NASA PlanetQuest Historic Timeline

NASA has numerous resources for educators including the PlanetQuest Historic Timeline.  This interactive, multimedia timline begins in 500 BC and traces the search for extrasolar planets from philosophical beliefs to modern discoveries.  The timeline can be autoplayed or users can explore on their own.  Users can also browse through the timeline using three different categories - technology, discoveries, and thought/ culture.

Civil War @ Smithsonian

CivilWar@Smithsonian is an exhibit by the National Portrait Gallery.  It includes digitzed artifacts from the Civil War era.  The Collections portion of this online exhibit is divided into several sections.  Within each section there is background information and digitized artifacts including paintings, weapons, statues, figurines, and more.  To view the artifcats related to each topic, click on the thumbnails icon at the top of the page.  There is also a timeline of events related to the Civil War that spans from 1859 to 1865. 

Online museum exhibits are a good way for teachers and students to access information that would typically only be available when visiting a museum.  This site also provides links to other resources on the web and in print related to the Civil War.

Google Labs

A few ideas from Google Labs...

Google News Timeline shows search results in a timeline format.  Users can browse results from sources including  magazines, and blogs.

Image Swirl allows users to browse through results that are visually similar.  Here are some of the results of a search for images about colonial America.