The Research area is a work in progress. Please check back in the next few days to see more content.
Contact us at 203-888-3903 if you need information on a topic that is not yet completed.
Digital Libraries
British Library– digitized manuscripts, books, and more from the collections of the British Library.
Digital Public Library of America– over 8,007,019 items from libraries, archives, and museums to explore.
Duke University Public Domain– Information on books, movies, other items released into Public Domain.
European Library– access to selected collections from 48 National Libraries in Europe and leading European Research Libraries.
Hathitrust Digital Library– collection of millions of books digitized from libraries all over the world in various languages.
International Children’s Digital Library– a digital library for the world’s children. Many books, old & new, domestic & foreign, richly illustrated and beautifully downloaded.
Internet Archive– offering permanent access to historical collections that exist in digital format. Hear Edison’s early recordings,
watch Houdini’s magic, livestream many older public domain movies, read downloaded books and truly much, much more.
Library of Congress– the largest library in the world. Digitized collections of art, music, film, sports, history, and literature.
Open Library– Site within Internet Archive to borrow and read eBooks.
Project Gutenberg– Free ebooks from the public domain. Many classics are included here.
SurLaLune– Fairy Tales, Fairy Tales, Fairy Tales, & illustrations as well.
World Digital Library– international digital library with historic items of importance from all over the world. Operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress. Tons of maps-ancient & recent.
Free Online Classes- MOOC- Massive Online Open Classes
Often described as, “free online classes from the world’s best Universities” that is exactly what these websites offer. Some of the classes do have a fee associated with them- especially if a certificate of completion is desired- but the vast majority of these institutions offer the classes entirely free and even requested donations are not mandatory. The following websites are only some of the opportunities out there. Web searches using MOOC or even the name of a specific University may yield more of what is of interest to you. For instance, the Sorbonne’s free online classes were left off of this list because they are given in French for the most part and demand may be lacking for that here. They do exist however.
edX– Truly learn from the best anytime. Harvard and MIT combined for this initiative in 2012. Many other Universities joined them afterwards. This is a one stop shop website so to speak. Sign up for a free account and start to learn. The website features courses from MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Columbia, etc.
Coursera– 2 Computer Science professors from Stanford University, Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller founded this initiative. Coursera partners with Yale, Princeton, Duke, etc. to offer courses for free. Specialization certificates and other services are offered for a fee.
OpenLearning– Adam Brimo founded this initiative in Australia. The classes are free and incorporate social media so that classes are more interactive and fun. The courses are based on individual learning but there is a strong emphasis on teaching others as well. Educators may benefit from some of the classes that pertain to public teaching, ideology, etc. but other examples of offered courses consist of learning how to paint and discussions of famous works of literature.
Genealogy
Cyndi’s List– a complitation of free web resources to aid in your searches.
FamilySearch– the world’s largest free genealogy site dedicated to helping you find your ancestors & discovering your family history.
Find A Grave– exactly what it claims to be. With so many volunteers taking photos of cemetaries- you may find important information.
HeritageQuest Online– free search through archives and censuses.
National Archives and Records Administration Geneology Page– resources, archives, & U.S. military records.
Obituaries and Death Notices– obituaries from U.S. newspapers digitized.
RootsWeb– trace or create your family tree.
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island Passenger Search– check the passenger lists for those that entered America through these ports.
USGenWeb- committed to free genealogical web resources and information for all US States.
