The major news this week was the death of Osama bin Laden, we link to the Newseum’s newspaper front page archive to examine reactions around the world (see also the front pages from September 12, 2011). In other news, a recent study finds National History Day students outperforming their peers, EDSITEment has a number of new items on their site for May, and the Webby awards recognize the sites of a number of history related organizations. We link to three archives links: an online Nazi-era records database, the papers of environmental activist Ellen Stern Harris, and comic-strip archivist Bill Blackbeard. Finally, read more about Drew Gilpin Faust presenting the 2011 Jefferson Lecture, consider how to help history majors find a job, see what an artist thinks the White House interior looked like from 1792 to 1902, learn about preserving camps and artifacts from African American "contraband," or refugees, from the Civil War, judge Zotero vs. Endnote, and just for fun vote on the best facial hair from the Civil War.

News

• Newspaper Front Pages Reporting Osama bin Laden’s Death
  The Newseum posts hundreds of newspaper front pages on its web site every day, but it only archives pages from historic dates. See its archive of front pages from Monday, May 2, 2011 and how they report Osama bin Laden’s death. Look back also to the pages from Wednesday, September 12, 2001, the day after the 9/11 attacks.
• Study on National History Day Students
  A recent study on National History Day finds that “students who participate in the program perform better on high-stakes tests, are better writers, more confident and capable researchers, and have a more mature perspective on current events and civic engagement than their peers.” PDFs of the key findings, executive summary, and full report are available through the NHD web site.
• New at EDSITEment
  EDSITEment has a number of new resources on its web site, including literature of the Civil War, a lesson plan on the Freedom Riders and popular music during the Civil Rights movement, and ways to celebrate both Jewish American Heritage Month and National Asian-Pacific Heritage.
• Smithsonian Wins Webby Award
  The 2011 Webby Awards have been announced, and  a number may interest those who study history, including Historypin,the Anne Frank House, the Smithsonian, and the Architect’s Virtual Capitol.

Archives

• Holocaust Resources Portal
  The National Archives has announced the launch of a new Nazi-era records online database offering “digital access to millions of Nazi-era cultural property–related records.”
• UCLA Catalogs Environmental Activist Ellen Stern Harris’s Collections
  The L.A. Times reports that the papers of Ellen Stern Harris, an environmental activist in California, will be cataloged by UCLA. 
• Comic-Strip Archivist Bill Blackbeard
  NPR notes the death of Bill Blackbeard, who “spent much of his life rescuing hundreds and thousands of actual newspaper comic strips from some very literal trash bins.”

Drew Gilpin Faust and the 2011 Jefferson Lecture
This past Monday night Drew Gilpin Faust, historian and President of Harvard University, delivered the  2011 Jefferson Lecture. Earlier in the day we ran an appreciation of her on the AHA blog: “A Historian’s Historian.” Here now we offer links to a summary of the lecture and an interview with Drew Gilpin Faust.

• Lecture Summary
  "War is hell—and it’s a helluva story. " The Chronicle’s Jennifer Howard aptly summarizes Faust’s lecture. Or, visit the NEH web site for the full text.
• Interview
  The NEH’s Jim Leach interviews Drew Faust in the May/June 2011 issue of Humanities.

More

• History Job Market
  When it comes to history majors and the job market, The Historical Society asks for comments on how history faculty can help.
• What Past White Houses Looked Like
  NPR reports on the White House Historical Association commissioning an artist to paint 14 images of what the White House may have looked like inside from 1792 to 1902.
• African Americans and the Civil War
  The National Trust for Historic Preservation writes about remembering and preserving sites related to African American "contraband," aka refugees, from the Civil War, on their Preservation Nation blog.
• Zotero vs. EndNote
  Profhacker pits citiation software Zotero against EndNote to see who comes out on top.

Fun

• Civil War Facial Hair
  Just for fun Smithsonian magazine asks for your vote on the “Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair?” question.

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, and Kathleen Sheldon

This post first appeared on AHA Today.