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HISTORY
HIGHWAY
A 21st Century e to
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 THE

HISTO RY
HIGHWAY
 rh e
HISTORY
HIGHWAY
A 21st Century Guide to
internet Resources

Fourth Edition

Edited by
Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott A. Merriman

cM.E. Sharpe
Armonk, New York
London, England
 Copyright © 2006 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without written permission from the publisher, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.,
80 Business Park Drive, Armonk, New York 10504.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The history highway : a 21st-century guide to Internet resources /

[edited by] Dennis A. Trinkle and Scott A. Merriman.— 4th ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: The history highway 3.0. 3rd ed. c2002.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7656-1630-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. History—Computer network resources. 2. Internet. 3. History—Research—
Methodology. 4. History—Computer-assisted instruction.
I. Title: The history highway. II. Trinkle, Dennis A., 1968—
III. Merriman, Scott A., 1968- IV. History highway 3.0

D16.117.A14 2006
025.06'90983—dc22 2005033335

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of

American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z 39.48-1984.

BM (c) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 In honor of the next generation,
Caroline Bradshaw Merriman and John Thomas Trinkle,
and the one before, especially Gayle Trinkle
 Contents

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii

Part I. Getting Started 1

1. The Basics 3
History of the Internet 3
Uses of the Internet 5
Sending and Receiving E-Mail 5
E-mail Addresses 5
E-mail Security 12
Reading and Posting Messages on Newsgroups 13
Reading and Posting Messages on Discussion Lists 14
Word of Warning About Discussion Lists 15
Blogging 15
Logging Onto a Remote Computer With Telnet 16
Transferring Piles With Pile Transfer Protocol (PTP) 16
Browsing the World Wide Web 17
2. Signing On 19
Getting on the Internet 19
 Hardware 20
Software 20
Web Browsers and E-mail programs 21
Netiquette and Copyright 22
General Netiquette 22
Rules for Newsgroups and Discussion Lists and Blog Posts 23
Copyright 23
Evaluating Online Resources: Tools, Tips, and Terms 24
The Web Today 24
Information Literacy and Peer Review 25
The Democratization of Information 27
Evaluating Web Sites: What to Look For 27
The Questions 28
Bringing It All Together 33
Searching the Web 33
When in Doubt. . . . ASK! 34

Part II. Internet Sites for Historians 35

3. Futuring Methods, Practitioners and Organizations 37

4. Future Issues 44
5. General History 60
6. Ancient History 65
7. Medieval History 78
8. Renaissance and Reformation History 95
9. African History 104
10. Middle Eastern History 117
11. Asian History 126
12. Australian and New Zealand History 136
13. Canadian History 146
14. Latin and South American History 151
15. European History 163
General European History 163
British History 165
Eastern European and Russian History 176
Eastern Europe 201
French History 207
German History 214
Irish History 226
Italian History 236
Mediterranean History 245
Nordic (Scandinavian) History 249
 16 . United States History 255
General United States History 255
African-American History 265
Native American History 277
American West 280
Colonial American History (1492-1763) 285
Revolutionary America 294
Early United States History (1783-1860) 301
American Civil War History 317
Gilded Age and Progressive Era History 324
The Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt 334
The Great Depression 337
World War II—Home Front 339
World War II—Military History 343
The Cold War 352
General Twentieth-Century United States History 362
17. Women’s History 371
18. World History 380

2021
19.
.
History of Computers
History of Science
386
390

22
23.
.
.
History of Technology
Holocaust Studies
Legal, Civil Liberties, and Civil Rights History
399
406
412
24. Modern Military History 418
25. Historiography 438
26. Historic Preservation and Conservation 445
27. Urban History 450
28. Living History and Historic Reenactment 460
29. Genealogy 473
30. State and Provincial Historical Societies 481
31. History Book Sources on the Internet 488
32. History and Social Studies Organizations 496
33. Maps and Images 499
34. Resources for Teachers of History: K-12 and College 511
35. Electronic Journals 526
36. Libraries 534
37. Archives and Manuscript Collections 544
38. Special Collections 558
39. Digital Collections 568
40. Archival Exhibitions Online 573
41. Environmental History 577
42. Immigration History 581
43. Oral History 587
44. Business and Economic History 593
45. Natural History 600
46. Popular Culture 603
47. Online Reference Desk 609

Glossary 625
About the Editors and Contributors 631
Index 641
 Acknowledgments

The idea for The History Highway was conceived nearly a decade ago. That the
work is now entering its fourth incarnation is a testament to its value to stu¬
dents, instructors, and lovers of history. It is also a tribute to the many individu¬
als who have contributed directly and indirectly to the project over the past ten
years. We cannot possibly thank everyone who has played a role in writing, so
we hope you know that your efforts and support are recognized and appreci¬
ated. We would especially like to thank the contributors to this and past edi¬
tions of The History Highway. We extend our sincere thanks and hearty apolo¬
gies to Stephen Kneeshaw, whose chapter, “History and Social Studies Orga¬
nizations,” was not correctly attributed to him in the last edition of the work.
Dennis A. Trinkle would like to thank the faculty, staff, and students of
DePauw University for their many tangible and intangible contributions to The
History Highway. DePauw is a lively learning community, and I want to thank
President Robert Bottoms and Executive Vice President Neal Abraham for their
support and encouragement of my many activities. I also want to especially
thank several faculty and staff colleagues who daily make my teaching, re¬
search, and work better and more successful: Annette Coon, Aaron Dzuibinsky,
Bob Hershberger, Julianne Miranda, Ken Owen, Rick Provine, Nate Romance,
and Carol Smith.
I would also like to thank the members of my other professional family—
the American Association for History and Computing. In particular, my sin¬
cere appreciation is extended to David Staley, Charles Mackay, Jeffrey Barlow,
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Kelly Robison, Jessica Lacher-Feldman, Steve Hoffman, and Deborah Anderson.

It is a genuine pleasure to work with so many creative and passionate teachers
and scholars. Finally, but certainly not least, special thanks to my wife, Kristi,
my greatest blessing John Thomas, my brother Keith, my mother Gayle, and
all the members of my extended family. Your constant energy and care are a
great inspiration.
Scott A. Merriman would like to thank his family, friends, and teachers,
both past and present, for their support and guidance. Special thanks to my
wife, Jessie, for her assistance, both in this writing effort and in many others,
and to my daughter Caroline for all the smiles and ducks that she has brought
into my life. I would also like to recognize the History Department of the Uni¬
versity of Kentucky, faculty, staff, graduate students, and fellow part- and full¬
time instructors alike, for their support and encouragement. Especially deserv¬
ing of gratitude for serving as mentors are, among others, Robert Ireland and
Robert Olson. My years at UK have been enriched by my friendships with,
among many others, Jessica Flinchum, Amber Fogle, Elizabeth Hill, Stephanie
May, Erin Shelor, Jeremiah Taylor, and Jennifer Walton.
In my larger travels, I have been ably assisted by many people, far too many
to mention, and I would be remiss if I did not thank at least some of them here.
I am truly grateful for my continuing friendships and professional relation¬
ships with Jeffrey Barlow, Rowly Brucken, Bud Burkhardt, Randal Horobik,
Jen McGee, Kelly Robison, David Staley, and Paul Wexler. I am thankful to
my family for their perpetual support. Finally, for all those who have sup¬
ported me, but who are not specifically mentioned, thanks!
 Introduction

More than 60 percent of American households now report that they regularly
access the Internet. This figure represents a stunning historical transformation.
The number of Web pages is increasing so rapidly that no reliable estimate
exists, though best guesses suggest more than 8 billion Web pages. The growth
rate and proliferation are staggering and historically unprecedented. Radio,
television, and the telephone became part of American daily life at a compara¬
tively glacial pace. Such dizzying expansion and alteration make the Internet a
tremendously exciting phenomenon, but also unsettling and unwieldy.
When we wrote the first edition of The History Highway in 1996, we la¬
mented that trying to explore and sample the Internet was like trying to sip
water from a lire hose. When The History Highway 2000 appeared, and when
The History Highway 3.0 followed, the metaphor might have been changed
to sipping water from a rushing river or Niagara Falls. Today, that first fire
hose might be replaced by a roaring ocean. The pace of expansion and change
is accelerating.
To novices and even seasoned users, the information superhighway can be
information overload at its worst, often more intimidating and frustrating than
exciting. For anyone interested in history, however, the Internet simply cannot
be ignored. The resources are richer and more valuable than ever. There are
hundreds of thousands of sites dedicated to the American Revolution alone.
Students can find the complete texts of millions of books, work with previ¬
ously inaccessible primary documents, and explore thousands of first-rate sites
xiv INTRODUCTION

dedicated to historical topics. Publishers can advertise their wares, and profes¬
sors can find enormous databases devoted to teaching suggestions, online ver¬
sions of historical journals, and active scholarly discussions on a wide variety
of research topics. The Internet is quite simply the most revolutionary store¬
house of human knowledge in history.
For most of us, however, whether we are students, professors, librarians,
editors, or just lovers of history, there are not enough hours in our already busy
days to go chasing information down an infinite number of alleyways, no mat¬
ter how useful or interesting that information might be. The aim of this book is
to offer detailed information about the thousands of quality resources that are
out there and how to find them.
Part I is a short primer for those with limited experience using the Internet.
It discusses what exists and what you can do with it. It explains how to gain
access to the Internet and outlines what types of software are necessary. There
is also an important section on the manners and rules that govern the Internet—
“netiquette,” as seasoned users call it. A valuable new section on evaluating
Internet resources has been added to the chapter as well.
Part II is the heart of the book. It lists thousands of sites that will appeal to
anyone interested in history and that our specialist section authors have deter¬
mined to be reliable and useful for the serious study of history. This section
will allow you to avoid the helter-skelter databases, such as Yahoo!, Excite,
Google, and DogPile, that take you to information regardless of quality and
utility. You will not find sites created by first-graders in Indianapolis or by
biased, ahistorical groups like the Holocaust Deniers of America. Bon Voyage!
 Part I

Getting Started
 Chapter 1

The Basics
Dennis A. Trinkle

History of the Internet

Since this book is directed at those interested in history, it seems sensible to

begin with a brief history of the Internet itself. The story of the Internet’s ori¬
gins is as varied, complex, and fascinating as the information the Net contains.
Ironically, the Net began as the polar opposite of the publicly accessible net¬
work it has become. It grew out of the Cold War hysteria surrounding the So¬
viet launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, in 1957. Amid paranoia that
the United States was losing the “science race,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower
created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Depart¬
ment of Defense to establish an American lead in science and technology ap¬
plicable to the military. After helping the United States develop and launch its
own satellite by 1959, the ARPA scientists turned much of their attention to
computer networking and communications. Their goal was to find a successful
way of linking universities, defense contractors, and military command cen¬
ters to foster research and interaction, but also to sustain vital communications
in case of nuclear attack. The network project was formally launched in 1969
by ARPA under a grant that connected four major computers at universities in
the southwestern United States—UCLA, Stanford, the University of Califor¬
nia at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. The network went online in
December 1969. The age of computer networks was born.
3
4 THE BASICS

