New Deal Network, sponsored by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute

Spanning approximately eight years (1933-41), the New Deal established a variety of programs to improve the economic and social well-being of people in the US. This site offers materials and teaching resources related to the art projects and public works created during this era. The Roosevelt Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to Roosevelt's legacy, launched the site in 1996 with the assistance of other organizations, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. This database of over 20,000 materials includes primary sources such as photographs, political cartoons, speeches, letters, and other documents. These materials were collected and digitized from the FDR Presidential Library, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and other organizations. Lesson plans, artwork, and poetry related to the New Deal or written during that era are included. An interesting feature called Archives in the Attic offers a variety of New Deal-related documents submitted by users from their personal collections. Although the Roosevelt Institute continues to maintain the site, no further content is being added or developed. New Deal Network is well organized and easily browsed or searched. Users may create an account to post to a forum. . . .

A nice feature is the use of anchored HTML in most of the articles and speeches on the site, allowing users to easily cite and link directly from particular lines of text. Many of the 5,000-plus photographs and images in this collection are in the public domain and can be reused for educational purposes. Not only do the photos cover topics ranging from film to music to transportation, they also showcase a bygone era when the US pulled itself up by its bootstraps. Summing Up: Recommended. All American history undergraduates and general readers. --E. S. Danowitz, Delaware County Community College Library. Reviewed in February 2013 issue of ACRL's CHOICE.