Research Triangle Park, N.C.  This month the National Humanities Center announces the launch of its fifth set of online resources for instruction in American history and literature. "American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492-1690" provides historical documents, literary texts, art, maps, notes, and discussion questions, that enable teachers to study the exploration, settlement, and colonization of the New World with students in the classroom and among themselves in professional development seminars. "American Beginnings" contains approximately one hundred and ninety primary documents, more than fifty of which have never before been available online.

Provided free of charge for instructional use at nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/, the materials are organized into five sections to provide a useful supplementary resource for classroom teaching. The collected materials in "American Beginnings" were developed by leading scholars of literature, history, and art history with input from high school instructors from around the United States. The group of scholars working on the project included Emory B. Elliott, University Professor of English, University of California, Riverside; Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Julius Silver Professor of History, New York University; and Maurie McInnis, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Virginia; with contributions by Sahar Amer, Dept. of Asian Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Gary A. Macy, Dept. of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego; and John Wall, Dept. of English, North Carolina State University. Professors Elliott, Kupperman, Amer, Macy, and Wall are all former National Humanities Center Fellows.

"We are pleased to make this excellent addition to our online library of teaching resources," says Geoffrey Harpham, President and Director of the National Humanities Center. "A considerable quantity of recent research has shown that students learn history best when they are put in the position of historians—that is, when they read primary documents, draw their own conclusions from sometimes ambiguous or conflicting evidence, and make arguments that organize a host of details into a unified statement."

Development of the "American Beginnings" toolbox was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

To learn more about the National Humanities Center and its educational programs, please contact Don Solomon (dsolomon@nationalhumanitiescenter.org) or visit nationalhumanitiescenter.org.

The National Humanities Center is the leading major independent American institute for advanced study in all fields of the humanities. Privately incorporated and governed by a distinguished board of trustees from academic, professional, and public life, the Center provides a national focus for the best work in the liberal arts, drawing attention to the enduring value of ancient and modern history, language and literature, ethical and moral reflection, artistic and cultural traditions, and critical thought in every area of humanistic investigation. By encouraging excellence in scholarship, the Center seeks to insure the continuing strength of the liberal arts and to affirm the importance of the humanities in American life. The National Humanities Center is distinctive among centers for advanced study in its commitment to linking scholarship to improved teaching. Model programs developed at the Center provide teachers with new materials and instructional strategies to make them more effective in the classroom and rekindle their enthusiasm for the subjects they teach.