In the early 1970s, it became clear to the initial developers of the ARPANET
that the system was already stretching past its Cold War origins. Nonmilitary
research institutions were developing competing networks of communication,
more and more users were going online, and new languages were being intro¬
duced that made communication difficult or impossible between networks. To
resolve this problem, the Defense Advanced Project Agency (which had re¬
placed ARPA) launched the Internetting Project in 1973. The aim was to create
a uniform communications language (a protocol, as the rules governing a com¬
puter language are termed) that would allow the hundreds of networks being
formed to communicate and function as a single meganetwork. In an amazing
display of scientific prowess comparable to the Apollo program, this crucial
step in the development of the information superhighway was accomplished in
a single year when Robert Kahn and Vinton G. Cerf introduced the Transmis¬
sion Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). This protocol made possible
the connection of all the various networks and computers then in existence and
set the stage for the enormous expansion of the Internet.
Over the next decade, the Department of Defense realized the significance
and potential of the Internet, and nonmilitary organizations were gradually
allowed to link with the ARPANET. Commercial providers like CompuServe
then began making the Internet accessible for those not connected to a univer¬
sity or research institution. The potential for profiting from the Internet fueled
dramatic improvements in speed and ease of use.
The most significant step toward simplicity of use came with the introduc¬
tion of the World Wide Web (Internet), which allows interactive graphics and
audio to be accessed. The World Wide Web was the brainchild of Tim Berners-
Lee of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, who created a computer
language called hypertext that made possible the interactive exchange of text
and graphic images and allowed almost instantaneous connection (linking) to
any item on the Internet. Berners-Lee was actually developing this revolution¬
ary language as the Internet was expanding in the 1970s and 1980s, but it was
only with the introduction of an easy-to-use Web browser (as the software for
interacting with the Web is called) that the Web became widely accessible to
the average person. That first browser—Mosaic—was made available to the
public by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the Univer¬
sity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1991. Three years later, Mosiac’s cre¬
ator, Marc Andreessen, introduced an even more sophisticated browser that
allowed the interaction of sound, text, and images—Netscape Navigator. The
next year Microsoft launched a browser of its own—Internet Explorer.
Today, there are many software options for exploring the Internet and ac¬
cess can be purchased through thousands of national and local service provid¬
ers. A user need no longer be a military researcher or work at a university to
“surf the Net.” There are now more than 100 million users logging onto the
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 5

Internet from the United States alone. Tens of thousands of networks now are
connected by TCP/IP, and the Internet forms a vast communication system that
can legitimately be called an information superhighway.

Uses of the Internet

This section of Part I will explain the most useful features of the Internet for
those interested in history. It will discuss sending and receiving e-mail, read¬
ing and posting messages to Usenet newsgroups and discussion lists, logging
on to remote computers with telnet, transferring files using the file transfer
protocol, and browsing the World Wide Web. The next section will discuss in
detail the software packages that perform these tasks and explain exactly
how to get online.

Sending and Receiving E-mail

E-mail (electronic mail) is the most popular feature of the Internet. It offers
almost instantaneous communication with people all over the world. Rather
than taking days or weeks to reach their destination, e-mail messages arrive in
minutes or seconds. A professor in Indianapolis, Indiana, can correspond with
a student in Delhi, India, in the blink of an eye. A publisher, editor, and author
can exchange drafts of a history book they are preparing with no delay. And
e-mail does not involve the high costs of international postage, fax charges, or
long-distance telephone premiums. E-mail is always part of the basic service
arrangement provided with Internet access, and it is quite easy to use with the
software packages discussed later.

E-mail Addresses

E-mail addresses are very similar to postal addresses. Like a postal address, an
e-mail address provides specific information about where the message is to be
sent along the Internet. For example, a friend’s address might be something like:

[email protected].

If you look at the end of the address, you will notice the .edu suffix. This means
the e-mail message is going to an educational institution. In this case, it is
Depauw University, as the second item indicates. Finally, the address reveals
6 THE BASICS

that the recipient is your friend Glen Kuecker (Gkuecker). This is just like
providing the name, street address, city, state, and zip code on regular mail.
Although the names that individual institutions choose for their Internet
addresses vary widely, all addresses in the United States are broken down into
the computer equivalent of zip codes. We already noted the .edu in the above
message indicates the recipient’s account was at an educational institution.
There used to be six key three-letter designations (the first six listed below)
that provided a clue as to where your e-mail was going or coming from. How¬
ever, that number has now grown exponentially. The following fourteen cat¬
egories are just some of the many options available to today’s Web surfer:

Category Meaning
.com commercial organizations
.edu educational institutions
•gov government organizations (nonmilitary)
.mil military institutions
.net network service providers
•org miscellaneous providers
.aero air-transport industry
.biz businesses
.coop cooperatives
.info unrestricted
.museum museums
.name individuals
.pro accountants, lawyers, and physicians
.country (.xx) two-letter code designating the Web site’s
country of origin

A common naming system for American primary and secondary schools

has also recently been introduced. This system uses the school name, the kl2
designation, and the state where the school is located in the address. A typical
address might read:

[email protected].

This indicates that a student, teacher, or administrator at Howe High School in

Indiana sent the e-mail. The kl2.xx.us will always be present in e-mail coming
from a primary or secondary school, where the xx will be replaced by the
abbreviation for the state.
These designations do not apply to e-mail addresses for accounts located
outside the United States, but an equally simple system exists for identify¬
ing foreign messages. All mail going to or coming from foreign accounts
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 7

ends with a two-letter country code. If you have a colleague in France, you
might receive an e-mail message ending with .fr. You may receive an e-mail
message from an editor in Canada ending in .ca. Or, if you met a historian
with similar interests on that last trip through Tanzania, you might soon
receive mail ending with .tz. Flere is a partial list of these country extensions:

.af Afghanistan
.al Albania
.dz Algeria
.as American Samoa
.ad Andorra
.ao Angola
.ai Anguilla
.aq Antarctica
.ag Antigua and Barbuda
.ar Argentina
.am Armenia
.aw Aruba
.au Australia
.at Austria
.az Azerbaijan
.bs Bahamas
.bh Bahrain
.bd Bangladesh
.bb Barbados
.by Belarus
.be Belgium
.be Belize
.bj Benin
.bm Bermuda
.bj Bhutan
.bo Bolivia
.ba Bosnia-Herzegovina
.bw Botswana
.bv Bouvet Island
.br Brazil
.io British Indian Ocean Territory
.bn Brunei Darussalam
.bg Bulgaria
.bf Burkina Faso
.bi Burundi
.kh Cambodia
8 THE BASICS

.cm Cameroon
.ca Canada
.cv Cape Verde
•ky Cayman Islands
.cf Central African Republic
.td Chad
.cl Chile
.cn China
.cx Christmas Island
.cc Cocos Islands
.CO Colombia
.km Comoros
•eg Congo
.ck Cook Islands
.cr Costa Rica
.ci Cote d’Ivoire
.hr Croatia
.cu Cuba
xy Cyprus
xz Czech Republic
.dk Denmark
.dj Djibouti
.dm Dominica
.do Dominican Republic
.tp East Timor
.ec Ecuador
.eg Egypt
.sv El Salvador
•gq Equatorial Guinea
.er Eritrea
.ee Estonia
.et Ethiopia
.fk Falkland Islands
.fo Faroe Islands
•fj Fiji
.fi Finland
.fr France
•gf French Guiana
•pf French Polynesia
.tf French Southern Territories
•ga Gabon
•gm Gambia
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 9

.ge Georgia
.de Germany
.gh Ghana
.gi Gibraltar
.gb Great Britain
.gr Greece
.gl Greenland
.gd Grenada
.gp Guadeloupe
.gu Guam
.gt Guatemala
.gn Guinea
.gw Guinea-Bissau
.gy Guyana
.ht Haiti
.hm Heard and McDonald Islands
.hn Honduras
.hk Hong Kong
.hu Hungary
.is Iceland
.in India
.id Indonesia
.ir Iran
.iq Iraq
.ie Ireland
.il Israel
.it Italy
.jm Jamaica
.jp Japan
.jo Jordan
.kz Kazakhstan
.ke Kenya
.ki Kiribati
.kp North Korea
.kr South Korea
.kw Kuwait
.kg Kyrgyzstan Republic
.la Lao People’s Democratic Republic
.lv Latvia
.lb Lebanon
.Is Lesotho
.lr Liberia
10 THE BASICS

.ly Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

.li Liechtenstein
.It Lithuania
.lu Luxembourg
.mo Macau
.mk Macedonia
.mg Madagascar
.mw Malawi
.my Malaysia
,mv Maldives
.ml Mali
.mt Malta
.mh Marshall Islands
.mq Martinique
.mr Mauritania
.mu Mauritius
.yt Mayotte
.mx Mexico
.fm Micronesia
.md Moldova
.me Monaco
.mn Mongolia
.ms Montserrat
.ma Morocco
.mz Mozambique
.mm Myanmar
.na Namibia
.nr Nauru
.np Nepal
.nl Netherlands
.an Netherlands Antilles
.nt Neutral Zone
.nc New Caledonia
.nz New Zealand
.ni Nicaragua
.ne Niger
.ng Nigeria
.nu Niue
.nf Norfolk Island
.mp Northern Mariana Islands
.no Norway
.om Oman
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 11

.pk Pakistan
.pw Palau
.pa Panama
.pg Papua New Guinea
.py Paraguay
.pe Peru
ph Philippines
.pn Pitcairn
.pi Poland
.pt Portugal
.pr Puerto Rico
.qa Qatar
.re Reunion
.ro Romania
.ru Russian Federation
.rw Rwanda
.sh Saint Helena
•kn Saint Kitts and Nevis
.lc Saint Lucia
•pm Saint Pierre and Miquelon
.vc Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
.ws Samoa
.sm San Marino
.st Sao Tome and Principe
.sa Saudi Arabia
.sn Senegal
.sc Seychelles
•si Sierra Leone
.sg Singapore
.sk Slovakia
.si Slovenia
.sb Solomon Islands
.so Somalia
.za South Africa
.es Spain
.lk Sri Lanka
.sd Sudan
.sr Suriname
.sj Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
.sz Swaziland
.se Sweden
.ch Switzerland
12 THE BASICS

.sy Syria
.tw Taiwan
.tj Tajikistan
.tz Tanzania
.th Thailand
•tg Togo
.tk Tokelau
.to Tonga
.tt Trinidad and Tobago
.tn Tunisia
.tr Turkey
.tm Turkmenistan
.tc Turks and Caicos Islands
.tv Tuvalu
.ug Uganda
.ua Ukraine
.ae United Arab Emirates
uk United Kingdom
.us United States
.urn United States Minor Outlying Islands
.uy Uruguay
.uz Uzbekistan
.vu Vanuatu
.va Vatican City State
.ve Venezuela
.vn Vietnam
.vg Virgin Islands (British)
.vi Virgin Islands (U.S.)
.wf Wallis and Futuna Islands
.eh Western Sahara
.ye Yemen
.yu Yugoslavia
.zr Zaire
.zm Zambia
,zw Zimbabwe

E-mail Security
Because sending e-mail is so similar to sending a letter by postal service, many
people forget that there are two major differences—federal laws discourage
anyone from looking at (or intercepting) your mail, and sealed packaging
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 13

provides a fairly reliable way to detect tampering, but, unfortunately, e-mail is

not protected in the same ways. As your electronic message passes through the
Internet, it can be read, intercepted, and altered by many individuals.
Some security measures have been developed to protect e-mail just as an
envelope secures letters. The latest versions of many programs that process
e-mail now include the ability to encrypt messages. Encryption converts your
e-mail into a complex code that must be deciphered by an e-mail program or
Web browser that is designed to convert the encoded message back into regular
text. The latest versions of most e-mail programs include the ability to code
and decode encrypted e-mail. If you purchase products and services over the
Internet, you will also want to be certain that your account or credit card num¬
bers are insured by some sort of encryption. Nevertheless, it is prudent to keep
in mind that no security measure is completely reliable. Remember, too, never
to give out your personal information via e-mail or to follow links from
e-mails, which could redirect your browser to a false Web site designed to steal
your personal information. Cut and paste e-mail addresses to your browser for
safety, and only give out personal information using secure encrypted Web
sites to sellers or individuals who have your personal trust. Look for the
padlock icon at the bottom right-hand corner of some browser windows. If
the icon is absent or the padlock open, the site is unencrypted. If the padlock
icon is present and closed, the site is encrypted. Other browsers display en¬
cryption in different ways. Even on an encrypted site, you should still be sure
you are working with a trusted seller before disclosing credit card or other
personal data.

