lesia M. “Uncovering Island’s Black History.” Martha’s Vineyard Times [Vineyard Haven, MA] 4 Feb. 1993: 16. Print.
Good info about Shearer Cottage, among other topics.

Weintraub, Elaine. Lighting the Trail: The African-American Heritage of Martha’s Vineyard. Oak Bluffs, MA: African American Heritage Trail History Project, 2005.

> List of books and other info at the MVRHS Library

Enslavement on Martha’s Vineyard

Rebecca Amos (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Civil Rights Five

Civil Rights Five (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Fugitives from Enslavement on Martha’s Vineyard

Randall Burton (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (Related Articles from Gale Virtual Reference Library)

Nancy Michael

Nancy Michael (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Emma Chambers Maitland

Emma Maitland (girlboxing.org) Some interesting primary sources.

Welcome to the trail, Emma Maitland (MVTimes)

Boxing her way to equality and justice (Vineyard Gazette)

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr.  (Biography in Context)

Isabelle Powell

Isabel & Adam Clayton Powell (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (Biography Research Center)

Isabel & Adam Clayton Powell (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

A. Phillip Randolph

“A. Philip Randolph.” American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.

Bayard Rustin

Portrait of American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), deputy director of the March on Washington, in his office in New York City on March 3, 1964.
Portrait of American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), deputy director of the March on Washington, in his office in New York City on March 3, 1964.

Bayard Rustin (Biography in Context)

Senator Edward Brooke

Senator Edward Brooke  (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)
Edward William Brooke (Biography in Context)

Joseph “Joe” Overton /Overton House aka Villa Rosa

Villa Rosa – Overton Home (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Calmes, Jackie. “Revisiting Black History on Martha’s Vineyard.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte (Biography in Context)

Shearer Cottage

Shearer Cottage  (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Shearer Cottage – Family Owned and Operated with Pride since 1903.

Joe Louis

Joe Louis (Biography in Context)

Harry Burleigh

Harry Thacker Burleigh (Biography in Context)

Cottagers Organization

Tankard Family

Carrie & George Tankard (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

John Saunders and the Pulpit Rock

John Saunders (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Rebecca Martin / Eastville Cemetery

Eastville Cemetery (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

William A. Martin

William Martin (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

William Martin House (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org) captmartinanniversary

“Passed Their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary.” Vineyard Gazette [Edgartown, MA] 11 July 1907: 2. Microfilm.
(Thanks to Gabby Wilbur (MVRHS ’19) for locating this!)

Dorothy West, Harlem Renaissance Writer

Dorothy West (Biography in Context)

Dorothy West House (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Dorothy West (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Reverand Oscar Denniston / Bradley Memorial Church

Brannen, Peter. “Denniston House Demolition Blocked by Historic Commission.” The Vineyard Gazette. The Vineyard Gazette, 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Perry-Henry, Laurie. “Bradley Square :: NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard.” NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard. NAACP of Martha’s Vineyard, 10 July 2011. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Lee, Linsey. “Son of Pastor Recalls Bradley Church, and Era of Prejudice.”The Vineyard Gazette. N.p., 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Bradley Church (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Barber William H. Hammond

Barber Hammond (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

Founders of the MVNAACP

MV NAACP (mvafricanamericanheritagetrail.org)

The World’s Fairs in the USA, 1876 – 1915

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Panama Pacific International Exposition (source: Library of Congress) Panama Pacific International Exposition (source: Library of Congress)

Background

“World’s fair .” Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 28 Sep. 2014.
Great overview and place to start.

Rydell, Robert W. “World’s Fairs.” Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 8. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003. 558-560. U.S. History in Context. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.
Great overview and place to start.

Time Explains: How the World of Tomorrow Became a Thing of the Past
Time Magazine article and video from April 2014 about the disappearance of the World’s Fair from the United States (we haven’t had one since 1984).

ExpoMuseum
Official Museum of the World’s Fairs

“World’s Fairs.” American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Vol. 4: 1930-1939. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

“World’s Fairs.” American Eras. Vol. 8: Development of the Industrial United States, 1878-1899. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 412-414. U.S. History in Context. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Search & Find out

U.S. History in Context
<< Search U.S. History in Context to find images, articles, and more from published sources
Library of Congress American Memory
<< The Library of Congress has digitized millions of photographs, maps, and documents.
Biography in Context
<< Over 400,000 biographies covering literary figures, science, multicultural studies, business, entertainment, politics, sports, government, history, current events and the arts.

 

1876 US Centennial Exhibition: Philadelphia

Centennial Exhibition Articles (U.S. History in Context)

Centennial Exhibition (Library of Congress)

1884 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition: New Orleans

Cotton Centennial  (Library of Congress)

1893 World’s Columbian Exposition 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

Columbian Exposition (U.S. History in Context)

Columbian Exposition (Library of Congress)

1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition and Indian Congress: Omaha

Omaha Exposition (U.S. History in Context)

Omaha Exposition (Library of Congress)

1901 Pan-American Exposition: Buffalo

Pan-American Exposition (U.S. History in Context)

Pan-American Exposition (Library of Congress)

1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition – St. Louis World’s Fair

St. Louis World’s Fair (Library of Congress)

St. Louis World’s Fair (U.S. History in Context)

1907 Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition

Jamestown Exposition (Library of Congress)

1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition

Panama-Pacific International Exposition (U.S. History in Context)

Panama-Pacific International Exposition (Library of Congress)

 

Reference

“The World’s Fair and Exposition Information and Reference Guide.” Earth Station Nine. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.
Includes a bulleted list of trivia and more from each fair.

Make it

prezi_logo
Make awesome presentations
ImageSpike
Image Spike let you add text as well as links to sound recordings and videos to images.
Google Docs
Google Docs: Draw, write, present, quiz, tabulate
Piktochart
Create your own info-graphics. You can choose from existing templates or create your own from scratch.
Animoto-Logo-300x300
Easy way to make a video presentation!
 Voicethread
Embed your voice and more in a visual presentation

Become an expert on your topic

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Are you interested in something? Maybe you think you know a little about it already?  Wouldn’t it be cool to know more?  Maybe you can take it a step further and become an expert yourself.

The question is, where do you start?  Anyone can Google it, or read some background about it on Wikipedia. What will make you stand out?

Background Info: Finding an area to focus on and a question to answer

Gale Virtual Reference LibraryThe Virtual Reference Library is a great place to start. It gives you articles about topics written by experts themselves.  Anytime an expert writes about their topic they will mention the big issues and controversies surrounding it.  There is where you’ll find an interesting question to answer and something you can look into investigating yourself.

Dig deeper

Questia SchoolQuestia School is another virtual library, but the difference is it gives you access to 80,000 full-length, published books that you won’t find otherwise online.  So, it gives you more depth on your topic.   See Mr. McGrath for help logging in, and using Questia School to your advantage.

Books in the MVRHS Library: Use the blue search bar above (check “books”) to see if we have something you can use.

Keep Going

Boston Public LibraryAs a citizen of the state of Massachusetts, you have access to all of the electronic resources in the Boston Public Library.  In depth sources including JStor give you access to thousands of published sources.  To access them, you’ll need a BPL Library card number.  If you don’t have one, you can get it for free, practically instantly, by visiting their ecard sign-up page.

Organize your sources

Easybib LogoLogin to Easybib using your MVRHS Google Docs account to access their awesome note-taking and expanded citing features.  It literally makes it easier.

And Finally….Ask for help. Spread the word!

Ask about your topic.  After all, it’s something you’re interested in learning about, right?   Tell people what you know, and ask for help. You’ll be surprised what you’ll learn just by asking.