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The web site Women in American History by Encyclopedia Britannica is a spin-off from the Encyclopedia Britannica Online web site, http://www.eb.com. It is common knowledge that Encyclopedia Britannica is one of the world’s foremost reference sources. Encyclopedia Britannica has long been associated with integrity and accuracy in all of it publications. The encyclopedia’s main web site and its “sister” web site Women in American History do a very good job at bringing the Britannica traditions of accuracy and integrity to the 21st century. The homepage for Women in American History contains images of women from different ethnic and social backgrounds. It is obvious from these pictures that the web site provides information about American women from very different times. In fact, directly under the title there is an activated time-line that starts with early America and extends to modern America. In short this web site has compiled information on women in America since the conception of the country up to the present. Beyond the homepage the web site contains an excerpt from the dairy of an actual confederate spy and a speech by Sojourner Truth at a rowdy convention of 1853. These and other first-hand accounts can be found under the link “In Her Own Words.” The site also includes several links for secondary sources including one link called “Articles” that provides biographic information on women from Berenice Abbott to Chien-shiung Wu. Although the articles about the women are entirely biographical, the link “Media Gallery” contains audio tapes from women like Carrie Chapman Catt and Dorothy Parker speaking on the subjects closest to their heart, women’s suffrage and “Men.” Audio recordings like Catt and Parker’s confer deeper meaning to subjects that often seem dry in textbooks. This site, like other Britannica sites, was created for people interested in finding accurate information. The information contained within this web site is a good starting point for research about American women. It is entirely accurate in comparison to other sites about women’s history. The Women in American History web site provides links to other online sites via the “Women’s History on the Web” link. Another of the web site’s positive attributes is it provides a link for further study. The “Recommended Reading” link provides the names of several secondary sources that can be used for further research including Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America. The web site also provides a study guide geared toward high school and college students. The Women in American History web site by Encyclopedia Britannica is a very comprehensive web site that is easily searched because of its logical organization. This site attempts to address all issues that American women have faced since the 17th century. What I think is the major attribute of the site is that it attempts to address these matters in a purely objective manner by providing facts and pointing readers in the right direction for creditable subjective materials. Overall this web site does a very good job at providing visitors with starting information and resources that can be used to research American Women’s History. Erica Scott
April 22, 2004 |