Reading and Posting Messages on Newsgroups

For anyone interested in history, newsgroups are another rewarding feature of
the Internet. Newsgroups are the electronic equivalent of the old New England
town meetings in which anyone could pose a question or make an observation
and others could respond to it. Each newsgroup is regulated by a moderator
who, like the editor of a newspaper, sets the quality and tone of the posts. There
are groups that regularly discuss the Holocaust, the American Revolution, his¬
torical publishing, library concerns, and cartography, just to mention a few
areas. Though newsgroups are declining somewhat in popularity, in favor of
listservs and personal blogs, several remain popular among historians.
Several clues can help you determine the content and nature of groups. Like
e-mail addresses, the addresses of newsgroups provide some insight into the
nature of the group. Take the newsgroup:

alt.civilwar.
14 THE BASICS

This address indicates that the group discusses the alternative topic—the Civil
War. Each newsgroup has a similar address revealing its type and topic. The
following categories will aid in determining which of the nearly ten thousand
newsgroups are worth investigating:

Category Meaning
alt. alternative themes (most groups relating to history carry
the alt. designation)
comp. computer-related topics
misc. miscellaneous themes
news. posts about newsgroups
rec. recreational topics
sci. scientific discussions
soc. social concerns
talk. talk radio-style format

Reading and Posting Messages on

Discussion Lists
Discussion lists are a hybrid mixture of e-mail and newsgroups. With dis¬
cussion lists, the posts and replies that anyone can access in newsgroups
are sent by e-mail only to those who have subscribed to the list. As with
most newsgroups, there is generally an editor who screens the posts before
they are sent to subscribers, maintaining quality and decency. There are
discussion lists that target students, professors, editors, publishers, librar¬
ians, and general readers. Almost any historical topic imaginable has a list
devoted to it. How open the discussion lists are to subscribers is deter¬
mined by the moderators. Some limit membership to those with special
interests, while others permit anyone who wishes to join. Part II discusses
the lists focusing on history and explains their qualifications for subscrip¬
tion in more detail.
Part II will also provide more specific instructions on how to subscribe
to each group. All discussion lists share a basic subscription format, how¬
ever. To subscribe (or to unsubscribe), one simply sends an e-mail message
to the computer that receives and distributes the messages. This computer
is called the listserver (or listserv) because it serves the list. For example,
to send a message to a list discussing the history of dogs (H-Dog), you
would send the e-mail message:

Subscribe H-Dog yourfirstname yourlastname

to the e-mail address:

 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 15

[email protected].

The listserv would quickly acknowledge your registration as a member, and

e-mail posts from the other list members would begin arriving in your box.

Word of Warning About Discussion Lists

You should be careful to join only subscription lists that are truly of interest
and be certain to read your e-mail several times a week. Most discussion lists
are very active, sending out fifteen or more messages per day. If you get car¬
ried away at first, you may find yourself buried under an avalanche of several
hundred e-mail posts awaiting your eager attention. So be careful to subscribe
only to those lists that most interest you until you gain a feel for how much
mail you are likely to receive.

Blogging

Blogs (Weblogs)—pages in which a single person or group of authors chronicles

a particular topic—are of interest to oral historians and others seeking to cap¬
ture history as it is experienced by the individual. There are two basic types of
blogs, individual and interactive. Individual blogs are run by a single person or
small group, and all messages posted come from that one person or small com¬
munity. Interactive blogs allow posts from a much wider group and often spawn
their own blogging communities. The environment created by bloggers and
their readers is collectively known as the blogsphere.
Like readers of e-mail message chains, blog readers must generally start
reading at the end of the blog and work backward, or else read in reverse chro¬
nological order, as the newest messages are added to the top of the page. Fa¬
miliar readers thus will not have to wade through the entire blog to catch up on
the most recent information. This convention can be disorienting for those used
to standard front-to-back reading, but fans of back-to-front graphic novels can
easily adapt to the practice. In interactive blogs, a single topic of great interest
can generate a huge volume of posts, called a blog storm or blog swarm.
Blogs usually consist of a list of chronological entries, with the home page
either containing all the entries or a hyperlinked entry list to facilitate faster
reading. Blogs are equipped with technology that allows the blog owner to
moderate conversations in his or her sphere. Bloggers have had an impact on
politics already, and those studying their historical impact will doubtless have
a challenging task.
16 THE BASICS

Logging Onto a Remote Computer With Telnet

Although more and more libraries are migrating to more user-friendly, icon-
based systems, most people who have used an electronic library catalog in
the past ten years are familiar with the text-based systems used to search for
a book in the library. These machines do not have their own microproces¬
sors, but are linked to a central computer that shares information with all the
terminals connected to it. Telnet is a program offered by all Internet service
providers that permits your home or office computer to act just like those old
terminals at the library. It enables you to temporarily connect to a remote
computer and access its information as if it were on your own computer.
Telnet has decreased in popularity in recent years as icon-based technology
surpassed it in capability and accessibility. Moreover, library databases are
now generally available to the public via the Internet without telnet software
(though, to be sure, some libraries must still rely on text-based systems.)

Transferring Files With File Transfer

Protocol (FTP)

File Transfer Protocol (or FTP) is similar to telnet, but it is still much more
widely used. Like telnet, it is a program that connects you to a remote com¬
puter. FTP does not allow you to read the material on the remote machine;
rather, it allows you to download it to your own computer, or to post your own
files to the remote location. You can use FTP to get a copy of the U.S. Consti¬
tution or to download a program that teaches you the history of the Vietnam
War. Thousands of sites with downloadable files, programs, and historical in¬
formation are out there waiting to be tapped. Many of the best and most useful
FTP sites will be discussed in Part II.
As with telnet, there are many packages that permit FTP access. For
now, we will only mention that three main types of FTP access exist: anony¬
mous FTP, identified FTP, and restricted FTP. Anonymous FTP allows any¬
one to connect to a computer and download information without giving
identification. Identified FTP also allows anyone to copy materials, but it
requires the provision of e-mail address and name, so the sponsors of the
site can maintain statistical information about the use of their site. Restricted
FTP is used by some commercial and private institutions that only allow
FTP for a fee or for authorized users. Part II specifies which of these cat¬
egories the sites fall into and explains how to gain access when a fee or
password is required.
 THE BASICS . USES OF THE INTERNET 17

Browsing the World Wide Web

For most computer users, time on the Internet will mean using a Web browser.
The Web is the most popular and fastest growing section of the Internet be¬
cause it combines text, sound, and graphics to create multimedia sites. History
buffs can find everything from an audio track of the “Battle Hymn of the Re¬
public” to short film clips of JFK’s assassination to a complete version of the
French Encyclopedic.
The Web and Web browser packages owe much of their popularity and po¬
tential to their multimedia format, but they also profit from their ability to link
information. Web page developers can create links to any other page on the
Web, so by merely using your mouse to point at a highlighted image or section
of text and then clicking the correct mouse button, you can almost instantly
bring up that information. Thus, a link on a home page can connect you to any
other site, just as a cross-reference in a textbook sends you to other related
information. This makes the Internet an amazingly easy-to-use source of infor¬
mation or recreation.
The next section discusses the software that makes connecting to the Web
possible, but as with e-mail, you will need to understand Web addresses in
order to find information on the Internet. Do not feel intimidated by the techno¬
talk surrounding the Web. Web addresses, like everything Internet-related, have
a technical name, “uniform resource locators,” (URL). Every page on the Web
has a unique URL. This makes it very easy to go directly to the information
you need. They look something like strings of numbers or letters separated by
dots (periods) and slashes. For example,

http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCiv2/index.html

is simply a link to the Journal of the Association for History and Computing.
Some addresses are longer than this. Some are shorter. All contain three basic
parts. Looking from right to left, the first designation you notice is index.html.
This tells you that you are retrieving a file called index in the HTML format.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard language of the Web for
saving multimedia information. Other possibilities include .gif and .jpeg, which
indicate graphic images files, .avi and .wav, which indicate audio files, and
.mov, which signals a movie; XML is a markup protocol like HTML, but that
also allows metatags, descriptive tags that encode content descriptions. Soft¬
ware can then do more sophisticated searches. Another common protocol is
VRML, virtual-reality-modeling language, an Internet standard for rendering
three-dimensional graphics.
18 THE BASICS

The middle part of the address—mcel.pacihcu.edu/JAHC/JAHCiv2—is just

like an e-mail address, specifying what network and computer stores the infor¬
mation so that your software package can find it on the Internet. The .edu
extension tells you the information is at an educational institution, and, as with
e-mail, there will always be a three-letter code revealing the type of institution
that sponsors the site.
The http:// lets you know that the browser is using the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol to get the information. This is the standard language that governs the
transfer and sharing of information on the Web. If you were using your browser
to telnet or FTP, the http:// would be replaced by ftp:// or telnet:// and then the
address, showing which function your computer is performing.
Of course, you can use the Internet and profit from the World Wide Web
without spending hours studying the technical background, history, and terms.
The next chapter tells you how to get on the Internet and what software you need.
 Chapter 2

Signing On
Dennis A. Trinkle and Jessica Lacher-Feidman

Getting on the Internet

Dennis A. Trinkle

Once upon a time, getting connected to the Internet was the hardest part of
going online. In the early days, if you did not work for the military or a re¬
search institution, you were out of luck. The introduction of commercial pro¬
viders in the 1980s made access easier to obtain, but it might have cost you as
much as a new car. Today, there are thousands of local and national Internet
service providers, and the competition has made Internet access amazingly
inexpensive. In most markets, you can now get almost unlimited access for
$10 to $25 per month. For those fortunate enough to work for a library, col¬
lege, university, or publisher, the price is often even better—free. Getting on
the Internet has never been easier or less expensive.
Internet access is offered by three basic categories of service providers—
corporate/institutional, national commercial, and local commercial providers.
For those who do not have access to the Internet at work or school, there are
several factors to consider in choosing a provider. Unless you use a cable mo¬
dem or DSL, which do not require dial-up access, perhaps most important is
finding a service that offers a local phone number or a toll-free number, so that

19
20 SIGNING ON

you need not pay long-distance charges for your Internet access. The attrac¬
tiveness of the Internet vanishes quickly in the presence of a $400 phone bill.
Fortunately, there are now so many service providers it is usually easy to find
a provider that offers a local phone number in your area, even in rural zones.
Cable and satellite providers are also scurrying to offer other access options
besides telephone connections.
The second consideration is the type of service you desire. Many national
and local service providers in your city or state will offer almost unlimited
access to the Internet, e-mail, FTP, and other basic services for very affordable
rates. (Local service providers can be found by looking in your local phone
book under “Internet Service Providers.”)

