Web Page Project Topics
Local history
Example: a web page on a topic related to the history of San Diego 1865-1989, for example, the history of Balboa Park or Kate Sessions or the San Diego Zoo or Fort Guijarros or Old Town.
Military history
Example: a web page on the Marines in China or World War II or Vietnam, using original sources in the Marine Corps Command Museum on Pacific Highway. See The Fourth Marines in Shanghai 1927-1941 by Ron Moss, or Boxer Rebellion by John Guy. Other topics might be the development of radar in World War II, or the rise of the military-industrial complex after World War II, or the history of early warning systems such as NORAD and DEW line. Books for WWII projects.
Media history
Example: a web page on the historical context of a Hollywood feature film or genre, or radio or TV. See Queen for a Day by Shawn Hanley.
Internet archive collections
Example: a web page on Historical Picture Collections, or American Memory collections, or World War I, or the Versailles Treaty.
Magazines and newspapers
Example: a web page on the changing role of women in American society as portrayed in the daily press, including fashion ads, editorials, radio and movie reviews. The Library has the hard copy index to the New York Times to locate other significant events on the microfilm collection from 1860s to the present.
Diplomatic history
Example: a web page on the history of summit conferences, or state levees/dinners/receptions, or the Gulf War in 1991, or mercenaries in Africa 1965, or the Cold War
Cultural history
Example: an examination of the significance of amusement parks in the 20th century, from Coney Island to the aborted Disney History Theme Park near Manassas, Maryland; or a cross-section of culture in one year, such as Joseph Mangano's book Living Legacy: how 1964 changed America. Other topics include the peace movement, especially in the Vietnam War.
Biographical/Diary/Letters history
Example: a web page on the people in Nixon's White House using the published diaries on CD-ROM of H.R. Haldeman. Other topics include social activists such as Jeanette Rankin or Cesar Chavez.
Family history
Example: a web page on your grandparent's immigration, mobility, occupation, or lifestyle patterns (explore those skeletons in the closet and black sheep in the bedroom); or your own family in the context of a study such asDomestic Revolutions: A History of American Family Life by Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg.