Cool Stuff from Online Museums!

(Go right to the exhibits without wading through menus)

Tower of London - Virtual Tour

  • Tower of London -"Get a glimpse of something only British monarchs once saw. Before their death. The Tower of London virtual tour is easy to navigate and packed with photos." -USA Today

A Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson

  • Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson -Follow Jefferson through a complete day at Monticello. Learn interesting details about his home, the man, and the times in which he lived. Sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Library of Congress

  • Vatican Exhibit -ROME REBORN: THE VATICAN LIBRARY AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE presents some 200 of the Vatican Library's most precious manuscripts, books, and maps--many of which played a key role in the humanist recovery of the classical heritage of Greece and Rome. The exhibition presents the untold story of the Vatican Library as the intellectual driving force behind the emergence of Rome as a political and scholarly superpower during the Renaissance.

  • Soviet Archives Exhibit -The first public display of the hitherto highly secret internal record of Soviet Communist rule. The willingness of the new Russian Archival Committee under Pikhoia to cooperate in preparing this exhibit with the Library of Congress dramatizes the break that a newly democratic Russia is attempting to make with the entire Soviet past. This exhibit illustrates both the domestic and the foreign policy of Soviet rule.

  • 1492 Exhibit - Examines the first sustained contacts between American people and European explorers, conquerors and settlers from 1492 to 1600. During this period, in the wake of Columbus's voyages, Africans also arrived in the hemisphere, usually as slaves. All of these encounters, some brutal and traumatic, other, more gradual, irreversibly changed the way in which peoples in the Americas led their lives. The dramatic events following 1492 set the stage for numerous cultural interactions in the Americas which are still in progress - a complex and ongoing voyage.

  • Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit -The exhibition SCROLLS FROM THE DEAD SEA: THE ANCIENT LIBRARY OF QUMRAN AND MODERN SCHOLARSHIP brings a selection from the scrolls which have been the subject of intense public interest. Over the years questions have been raised about the scrolls' authenticity, about the people who hid them away the the period in which they lived, about the secrets the scrolls might reveal, and about the intentions of the scrolls' custodians in restricting access. The Library's exhibition describes the historical context of the scrolls and the Qumran community from whence they may have originated; it also relates the story of their discovery 2,000 years later. In addition, the exhibition encourages a better understanding of the challenges and complexities connected with scroll research.

  • Paleontology Exhibit -The Museum of Paleontology, from the University of California, Berkeley has created this nice pavilion, which shows AN EXHIBITION OF FOSSIL LIFE. Paleontologists study past life by understanding both the biology and evolution of organisms and the geology of where the organisms are found. These two lines of evidence help us to recreate the diversity of past life. This work helps to clarify major issues about large and small scale geologic events, large and small scale extinction and origination of groups of animals, and in general clarify the progression of life on earth. This exhibit presents some of the diversity of life that has existed in the past.

  • Spalato Exhibit -The exhibit THE "PALACE" OF DIOCLETIAN AT SPLIT describes a unique structure from the later roman empire. The city of Spalato was founded by the emperor Diocletian; he made it his own dwelling-place, and built within it a court and a palace. The importance of Spalato resides both in its state of preservation, and in the dearth of comparable examples from the Roman world. There are no coherent palace structures left in Italy. Architecture and History are some keywords for this exhibit which shows more than 80 objects.

  • The Gettysburg Address -See actual drafts and photos.

  • African-American History Exhibit -This exhibit marks the publication of The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture. A noteworthy and singular publication, the Mosaic is the first Library-wide resource guide to the institution's African- American collections.

  • History and Building of the U.S. Capitol -George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were determined that the United States Capitol be a meaningful expression of America's new political and social order. The Constitution, ratified in 1788, had given the country its governing structure; the Capitol, begun three years later, was still incomplete when Congress first met there in November 1800. Construction of the original building took thirty-four years and was directed by six presidents and six architects.

  • Drafting the Declaration of Independence -This is the first public exhibit of the only surviving fragment of the earliest known draft of the Declaration of Independence. This fragment demonstrates that Jefferson heavily edited his first draft of the Declaration before he prepared a clean, or "fair" copy that became the basis of the "original Rough draught." Jefferson clearly wrote this composition draft of the Declaration on the top half of sheets of paper thus allowing space for notes. None of the deleted words and passages in this fragment appears in the "original Rough draught," but all of the undeleted 148 words including those carreted and interlined were copied into the "original Rough draught" in a clear form.

  • Creating French Culture -Throughout French history the powerful have sought to harness culture to their own ends. Creating French Culture traces the history of this relationship from Charlemagne (b. 742?-d. 814) to Charles de Gaulle (b.1890-d. 1970), through the prism of more than 200 magnificent "treasures" on loan from the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The Bibliothèque's generous collaboration has made possible a unique exhibition which includes many items never before seen outside of France. The choice of items was dictated as much by their historical importance as by their artistic value in the hope that they will provide insight into, and spark curiosity about, the complex history of the United States' oldest ally.

  • Women Come to the Front During WWII -World War II opened a new chapter in the lives of Depression-weary Americans. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime.

San Francisco Exploratorium

NOTE: "RealAudio," which is used by some of the Exploritorium exhibits, is currently being installed on Macs in the three computer labs, and the library. If the computer you are using does not yet have RealAudio, it will soon. Please be patient. Each computer must be upgraded individually.

  • Cow's Eye Dissection -The Cow's Eye Dissection is one of the most popular demonstrations at the Exploratorium. For many years it has helped people satisfy their curiosity about what is inside an eye. The material presented here is meant not to replace the act of dissecting a cow's eye, but rather to enhance the experience. ("RealAudio" is a new feature added to our Internet browser. It lets you hear the spoken words of Exploratorium guides.)

  • What's New in the World of Science -Monthly newspaper published by the Exploratorium. It includes "RealAudio" interviews with real scientists. Current edition discusses the search for intelligent life on other worlds, and our weird winter weather.

Franklin Institute Science Museum

  • Benjamin Franklin -This quick glimpse at the long life (1706 - 1790) of a complex man is meant to help you learn about Ben Franklin and also to let you see how Ben's ideas are still alive in our world today.

  • The Heart -Explore the heart. Discover the complexities of its development and structure. Follow the blood through the blood vessels. Wander through the weblike body systems. Learn how to have a healthy heart and how to monitor your heart's health. Look back at the history of heart science.

Honolulu Community College

  • Dinosaurs -HCC is providing students with an exciting look at the prehistoric natural history of the world by displaying the fossils of some of the largest terrestrial creatures that ever lived.

 

National Air and Space Museum

  • Virtual Tour -Click on a section of the map, and go directly to that section of the museum. (Many pictures are "thumbnails." Click on them to expand the picture.( Hint-look for a colored border around the picture.)

Boston Museum of Science

  • Theater of Electricity -Lots of stuff about lightning. Cool pictures and videos. (Remember, videos are made up of many, many still pictures and may take 5-20 minutes to download to your computer.)

  • Electron Microscope -Learn how it works, and see some of the gross stuff from the world around you (e.g. a cat flea, dentist's drill) magnified several hundred times!

French Ministry of Culture (English-language version)

  • Paleolithic Cave Paintings -An exceptionally important archaeological discovery has recently been made in the Ardéche gorges (southern France), on the edge of a national reserve, in the form of a vast underground network of caves decorated with paintings and engravings dating from the Palaeolithic age.

Treasures of Ancient Greece

  • Greek Ministry of Culture -An overwhelming number of displays from museums, archaeological sites and monuments in every corner of Greece. You could spend a full day at just this site!

Science Museum of Minnesota

  • Maya Adventure -Maya Adventure includes images from the Science Museum's anthropological collections and activities developed by the Science Museum's education division. Featured in the project is information from two exhibits about the Maya developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota, Cenote of Sacrifice and Flowers, Saints and Toads.

  • The Thinking Fountain -The Thinking Fountain offers surprising, gross, funny, personal connections to science. It is a living card file full of ideas and activities. Each card highlights an interesting resource related to science. It then refers you to three other carefully selected connections that extend the learning process.

Money Museum

  • U.S. Money -Selections from the Bebee Collection of Paper Money - one of the largest collections of U.S. paper money, valued at more than $2 million.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

  • Molecular Biology -A brief slide show intended to illustrate the usage of molecular biology in a natural history museum.

British Museum of Antiquities

  • The Stone Age -Welcome to the world of the late stone age hunter gatherers. This exhibition takes you into the lives of the inhabitants of Britain and north west Europe from the time when ice sheets still covered land and sea, till the time when settled farming peoples were cultivating the land.

Illinois State Museum

  • The Ice Age -When most people hear the words Ice Age, they think of glaciers covering much of North America and Eurasia, animals like mammoths and saber-toothed cats, and Cro-Magnon people painting cave walls. These things come to mind because the words "Ice Age" often refer to the last time that glaciers extended over a large portion of the Earth's surface. The ISM online exhibit The Midwestern U.S. 16,000 Years Ago provides more information on this glaciation in the Midwestern U.S.

  • Mazon Creek Fossils -The plants and animals found in concretions recovered from the Francis Creek Shale are some of the most exciting and important fossils that have been found in the state of Illinois. These fossils are known as the Mazon Creek fossils, because they were originally found along Mazon Creek in northeastern Illinois.

  • Midwestern U.S. 16,000 Years Ago -This reconstruction is based on the work of many different types of scientists who study various aspects of past environments

Amethyst Galleries

  • Mineral Tour -Alphabetic list of minerals. Clicking on a name brings up information (usually with photo).

Astronomy Picture of the Day

  • Today's Picture -Not really a museum, but the Internet's most complete collection of astronomical pictures. This link takes you to today's picture.

  • Archives -Fantastic collection of astronomy/space photos which have themselves been a "Picture of the Day."