Hardware

Convenient use of the Internet and its many tools is governed by speed. The
faster your computer can send and process information, the more pleasur¬
able and productive your time on the Net will be. Thus, there is a simple rule
of thumb that guides the purchase of computer equipment for use on the
Internet: Buy the best machine you can realistically afford. This does not
mean to mortgage your house just to get better equipment. All new comput¬
ers sold today are more than adequate for exploring the resources described
in this book. Even most of those sold within the last four years have enough
capacity to handle most Internet functions. More memory (RAM), a faster
processor, and a speedier modem will all enable you to interact with the Net
more quickly, however.

Software

While many educational institutions and the national service providers such
as AOL and CompuServe offer their own software packages with directions
and tutorials, those who choose local service providers can select the soft¬
ware they wish to use to access the Internet. Most local service providers
will also give new users software needed to access the Internet along with
detailed instructions. In principle, however, you can use any package you
wish to connect to the Internet through a local provider. This section will
present brief descriptions of some of the best packages and explain where to
obtain them.
 SIGNING ON . WEB BROWSERS AND E-MAIL PROGRAMS 21

Web Browsers and E-mail Programs

The two powerhouse packages (Web browsers, as they are called) that most
Intemauts use are Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
They combine all the tools for accessing the Web and sending e-mail. Both can
display the combinations of graphics and text that make the Internet a lively
and exciting resource. They are simple to use, come with tutorials and a help
feature, and are good choices for all users from novices to experts.
Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer also can both be
downloaded on the Internet free of charge. You can download Netscape at the
following address (please note, addresses are case sensitive):

http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/.

Microsoft Internet Explorer can be downloaded at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx.

Netscape and Internet Explorer perform all the functions you need to ex¬
plore the Internet, including e-mail. However, those who send and receive a
lot of electronic correspondence, or who plan to send long files along with
their messages, may prefer to use a package designed specifically to handle
electronic mail. If you purchased some version of Microsoft Office, you may
have received Microsoft Outlook as part of your package (this differs from
Microsoft Outlook Express, a scaled-down version of the same program).
This is a popular e-mail program that many companies and universities rely
upon. Qualcomm’s Eudora is also an excellent package for handling e-mail.
It is available in free and paid versions, with the paid versions having better
features and no ads. It also features an attractive graphic environment and
menu, which makes it easy to use.
Eudora is available for download at:

http://www.eudora.com/.

Finally, Pegasus mail is available free from the Mercury Mail Transport sys¬
tem. It is compatible with all operating systems, including Linux. Its author,
David Harris, intends to keep the system free to anyone who downloads it, so
that information can be exchanged freely. Like Eudora, the system has user-
friendly graphics and menus.
Pegasus is available at:
http://www.pmail.com/.
 22 SIGNING ON

Netiquette and Copyright

There are some basic courtesies that keep the free and open communication of
the Internet polite and enjoyable. Here are some netiquette hints that can keep
you from accidentally offending someone.

General Netiquette

The most important thing to remember is that Internet communication is just

like writing a letter. Electronic messages, however, can be seen by many
individuals other than the intended recipient. They can be forwarded to count¬
less people. They can even be printed and posted in public areas. Thus, the
golden rule of Internet communication should never be forgotten:

Never write anything you would not want a stranger to read.

It is also important to remember that e-mail is judged by the same stan¬

dards as other written communication. Sometimes, the ease and speed of
electronic communication lulls users into forgetting to check grammar and
spelling. This can lead to your e-mail being forwarded to thousands of indi¬
viduals, and you do not want people all over the Internet laughing because
you innocently asked if it was Vasco de Gama who circumcised the world
with a 40-foot clipper.
There are also several special grammatical conventions that govern the
Internet. One important rule is not TO WRITE EVERYTHING OUT IN CAPI¬
TAL LETTERS or to underline everything, italicize everything, or put every¬
thing in bold. Seasoned e-mail readers consider this the equivalent of shouting
at the top of your lungs, and it is considered the mark of a “newbie,” or some¬
one who has not yet learned how to behave on the Internet.
Because e-mail lacks a convenient way to convey emotion through text, you
will also often encounter special symbols in e-mail correspondence. For ex¬
ample, a :) or :(is often put after a sentence to express happiness or sadness. A
0 may be added to express surprise. A may be inserted to indicate confusion,
and history buffs who think they are Abe Lincoln may include a =!:-)= some¬
where in their messages. Some users may also add full-fledged smiley face
icons. These emoticons add a bit of charm to Internet communication, but it is
important to remember that they are only appropriate in informal correspon¬
dence. They should not be overdone. Too many emotive symbols are consid¬
ered another mark of a newbie.
 SIGNING ON . NETIQUETTE AND COPYRIGHT 23

Rules for Newsgroups and Discussion Lists

and Blog Posts

Besides the netiquette governing general Internet communication, there are

also some rules for those who wish to participate in newsgroups, discussion
lists, and blogs.

1* Before you make a post to a group or list, it is wise to follow the

group’s posts for a while. This will help you to know what has already
been asked and what type of questions/statements is considered ap¬
propriate. Asking repetitive or uninformed questions can get you off
to a bad start.
2. Think before you write. Do not send off emotional or ill-considered
responses to posts. (This is called “flaming” in Internet parlance.)
Take time to consider criticisms, sarcasms, and insults carefully. Re¬
member the Internet is not an anonymous frontier, and online remarks
can be just as hurtful as any others. Moreover, it can be more difficult
to convey with text an emotion that is easily transmitted by voice. A
seemingly innocent remark can come off brash and rude because it
was not phrased carefully.
3. Do not send private correspondence to groups or lists. If you just want
to thank someone, send the message to the person directly. And be
very careful when you reply to a message. The “reply all” feature of
your e-mail program is both a boon and a potential bane. You do not
want to accidentally tell several thousand readers about your date last
night because you replied to the wrong address or to all of the original
recipients.
4. Do not post advertisements to groups or lists. This is considered ex¬
tremely rude and intrusive, and it is the surest way to become the
victim of vicious flaming. Internauts are being careful to avoid the
spread of junk mail to the Internet. Spam is already prevalent enough
without any further contributions.

Copyright

The question of copyright is an important one for students, teachers, librarians,

publishers, and all those on the Internet. Everyone wants to know what laws
govern copying and sharing information on the Internet, and lawyers and law¬
makers are working to develop clear rules that govern electronic mediums. For
24 SIGNING ON

now, the issues of copyright as they pertain to the Internet are still somewhat
hazy, but there are some certainties that can guide your steps.
Most important, all online correspondence, files, and documents are handled
like other written documents. They are automatically held to be copyrighted in
the individual author’s name. When an Internet item is copyrighted by some
other party, the copyright holder generally identifies himself or herself at the
end of the document.
Students, teachers, and general users will be glad to know that Internet docu¬
ments can be copied according to the fair use rules that govern printed sources.
You can make personal copies of online documents and images, and you can
incorporate them in instructional packages (if you are a student, teacher, or
librarian) as long as the package is in no way intended to generate a profit, and
only a small percentage of the overall work is copied. Other more precise rules
governing copyright will undoubtedly be developed in the near future. For
now, the safest course seems to be treating Internet sources just like other writ¬
ten documents. Students will be wise to cite their Internet sources very care¬
fully and clearly in the texts of their papers or in footnotes. Copying and past¬
ing work directly from the Internet into your term paper, without the use of
both quotation marks and appropriate citation, is a form of plagiarism that is
particularly simple to catch.

Evaluating Online Resources

Tools, Tips, and Terms
Jessica Lacher-Feldman

The Web Today

More and more we find ourselves dependent on the World Wide Web as a
research tool. The way we seek and find information has changed remarkably:
in just the past couple of years, a new term—a verb—has entered into the
American linguistic landscape. We find ourselves saying things like “Just Google
it. I bet you’ll find what you’re looking for.” The use of Internet search engines
as the first and only stop for information has completely changed the way that
some students and teachers approach research and information seeking.
The challenge that this notion presents is that many people do not realize
that these search engines are not magically verifying the veracity or adequacy
of the information that they provide. Spiders and robots crawl the Web and
 SIGNING ON . EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES 25

look for terms that appear in the Web sites’ content and in metatags. These
robots do not discriminate—they grab everything and anything that they are
programmed to find and happily give it all back to you in your search results.
As with any research endeavor, it is the responsibility of the end users to
verify that the information that they use is good material—that it comes
from reliable and unbiased sources and that it was written with no hidden
agenda. This section will introduce you to the terms, tips, and tools you
need to understand how to evaluate Internet resources, both in their content
and their sources.

Information Literacy and Peer Review

As a general rule, much of the content of the World Wide Web has not been
written with the same rigorous scholarship that you find in scholarly journals,
newspaper articles, and books. The notion of peer review does not necessarily
have an impact on the content of the vast majority of the materials on the World
Wide Web, though there is certainly an abundance of free and easily accessible
materials on the Web that reflects excellent scholarship. For example, numer¬
ous free online journals have undergone a rigorous peer review process, such
as the Journal for the Association for History and Computing (,JAHC), avail¬
able online at http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCindex.HTM.
Traditionally, academic publishing involved a great deal of editorial con¬
trol, and the distribution of scholarly work was greatly limited; subscription
print journals found their way to libraries and to the offices of professors, and
often not much further. Electronic publishing and the Internet have in many
ways made it much easier to produce and distribute excellent scholarship to a
broader and broader audience. Certainly a wealth of information exists on the
Internet, and The History Highway helps to demystify much of the historical
research information that exists online. The Internet can provide end users of
all kinds with the information that they seek.
With all of this at your fingertips, one question needs to remain at the fore¬
front of your mind and should be considered and reconsidered: Are all Web
resources created equal?
The answer, unfortunately, is no. But that only requires you to be a better
information consumer. The Web certainly offers a level of convenience never
seen before. The speed with which you can retrieve information on a host of
subjects is unprecedented. Students and other information consumers often
come to the Internet believing it holds all the information they need for a re¬
search paper or other project. This is a dangerous assumption. Researchers and
others who use only the Web invariably hinder their scholastic potential and,
indeed, their own credibility.
26 SIGNING ON

Without question there is a great deal of wonderful, accurate, and valuable

information on the Internet. Course syllabi from other colleges and universi¬
ties shed light on a particular subject and provide still more resources, both
print and online. Web sites of archival repositories and other cultural institu¬
tions identify and describe their collections online, providing users with au¬
thenticated digital surrogates as well as context for some of their holdings. The
Internet offers an incredible bounty of information, but as with any type of
research, the user must exercise good judgment in evaluating its value, author¬
ity, verity, and validity.
There is a term that is used often in describing this ability—information
literacy. Information literacy is a skill set that allows individuals to “recognize
where information is needed” and “to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the
needed information.”1 These skills are critical in the era of the Internet. With
the relative ease and access of the Internet, anyone with the ability to use Web
development software and access to a bit of Web space can place any material
at all online. This accessibility can create numerous challenges for researchers
who fail to evaluate the information they retrieve.
The History Highway presents a broad range of history-related Web
sites that have been evaluated and recommended by scholars in their respec¬
tive fields. However, in such a volatile and rapidly evolving and changing
environment, a Web site can disappear overnight, leaving frustrated and be¬
wildered researchers behind. There have been efforts to archive the vast
amount of information on the Web at given times, taking massive snapshots
of the Internet on a regular basis. Sources such as the Internet Archive (http:/
/Internet.archive.org/) are useful tools and excellent resources in researching
the evolution of the Internet itself, but the constant shift—loss and gain of
the availability of Web sites—remains frustrating for users. Sites are con¬
stantly being added and deleted from the Internet. Sites that were once free
might begin charging a fee for use, limit access, or change their interface,
editorial policy, or even overall mission.
The speed, breadth, and availability of online resources have changed the
way that libraries do business, as well as the way a researcher might approach
a project. For many researchers, serendipitous browsing of library stacks has
been replaced by surfing the Web. There is room in the world for both ap¬
proaches, and it is certain that one approach is not clearly better than the other.
Over the years, users have developed a degree of trust in regard to print
sources. Editors review books and journals, and publishers are committed to
printing and distributing these works. The process of publishing an article in
an academic journal or a scholarly monograph through a commercial or uni¬
versity press is long and tedious. Copy editors carefully scrutinize these sub¬
missions, and a panel or group of peers reviews and edits them long before the
material is presented in its final form to the public. Then, these print resources
 SIGNING ON . EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES 27

are sometimes reviewed by other journals, adding additional end value to the
information they contain. These peer-reviewed sources are traditionally deemed
reliable, accurate, and acceptable to use in research.

The Democratization of Information

One of the greatest things about the Web is that anyone with an Internet ac¬
count, reasonable access to Web development tools, and a little bit of Web
space can put something—anything—out there for the world to see. The Internet
has democratized the distribution of information by offering this means to self-
publish material. Much of the material on the Web has not been scrutinized by
anyone. The vast majority of Web sites are not reviewed or refereed, certainly
not to the extent that scholarly print materials are reviewed. Independent enti¬
ties may review and award great Web sites, but they do not necessarily review
content; their concern is rather appearance, functionality, and creativity. One
such entity is the Webby Awards (http://Internet.webbyawards.com/).While
these awards are prestigious, they are not the same as peer review.
The democratization of information—new materials being made available
to the public every day—does not make it easier for the end user to do work. In
fact, this makes it even more critical for all end users to learn to evaluate the
online materials they consider using for research or information. The danger in
finding faulty information on the Internet increases exponentially as more and
more material is made available. By taking a Web source at face value without
first trying to verify the information it contains as well as the source or sources
for that information, users run the risk of perpetrating an untruth, not to men¬
tion personal and professional embarrassment.

Evaluating Web Sites: What to Look For

Many Web sites indicate on the index or home page that they are endorsed by
a particular group or evaluating body. This endorsement does not necessarily
hold the same weight as a peer-reviewed journal. However, depending on the
endorsing body itself and its agenda, this simple piece of information offers
initial evidence of the validity and informational value of the Web site.
With the ability to do research online at any time and from practically any
place comes the responsibility to understand and evaluate online materials to
make certain that these resources are accurate, unbiased, and of high quality.
With practice, common sense, and a few skills, you become a good informa¬
tion consumer. You must develop critical thinking skills and an understanding
 28 SIGNING ON

of how to evaluate online sources—that is, you must gain a degree of informa¬
tion literacy. The ability to evaluate online resources when doing research is an
extension of the ability to evaluate print resources and primary source materi¬
als. Indeed, developing skills to evaluate online resources has become a critical
and absolutely necessary first step in the research process.

The Questions
Content: There are several questions that you need to ask as you view a site for
the first time. When you first locate a Web site, take a look at the overall con¬
tent. Are the title and the author of the site easily identified? Is the author
credible? Are the author’s credentials clearly listed and verifiable? Does the
author document experience and expertise on the subject presented? Does the
site represent a specific group or organization? Is this clearly indicated or bur¬
ied within the site itself?
It is important to identify a corporate entity, political group, or religious body
sponsoring the site. These bodies may have hidden agendas, despite the
organization’s attempt to present clear and unbiased information to its potential
end users. Clues to the verity of this kind of site might be present in the URL.
If a Web address ends with .com, then this is corporate or commercial Web
site. A site with the .edu suffix is from an educational institution, most likely a
college or university. However, it should be noted that individuals affiliated
with an institution can often place data on the institution’s site. These sites
generally display a tilde (~) somewhere in the URL and should be accessed
with a bit more caution. The content may or may not be sanctioned by the host
institution and may well contain biased or incorrect information. However, the
page might just as easily be written by a noted professor in the field. Such a
page might look like this:

http://Intemet.ua.edu/~jdoe.html.

As a general rule, .gov, .org, and .edu sites contain the most reliable informa¬
tion on the Internet with regard to history and history-related sources.
Purpose: When looking at the content of a particular Web site, you must
also seek out the purpose of the material presented. That is to say, does the
material appear to be scholarly or popular? Who appears to be the intended
audience for this Web site? Is it written for students, scholars, or peers? Does
the language talk down to its audience? Does it oversimplify complicated in¬
formation? Does it use language to complicate a simple or commonly under¬
stood topic?
 SIGNING ON . EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES 29

Tone: It is critical to also look at the tone of the material presented. As with
print material, the end user must be able to recognize the fundamental differ¬
ences in language style, as well as the differences between a scholarly and
nonscholarly work. A scholarly work is generally intended for a relatively nar¬
row audience and is usually serious in content as well as overall appearance
and presentation. (However, good scholars can also use humor in their works
to good effect!) Popular works, in direct contrast, are written for a broader
audience and therefore have broader appeal. While this may not always be the
case, the Web site developed for a popular audience may have more graphics,
bolder use of color, and broader, more general topics. For example, compare
these two Web sites:

http://Intemet.eonline.com/
and

http:// mcel .pacificu. edu/JAHC/JAHCindex. HTM.

The first site is divided into numerous components, with several graphics, a
scrolling bar of headlines, a slide show of alternating photographs and blink¬
ing text, and, most notably, advertising for various products. The second site is
a sober white page with a simple graphic and blue and black text, and no ad¬
vertising. The second site listed here is full of valuable information, but it is
evident that neither its strength, nor its focus, is on grabbing the attention of a
broad audience. It should be noted, however, that Web design is constantly
getting more sophisticated, and even the most scholarly of Web sites now fea¬
ture Flash, JavaScript, beautiful illustrations, and bold and stylish Web design.
As with books, you cannot judge them by their covers—or home pages!
It is also important, as with print sources, to understand that Web sites may
contain information that seems appropriate to your work, but does not have the
level of scholarly value needed for your research. Some sites, while they do
provide valuable information, are not geared toward the scholar or expert in a
given field. Another type of site relies upon sensationalism, playing upon the
curiosity and gullibility of its readers by using inflammatory language. For
example, compare the following two sites:

http://scientificamerican.com
and

http://Intemet.weeklyworldnews.com/.

While these two sites are obvious examples of the differences between types of
online publications, comparing the style, content, and language serves as a
useful exercise in understanding the broad range of online publications avail¬
able with a simple search. A search for “prehistoric man” will generate results
30 SIGNING ON

in both of these Web sites. However, the data on the Scientific American site is
much, much more reliable. (And it does not hurt to note that Scientific Ameri¬
can is also a peer-reviewed print journal with a Web arm.) While you may
never consider using the Weekly World News in a research project, information
that is just as inflammatory, inaccurate, or fictional exists throughout the Internet
in much more subtle guises like the Holocaust Deniers of America.
Scope: You must also consider the scope of the material presented in the site
being evaluated. Does the site appear to be narrowly or broadly focused on the
subject at hand? How does it compare to other things you have read on this
same topic? If the creator appears to have omitted important dates, events, or
particular aspects of the issue or topic presented, this should immediately indi¬
cate a problem with the site. Has a list of related sources, a bibliography or
webliography, been included on the site? If so, does the list appear to be biased
in any way? Look at the other URLs listed. How does their inclusion reflect
upon the site you are investigating?
Currency: The very basic question of currency is one that must be asked
when evaluating a Web site. When was the material last updated? Is there a
date for the last update? Does the site include the most recent editions of
materials referenced? If the Web site has not been updated for a long time, or
if citations refer to outdated editions of other sources, this should be a cause
for concern. Though some historical discussions remain valid for years after
their sites were last updated, many abandoned sites lack, at best, the most
recent findings in a field. Is there more current and accurate information
elsewhere? Has an old source been used in order to further an unpopular or
outdated opinion? Are these opinions current? Does the language appear
old-fashioned? Are the terms used considered politically incorrect or offen¬
sive? These biases may be especially evident when researching issues of
race, gender, sexuality, or class online. You should consider whether the
Internet is the best place to seek out the information you need. While a Web
site mounted in 1996 may have the best information available online about a
particular event, it is the responsibility of the researcher to verify this infor¬
mation and make certain that the site is the best possible source for the pur¬
pose it is being used.
Sources: When researching on the Internet, always seek out the sources
used to create a site. All of this information should be clearly stated either on
the home or index page or on a bibliography included in the site. Are there
accurate and clear citations? Can these citations be readily verified? If the in¬
formation is not easily accessible or readily available, there may be a problem.
Check the links provided on the site. Are the linked sites appropriate, useful,
and current?
Style: When it comes to Web sites, style is not just a question of simple
aesthetics, but can often indicate if the creator of the site is skilled and serious
 SIGNING ON . EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES 31

about the information presented. An attractive Web site suggests to the researcher
accuracy and authority, but this is certainly not always the case. In the informa¬
tion age, you must learn to be a good information consumer. This is done not
only by reviewing all the components stated above, but also by taking note of
things such as navigability, structure, and usability of any given Web site. Is
there search capability on the site? If not, how does the lack of a search func¬
tion interfere with the functionality of the site? How does the writing style
correspond to the information in the site and the site’s intended audience? All
these factors should be noted carefully when considering any Web site for use
in research of any kind. All information is not created equal.
Images. The Internet, among its many achievements, has created a venue
for sharing information graphically as well as through the written word. Im¬
ages on the Web can provide excellent historical evidence and are valuable
tools for research. Images of handwritten letters, photographs, art, and other
materials can be extremely interesting and valuable, enhancing the research
experience immensely. But it is necessary to be aware that images can readily
be altered in order to provide false evidence to support a controversial belief.
Such alterations of images are especially common in sites created by hate
groups, most notably Holocaust deniers, who proliferate on the Internet and
actively seek to spread their beliefs to others. Because the Web is accessible to
anyone, both end users and creators, it has become an easy, effective way to
make available materials that are misleading and perpetrate falsehoods. Some
Web sites are blatant in that regard, but others manipulate users into believing
that they are looking at vetted, accurate information. You must look for bias by
investigating the creator of the site and the creator’s agenda. The information
may not be readily obvious to the end user. A legitimate nonprofit organization
can have an .org Web address, but an .org site does not, by mere definition,
house reliable or unbiased information.
When controversial information is presented to an audience in a slick, ma¬
nipulative fashion, the novice researcher could easily be fooled into taking that
information at face value as accurate. It is critical when using digitized surro¬
gates of primary source material, including images of photographs, letters, or
other correspondence, to take note of the Web address and trace its origin_
verifying the source of that image. Compare these two URLs:

http://rmc.library.comell.edu/FRENCHREV/Lafayette/exhibit/
ampolimages/iampol Jips.htm

and

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/FRENCHREV/Lafayette
/images/screen/2_l 1 .jpg
32 SIGNING ON

Both URLs are from the same collection but this is not immediately clear. The
first offers an image of a handwritten recipe for Martha Washington’s famous
lip salve; the second is a portion of a letter presented on a page with no support
documentation or transcription associated. In this case, the only indication that
the material is probably reliable comes from the URL, which shows that the
image is based in Cornell’s library. While many older online exhibitions or
digital collections may serve up images without accompanying information,
the information in the URL is often enough to verify the validity and veracity
of the image. The second URL here is clearly from a collection of images at
Cornell University Library on the French Revolution and on Lafayette. By
working from right to left and breaking down the URL, you can readily deter¬
mine where the image is from and how it is being used, and if, in turn, it is an
accurate and valid source.
Without the accompanying URL on the second site, all we have is a digi¬
talized handwritten page with no information about the creator, the context, or
anything else. By using a program such as Adobe Photoshop, an unscrupulous
creator of a Web site could alter a document or photograph with relative ease in
order to support a personal agenda. While there is no great controversy in lip
salve, it is critical to look for possible hidden agendas, as well as physical
inconsistencies in the images themselves. Do they look altered? Is there evi¬
dence of pixelization or smudging concentrated in one area? Do other photo¬
graphs on this site have similar problems or issues? Are there higher resolution
images available to the end user as well?
Digitized Primary Sources: Digital surrogates, in the form of online exhibi¬
tions and collections, have increased dramatically over the past few years. Insti¬
tutional repositories, digital archives, and virtual collections of all kinds are be¬
coming de rigueur in libraries and archives across the United States and beyond.
Theses exhibitions and digital collections provide excellent opportunities to gain
access to materials that, without the advent of the Internet and its rich graphics
capabilities, would be nearly impossible to see. It is important, however, to keep
in mind that materials seen online are surrogates, digital images of an original
document. Whether the surrogates are being accessed or made available as pres¬
ervation copies in the same repository where you are doing your research, or are
being accessed from halfway around the world, it is critical to review the URL to
determine where these images are from and how they are being used.
Copyright and Fair Use: It is essential to consider issues of copyright and
fair use when using any resource, including Web resources. Copyright laws are
complicated and confusing to most people, but some general rules must be
kept in mind. Even if copyright information is not presented on the Web site or
is not made clear or evident, the material most probably still falls under copy¬
right law. While access to the material may be free on the Internet, you must
adhere to the same copyright laws as with print material.
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 CHAPTER VII
GETTING BACK AT “PITCHFORK”
The three chums were not very jolly as they began their return to
Randall college, whither the baseball team had preceded them some
time before. Sid, Phil and Tom had sent their suits back with some of
their friends while they attended the little tea given by Ruth Clinton
—the tea which had had such an unfortunate ending.
Tom and Phil conversed in low tones about the team and the
showing made that day in the first formal game of the season, but
as for Sid, he kept to himself in one corner of the electric car, and
there was a moody look on his face.
“He’s taking it hard,” observed Phil in a low voice.
Tom shook his head. “I can’t understand it,” he said.
Sid stalked into the room ahead of his chums and threw himself
down on the old sofa, which creaked and groaned with his weight.
“Easy, old man,” called Phil good naturedly. “We’ve had that in the
family for three terms, now, and it’s a regular heirloom. Don’t smash
it for us. Remember what a time we had last term, patching it up,
and moving it here from our old room?”
“Yes, and how Langridge was upset trying to get down stairs past
us,” added Tom. “Have a little regard for the sofa, Sid.”
“Oh, hang the sofa!” burst out the lad, and then Tom and Phil
knew it was useless to talk to him. Phil crossed the room softly and
sat cautiously down in the old armchair. Tom looked at the alarm
clock, and exclaimed:
 “Jove! If it hasn’t stopped! Must be something wrong,” and he
hurriedly wound it, and then started it by the gentle process of
pounding it on the edge of the table. Soon the fussy clicking was
again heard. “It’s all right,” went on the pitcher, in relieved tones.
“Gave me heart disease at first. The clock is as much of a relic as
the chair and sofa. But I’ve got to mend my glove again. It’s ripped
in the same place. Rotten athletic goods they’re selling nowadays.”
There came a knock on the door, and Wallops, the messenger,
who stood revealed as the portal was opened, announced:
“Mr. Zane would like to see you, Mr. Henderson.”
 “MR. ZANE WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU,
MR. HENDERSON.”
“Me?” inquired Sid.
“Yep,” was the sententious answer.
Saying nothing further, the second baseman got up, and, as the
messenger went down the hall, he followed slowly.
“He’s in for it, I’m afraid,” remarked Tom dubiously.
 “Looks so,” agreed Phil. “It’s about that item in the paper, of
course. Too bad it leaked out.”
But what took place at the interview with the proctor, Sid’s chums
did not learn until long afterward. All that became known was that
Dr. Churchill was summoned, and that Sid was in the proctor’s study
a long time. He returned to his room a trifle pale, and with
unnaturally bright eyes. Throwing himself on the creaking sofa he
stared at the ceiling moodily, while Phil and Tom maintained a
discrete silence.
“Why don’t some of you fellows say something?” burst out Sid
finally. “Think this is a funeral?”
“We didn’t think you wanted to have a talk-fest,” observed Tom.
“What in blazes am I to do?” asked Sid desperately.
“What about?” inquired Phil.
“You know—Miss Harrison. I don’t want to have her think I’m a
gambler. I’m not—I——”
“Then why don’t you tell her why you were in Dartwell the night of
the raid?” suggested the captain.
“I—I can’t,” burst out Sid. “It’s impossible!”
Tom shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh, I know what you mean!” burst out Sid. “It looks as if I wasn’t
telling the truth. But I am—you’ll believe me—some day.”
“Forget it,” advised Phil. “Let’s talk about baseball. Have you seen
the loving cup trophy?”
“It’s a beaut!” declared Tom. “I saw it in the doctor’s study. We’re
going to win it, too!”
“Hope so,” murmured Phil. “If we have a few more games like to-
day, we may. But speaking of games——”
He was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sid started and leaped
up from the sofa.
 “I’ll go,” he exclaimed. “If it’s a message——”
He did not finish, but Tom and Phil looked significantly at each
other. Clearly Sid expected another mysterious summons. But, as he
opened the portal there stood the Jersey twins.
“Hello, fellows,” began Joe, “do you want to see some sport?”
“Fine sport,” added Jerry, who sometimes echoed his brother, a
trick that was interchangeable with the twins.
“We’re always ready for sport,” replied Tom. “What is it: baiting a
professor, or hazing some freshies?”
“Professor,” replied Joe.
“Pitchfork,” echoed Jerry, that name, as I have explained, being
applied to Professor Emerson Tines.
“What’s up now?” asked Phil.
“Oh, he’s been particularly obnoxious of late,” went on Joe. “Some
of us had a little smoker the other night, strictly sub-rosa, you
understand, but he smelled us out, and now some of us are doing
time for it. To-day Bricktop Molloy evolved a little scheme, and we
thought we’d let you fellows in on it. Want to come, Sid?” for Sid
had gone back to the sofa.
“No, I guess not,” he answered listlessly.
“What’s the matter—sick?” inquired Joe, in a whisper of Tom and
Phil. They shook their heads, and motioned to the twins not to make
further inquiries.
“What’s the game?” asked Tom. “We’ll come.”
“We’re going to get back at Pitchfork,” went on Jerry. “Come along
and you’ll see. I’ll just explain, though, that he has quietly been
‘tipped off’ to the effect that another smoker is in progress, and if he
does as we expect him to, he’ll try to raid the room.”
“And if he does?”
 “Well, he won’t find what he expects to. Come on, and keep quiet.
What’s the matter with Sid, anyhow?” for by this time the four were
out in the corridor, leaving the moody one in the room.
“Hanged if we know,” replied Phil, “except that there’s a girl mixed
up in it.” He refrained from saying anything about the accusation,
thinking that would be noised about soon enough.
“Oh, if it’s only a girl he’ll soon be over it,” declared Joe with a
professional air.
“Of course,” echoed his brother. “Come on.”
Phil and Tom soon found themselves in the midst of a number of
choice spirits, who moved silently about the lower end of the
corridor, near a room that was sometimes used for student
meetings, and where, more than once, it was whispered, smokers
had been held, in violation of the rules. The reason for the selection
of this apartment was that it had an open fireplace, which carried off
the fumes of the tobacco.
“Did he get the tip?” asked Jerry, as he and his brother, together
with Phil and Tom, came up.
“He sure did,” answered Bricktop. “Reports from the front are that
he is on the warpath.”
“Is everything working all right?” asked Joe.
“Fine. Can’t you smell it?”
Tom and Phil sniffed the air. There was an unmistakable odor of
tobacco.
“But if there’s a smoker going on in there, why was Pitchfork
tipped off?” inquired Tom.
“Wait an’ ye’ll see, me lad,” advised Bricktop in his rich brogue. “I
think he’s coming now. Pump her up, Kindlings!”
Then, for the first time Tom and his chum noticed that Dan
Woodhouse had a small air pump, which he was vigorously working,
as he stood in a dark corner.
Footsteps sounded down the corridor. There were hasty cautions
from the ringleaders, and the lads hid themselves in the dim
shadows of the big hall. The footsteps came nearer, and then they
seemed to cease. But the reason was soon apparent, for Professor
Emerson Tines was now tip-toeing his way toward the door of the
suspected room. By the dim light of a half-turned down gas jet he
could be seen sneaking up. The only sound from the students was
the faint sound of the air pump. Tom and Phil could not imagine
what it was for.
Professor Tines reached the portal. Then he gave a sudden knock,
and called:
“I demand to be admitted at once, young gentlemen! I know the
nefarious practice that is going on in there, and it must stop at once!
Open the door or I shall summon the janitor and have it forced!
Open at once!”
The professor tried the knob. To his surprise it at once opened the
door, and he almost stumbled into the apartment. He uttered an
exclamation of delight, probably in the belief that he had caught the
students red-handed, but the next moment he gave a gasp of
dismay.
For, as Tom, Phil, and all the others could see from their vantage
points in the shadowy recesses, the room was empty. It was lighted,
however, and in plain view on a table in the middle of the floor was
a large flask. In the top of this there was a receptacle which
contained a pile of burning tobacco, and it was glowing as though
some giant was puffing on the improvised pipe. From a glass tube
extending from the flask there poured out volumes of the pungent
odor, and, as the puffs came, Tom and Phil could hear the air pump
being worked. It was a “studentless smoker,” the air pump, attached
to a rubber hose which exhausted the air from the flask, producing
exactly the effect of some one puffing a pipe. The room was blue
with the haze of tobacco, and as the astonished professor stood and
gazed at the strange sight more smoke arose from the flask. Then,
from somewhere in the dark recesses of the corridor came a voice.
“Stung!” it ejaculated, and there was a hurried movement as the
students fled in the darkness.
 CHAPTER VIII
THE ENVELOPE
Plunging on through the darkened corridors Tom and Phil reached
their room. They found Sid still on the sofa.
“Say, that was great!” cried Tom, venturing to laugh, now that
there was no danger of being caught. “You should have been along,
Sid. Pitchfork got his to-night, all right. I’ll never forget the blank
look on his face.”
“I either,” agreed Phil. “That was a smoker as was a smoker. I
hope none of us are caught. The twins and Bricktop outdid
themselves this trip.”
Sid began to show some signs of interest, and the trick was told of
in detail to him. Of course a faculty inquiry followed, but the hose
and air pump had been taken from the school laboratory, and there
were no clues to the perpetrators. Professor Tines was furious, and
demanded that the guilty ones be dismissed.
“Willingly, my dear professor,” agreed the venerable Dr. Churchill,
“if I can only find them,” and there was a twinkle in his deep-set
eyes, which he took care that Mr. Tines did not see.
Baseball practice went on for several days. One afternoon, as the
lads were dispersing, Ed Kerr was seen coming over the diamond,
holding in his hand a letter.
“We can’t play Fairview Saturday,” he announced.
“Why not?” asked Tom quickly.
“They say they’re not quite ready to open their season,” went on
the manager. “They ask me to put the opening game off a week.”
 “Are you going to do it?” inquired several.
“Well, what do you fellows say?” asked the manager.
“Oh, well, they probably have a good reason. We’ll let it go a
week,” assented Tom. “But can we get another game in place of it?”
“Yes, I can fill in with the Layton Preparatory school for this
Saturday, and we can go to Wescott University the following
Saturday, and then tackle Fairview, if you fellows say so.”
“Sure,” came in a chorus.
When Tom and Phil returned to their room Sid was not there.
“What do you think about it, anyhow, Phil?” asked the pitcher, and
there was no need to be more explicit.
“Oh, hang it all, I don’t know. It looks funny; about Sid not
wanting to tell. And he sure is cut up over Miss Harrison. I wonder
who sent her that newspaper clipping?”
“Give it up. But I heard that there was a raid all right, and a lot of
college fellows were caught. Some of ’em were our chaps, but they
managed to keep their identity hidden. I don’t see how Sid’s got
out.”
“Then you think he was there?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. But it looks mighty funny. I do hope he
isn’t going to cut loose, just at the opening of the ball season,” and
Tom sighed, as though he had the weight of worlds on his shoulders.
And, indeed it is no small task to be captain of a lively college team,
struggling to win the championship trophy, and the pitcher was
beginning to realize this.
“Oh, maybe he just wanted a fling,” suggested Phil. “Now he’s had
it he’s ashamed to admit it, and wants to cover it up.”
“But he denies that he was caught,” said Tom.
“I know it; but what good will that do him, if he doesn’t tell where
he was that night? He admits that he was in Dartwell, and he must
have been somewhere near the place of the raid, or his name would
never have gotten in the papers.”
“Unless some one gave his name out of spite.”
“By hookey! That’s so!” admitted Phil. “I never thought of that.
But no—no college fellow would be as mean as that.”
“Unless it was Langridge or Gerhart. Gerhart is in parts unknown,
and Langridge——”
“I understand none of the Boxer Hall fellows were in it,” went on
Phil. “Only some of our boys and a few from Fairview—more fools
they! But it sure has put Sid on the blink as far as Miss Harrison
goes. Ruth was telling me her family, as well as she, has a horror of
gambling in any form. Poor old Sid. I wish we could help him; don’t
you?”
“I sure do,” agreed Tom. “We need him on the nine, and we need
him in good condition. First thing I know I’ll have to put a sub on in
Sid’s place.”
“Oh, I hope not. But, say, I’ve got to do some studying if I’m to
play on the team myself. I’m getting to low water mark in Latin and
maths. Here goes for some hard boning.”
It was about a week after this, in which time Randall had met, and
beaten, Layton Preparatory school, that Phil, Sid and Tom were
taking a trolley ride one evening.
“Where shall we go?” asked Phil.
“Let’s take the Tonoka Lake car,” suggested Tom.
“Which means let’s go to Fairview,” asserted Phil. “Well, I don’t
mind.” Sid said nothing.
Of course it was only a coincidence, but a little later the three lads
were walking down toward the co-educational institution, and of
course, I suppose, it was also only a coincidence that Miss Tyler and
Miss Clinton should shortly come strolling over the campus.
 “There’s Ruth,” announced Phil carelessly, though he was not
looking at her, but at Miss Tyler.
“That’s so,” replied Tom, as if it was the queerest thing in the
world.
“They’re headed this way—no use to turn back, I suppose?” asked
Phil, as if there was some doubt of it.
“No,” agreed Tom. “Besides, I want to ask your sister what she
thinks of the chances of Fairview beating us.”
“Oh, she’ll tell you her college will win, of course,” asserted Phil.
“Well, come on,” and they walked to meet the girls who had
pretended not to notice the approach of the lads.
“Oh, why hello, Phil!” called his sister. “Glad to see you; aren’t we,
Madge?”
“Of course,” replied Miss Tyler, with a merry laugh.
“I’ll see you fellows later,” murmured Sid, who was very sensitive,
and he was about to swing away.
“Don’t go,” urged Tom. “We’ll soon be going back.”
But Sid turned aside. As he did so there came around the corner
of the main college building two figures, who strolled over the
campus. It needed but a glance to disclose to Tom and Phil who they
were—Miss Harrison and Fred Langridge. The couple were chatting
and laughing merrily. Instinctively Tom turned to see if Sid had
observed them. The second baseman had, and, for an instant he
stood staring after the two, who had not seen him. Then, without a
word, he kept on his way.
“Beautiful evening,” remarked Miss Tyler quickly, and she began to
talk rapidly about the weather, as if to cover Sid’s retreat.
As Tom and Phil walked along the corridor leading to their room a
little later that night, they saw a light streaming out of the cracks
around the portal.
 “Sid’s in there,” said Tom.
“Yes,” agreed Phil, “I wonder——” But he did not finish the
sentence. Awkwardly he and Tom pushed in. They started back at
the sight of their chum.
He was bending over a table on which he had placed a portable
electric lamp, the college rooms being illuminated with both gas and
the incandescents. Holding a paper in the glow of the bulb, Sid was
examining the document with the aid of a magnifying glass. At the
same time he seemed to be comparing other pieces of paper with
the one he held.
“Studying?” asked Tom.
“Yes,” replied Sid shortly.
“Something new?” inquired Phil. “I didn’t know you were
qualifying for a course in identifying handwriting,” for he saw that
the papers Sid was looking at contained writing.
“Do you see this?” asked Sid suddenly, holding up an envelope.
“Why—er—yes,” answered Tom. “It’s addressed to Miss Harrison,
and—but—are you going over with a microscope a letter you’ve
written to her, to see if it will pass muster? She’s not as particular as
that, you old bat.”
“I haven’t been writing to her,” replied Sid coldly. “This is the
envelope containing that clipping with my name in it—the report of
the gambling raid—I picked up the envelope—that afternoon,” and
he seemed struggling with some emotion.
“What about it?” asked Phil, who did not exactly catch the drift.
“This,” answered Sid quickly. “Look at this note,” and he showed
them a missive containing some reference to baseball matters. It
was signed “Fred Langridge.”
“I got that from Langridge last term,” went on Sid, “and I saved it,
for some unknown reason. I’m glad, now, that I did.”
 “Why?” inquired Tom, who began to see what was coming.
“Because, look at that!” and Sid placed side by side the note from
Langridge and the envelope that had contained the damaging
clipping. He held the magnifying glass first over one and then the
other. “Do you notice any similarity?” he asked.
“Looks to me as if the same person wrote both,” said Tom.
“That’s right,” agreed Phil.
“They did!” cried Sid, as he held up the envelope. “Fred Langridge
sent to Miss Harrison that lying clipping about me, and to-day he
was out walking with her!”
 CHAPTER IX
A CLASH
Sid stood facing his two chums, and his breath came quick and
fast. He was much worked up over his discovery, as were also his
roommates.
“From the time I picked up this envelope, after that day when we
had lunch with your sister, Phil,” he went on, “I’ve been trying to
think in whose handwriting it was. Perhaps I had no right to take the
envelope, but I couldn’t help it after she—Miss Harrison dropped it.
To-night, after I saw him—saw Langridge out walking with her—I
came back here, and I had a suspicion. I knew I had an old note of
Langridge’s somewhere around. I found it, and compared it with the
envelope. You see what it shows.”
“He must have sent her the clipping,” agreed Tom. “But why?”
“Easy enough to see that,” answered Sid. “He was mad because I
—er—I happened to go with her a few times, and he is taking this
course to give me a bad name, though if she only knew it Langridge
is no white-ribboner.”
“Maybe that was a fake clipping,” suggested Phil. “I’ve heard of
such things being done before. Langridge might have hired a printer
to set that item up so that it looked as if it was cut from a
newspaper.”
“No,” answered Sid quietly. “The item was genuine. I have a
similar one I cut from the Haddonfield Herald.”
“But it isn’t true?” inquired Tom.
“No—that is—well, I can’t say anything about it,” and Sid looked
miserable again. “But I’m glad I found out who sent it to Miss
Harrison.”
“What are you going to do about it?” asked Tom.
“I’m going to have it out with Langridge the first time I meet him.
I’ll punch——”
“Better go slow,” advised Phil. “Take it easy, old man. Langridge is
a slick article. We know that of old. If you try a rough-house he’ll
have you at a disadvantage.”
“I can’t help it. I’m not going to let him get ahead of me this way.”
“Oh, forget it and play ball,” advised Tom with a laugh, for he felt
that the subject was getting too serious, and his heart was wrapped
up in his team, despite a certain pretty girl.
“I only wish I could—forget it,” answered Sid.
It was several days after this, and a few days before the game
with Wescott University, which was to be played on the latter club’s
grounds, that Phil, Tom and Sid journeyed to the town of
Haddonfield to get some things to take with them on the trip. For it
was quite a journey to play Wescott, a college with whom Randall
had clashed in football, losing the game because Phil was taken sick
and a new quarter back had to go in. It took a day to go and a day
to come, and the lads would need to take some baggage with them.
The three chums had made their purchases, and were on their
way to take a car back to Randall, when Sid grasped the arm of
Tom.
“There he is!” he exclaimed.
“Who?” asked Tom, who was critically examining a new tie he had
purchased.
“Langridge!” cried Sid. “I’m going to have it out with him.”
“Don’t,” begged Phil, but it was too late, for Sid had crossed the
street to where the former pitcher for Randall was walking with
another chap, as sportily attired as was he.
 “I want to speak to you!” called Sid to his enemy, as he came up
behind him, Tom and Phil following at a distance.
“What’s that?” drawled Langridge, turning. “Oh, it’s you, is it
Henderson? Well, I don’t know that I care to talk to you. I’m not
used to associating with chaps caught in gambling raids!”
Sid was fairly trembling with rage, but he managed to take from
his pocket a duplicate of the clipping which Miss Harrison had
received.
“Did you—did you send that to her?” spluttered Sid.
“Send it to whom?” asked Langridge insolently.
“Miss Harrison? That lying clipping about me? Did you send it, I
ask?”
“Well, supposing I did? It’s a free country; isn’t it? Besides, I’m not
so sure that the clipping doesn’t tell the truth.”
“Then you sent it!” cried Sid. “You don’t dare deny it!”
“Dare you deny that you are the person referred to in it? Dare you
deny that you were in that gambling hall the night of the raid? Dare
you deny that?” fired back Langridge.
Sid seemed stunned.
“I—I—er—how—how did you——” he was stammering.
“I see you don’t dare deny it,” went on Langridge with a sneer.
“Your manner is answer enough. Come on, Perkins. I don’t care to
prolong this discussion.”
“But I do!” cried poor Sid, now beside himself. “I’ll get even with
you for this dirty, sneaking piece of work! You dare send that
clipping to her—to her! I’ll——” he sprang forward, with clenched
fists, and before Tom or Phil could stop him, he had struck
Langridge. The latter, with a snarl of rage, jumped toward Sid, but
his friend clasped his arm.
 “Not here! Not here!” implored Perkins. “You can’t fight here,
Langridge.”
“No, that’s right,” admitted the other with a shrug of his shoulders,
as he calmed himself with an effort. “And I don’t know that I care,
after all, for the notoriety of fighting him.” He turned aside. Sid was
about to spring forward again, his face distorted with rage, but Tom
and Phil held him back.
“Come on,” whispered the pitcher in his ear. “You don’t know what
you’re doing, Sid. You’re only making matters worse.”
With something like a sob in his throat, Sid allowed his chums to
lead him away.
 CHAPTER X
SID IS SPIKED
“By Jove, but I’m glad we’re going out of town for a game,”
remarked Tom to Phil the next morning.
“Why?” inquired the first baseman, as he critically examined his
favorite mushroom bat, which he had mended with wire and tape.
“Because of Sid. It may put him on his feet again, after this
business of Langridge, Miss Harrison, and the newspaper clipping.
Hang it all! girls can sure mix things up when they want to, can’t
they?”
“Yes, but it isn’t her fault. She merely doesn’t care for a fellow that
gambles, and Sid can’t say that he doesn’t.”
“I don’t believe Sid gambles,” said Tom quickly. “I was going to
add,” he went on, “that I’d ‘gamble’ on that. After the way he acted
with Langridge last night, almost coming to a fight, I think there is
something more in this than we’ve thought of.”
“Probably there is; but why doesn’t Sid come out and say he
wasn’t in the raid, and clear himself? It ought to be easy enough to
do, but he doesn’t do it.”
“I know; and yet he may have a reason.”
“Very likely. But things look suspicious. Mind you, I don’t say to us,
for I’d stick to Sid, no matter what he did. But there’s the fact of him
suddenly being broke, being out late several times, going off after
getting mysterious notes, and coming in smelling strongly of
tobacco. It looks bad, and I don’t see why Sid doesn’t own up and
confess, or else clear himself.”
 “Maybe he can’t. But that’s neither here nor there. I’m glad he and
Langridge didn’t fight. Now we’re going out of town to play Wescott,
and maybe get beaten, for they have a fine nine. But, anyhow, it will
do Sid good. He may come back entirely different.”
“Let’s hope so, for there’s no fun living with him, as he is now. I
was glad when he got so infatuated with Miss Harrison, even going
to the length of taking up hammered brass work because she had a
fad that way. But since she turned him down poor Sid chucked all his
brass stuff out of the window the other day. Well, maybe it will come
out all right.”
“It’s got to,” declared Tom fiercely. “Well, I’m going down to see
Kerr and Leighton, to learn if everything’s all ready for the trip.”
The next day the team started for Wescott University,
accompanied by as many of the students as could cut their lectures.
It was a day’s trip to the big college, one day would be devoted to
the game, which was an annual affair, and the return trip would be
made the third day.
The Randallites were accorded an enthusiastic welcome as they
were escorted to their hotel by the Wescott lads.
“Remember how sick I was when we were here last year to play
’em football?” asked Phil, as he and his chums went to their rooms.
“I sure do. Please don’t repeat the experience. We want to beat
these fellows if we can.”
The morning of the game did not prove very auspicious, as it had
rained in the night, and was still threatening. But when the two
nines went out to the diamond the sun broke through the clouds and
it cleared off.
“Now, fellows,” said Coach Leighton, as he gathered the captain
and his men about him, “you’ve got to play fast, snappy ball to win.
We’re up against a better team than either Boxer Hall or Fairview,
and I want to see what you can do.”
 “If they don’t do what’s right they’ll answer to me,” said Tom, with
a grim smile.
“And if you fellows lose you’ll have to walk home,” added Manager
Kerr.
“Sure, then we’ll not allow ’em a hit,” prophesied Bricktop Molloy.
“We’ll whitewash ’em,” added Dutch Housenlager, as he tried to
trip up Joe Jackson, but failed.
It was a fast, snappy game from the very start, Tom doing some
superb work in the box, but being fully matched by Marshall, the
Wescott twirler, who was “a southpaw,” or left hander.
“He certainly’s hard to hit,” conceded Holly Cross, when the
Randallites came to bat in the fifth inning, with never a run scored,
while Wescott had two, one each having been garnered in the
second and third innings.
“We ought to have some left-handed batters to sort of fool him,”
remarked Tom.
“I can bat left handed,” said Sid, who had been unusually quiet
during the trip and the game.
“Get out! Then it’s something new!” exclaimed Mr. Leighton.
“Yes,” admitted Sid, “and yet it isn’t either. I used to bat left
handed before I came to Randall, but I gave it up. I’ve been
practicing it on the quiet, lately, and if you like I’ll try it now.”
“It’s risky,” objected Tom. “Wait until we see what we can do this
inning.”
But they couldn’t do anything, and after three men had gone
down, one after the other, under the scientific twirling of Marshall,
Mr. Leighton, Kerr and Tom, after a consultation decided to let Sid
try, as he was to bat first in the next round.
Wescott managed to get two more runs, as the players were
“finding” Tom, and things began to look black for the visiting team.
 “See if you can’t rap out a home run,” begged the captain, as Sid
went to the plate in the sixth. There was manifest surprise when he
took the left-handed position, and Marshall and Bradshaw, the latter
being the Wescott catcher, held a whispered consultation.
Whatever line of play they decided on availed them nothing,
however, for Sid caught a “beaut” on the end of his bat, selecting
the first ball pitched, and he sent it away over in the right field
bleachers, easily making a three-bagger of it. He could have come
on home, except for ground rules, which allowed only three bases
on a ball that went among the spectators, of whom there was an
enormous crowd present, almost up to the base lines.
“Good!” delightedly cried the Randall supporters, and the record
was soon bettered for Holly Cross came up next, and, though he
batted right handed, he managed to whale out a two-bagger, which
brought in Sid and made the first tally for the visitors. That gave
them confidence and they made three runs that inning, coming
within one of tying the score.
Tom, too, seemed to stiffen in his work, and he struck out three
men in quick succession.
“Now if we can only do as well this inning,” remarked the coach,
as Dutch Housenlager came up. Dutch knocked a pretty fly, and was
off like the wind to first. He never would have reached it, but for an
error on the part of the right fielder who muffed the ball, amid the
groans of his fellows. Then, for a time, the Wescott team seemed to
go to pieces, until, when the eighth inning opened, the score was
tied.
Goose eggs were chalked up in the frames of both teams in the
eighth, however, the pitchers both working hard. Then came
Randall’s chance at the bat in the ninth.
“One run will beat ’em, if we can only hold ’em down when they
come up,” muttered Kerr to Tom.
“I’ll do my part,” the nervy pitcher assured him.
 It fell to Sid again, to do the trick. There were two men out, when
he came up, and it looked hopeless, but he again batted left handed,
and once more caught a “beaut” on the end of his bat. He got two
bases on it, and, by great good luck Holly Cross, next player, whaled
out what proved to be a triple, and Sid, as soon as he heard the
crack of the ball, started home.
As he swung around toward third base the player there perhaps
unintentionally got in his way. The baseman pretended that the ball
was being fielded to him, in his endeavor to throw Sid out of his
calculations, but the nervy Randall second baseman kept on. There
was a collision between him and the man covering the bag, and, for
an instant, Sid hesitated on third, and almost fell over, seizing his left
foot in both hands, and hopping about.
“Sid’s spiked!” cried Tom. “The third baseman spiked him, just as
he had a chance to score! Come on in, Sid. Come on in!” yelled the
captain frantically.
There was a confusing chorus of yells, so much so that the fielder
after the ball, which had gone past him, did not know what to do,
after he had the horsehide. But by this time Sid was limping toward
home, running fairly well, but with a look of agony on his face. Holly
Cross was racing from second now.
“Home with that ball, you loon!” yelled the Wescott catcher, who
saw Sid coming, for the Wescott fielder was stupidly holding it.
Then the fielder woke up, and threw to second, hoping to catch
out Holly, who was somewhat undecided. But Sid kept on to home,
and tallied the run, though he almost collapsed a moment later,
while Holly leaped on to third.
“Hurt bad?” asked Tom, as he and several others hurried up to
Sid.
“I should say so,” remarked Mr. Leighton, as he saw the blood
running from Sid’s shoe.
 Meanwhile Holly had reached third, though the decision was close.
He died there, for the next man struck out, retiring the side, and
making the score five to four, in favor of Randall, though with
Wescott still to have a chance in the ending of the ninth.
The third baseman made all sorts of apologies to Sid, who indeed
had a nasty cut, for a spike had gone through the outer, fleshy part
of his foot. It was so evidently an accident, however, that nothing
unpleasant was said, though Sid could not play, and had to be
replaced by Pete Backus.
There was a grim look on Tom’s face as he took his place in the
box, and it was justified, for he struck out two men. The third
knocked what seemed was going to be a nice hit, but Pete Backus
caught it, though he had to jump well for it, a feat for which his
training stood him well in hand.
“Wow! We’ve done ’em!” cried Tom, when he realized that the
third Wescott man was out, without a run having been scored by
their rivals in the last inning.
“We sure have,” agreed Mr. Leighton. “Poor Sid, though. He’ll be
out of it for a few days.”
“I don’t care, as long as we won the game,” spoke the plucky lad,
as he limped along, his foot having been dressed, and peroxide
applied, to prevent blood poisoning.
“It was a glorious victory,” sang Holly Cross, the others joining in,
after cheers had been given for Wescott, and returned by those fine-
spirited lads.
It was a jolly crowd that journeyed back to Randall next day, with
the Wescott scalps hanging at their belts.
“It was just what Sid wanted,” decided Tom to Phil as he noted the
lively look on the second baseman’s face, for he was jolly and
laughing, in spite of the pain of his injured foot.
There was a great celebration in Randall when the victorious team
marched up the campus that night, and bonfires galore glared all
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