This month's topic:

Presidential Inaugurations

Consider the possibilities for your students.....

2009 Inauguration Day
http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/daysevents/index.cfm
The official site for Obama's inauguration, housed on the U.S. Senate server. Nicely done treatment of each event on Inauguration Day, from morning worship to the late-night Inaugural Ball. Of particular value is the historical context for each event, providing perspective for students. See also http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/links.asp.

2009 Inauguration Day Clip Art and Resources for Writers
http://hubpages.com/hub/inauguration-day-clip-art
Nice collection of images that can be used in creating materials to study and celebrate Inauguration 2009, including buttons and pins and images of Obama. Select a thumbnail to see a larger version of the image; select the larger image to open it full-sized in a new pop-up window; right-click on the image to copy or save it to your hard drive.

44th President: Barack Obama
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/
ABC News presents information on the administration Obama is putting together, questions about inaugural balls and issues he will face as he takes office. The Diane Sawyer interview comes in nice byte-sized video clips that are easy to load and run and shares insights into Obama's formative years.

The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/
The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History offers this well-designed examination of the American Presidency from elections to inaugurations to accomplishments using an interactive timeline and tying each President to objects and eras from history.

American Presidents: Life Portraits and the Library of Congress Connection
http://americanpresidents.org/loc/
C-SPAN and the Library of Congress pooled their resources to present this comprehensive look at all 43 chief executives, based on the series of the same name. Great links to everything from presidential libraries and national memorials to birthplaces and gravesites. Great curriculum resources too.

Barack Obama Biography
http://www.biography.com/featured-biography/barack-obama/index.jsp
Biography.com offers this online version of its popular biographical format, including links to other related people; select the Video and Images link to view multimedia about Barack.

Barack Obama Quotes
http://www.barackobama.net/barack-obama-quotes.html
From Barack Obama.net, this is a good collection of short quotes from the President-elect that are revealing and inspiring. Quick-loading plain text makes it worth bookmarking.

Barack Obama's Photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom
This is the Flickr collection of Obama images, 2,951 pages in all, free and available online for you and your students to peruse.

By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/odmdhtml/preshome.html
Students can sift through 156 portraits of presidents and first ladies from then Library of Congress, including formal portraits, military settings or informal surroundings, images of the White House, and particularly popular photos of Abraham Lincoln with Sojourner Truth, Calvin Coolidge at a baseball game, and Dwight D. Eisenhower with American paratroopers in England.

Capitol Virtual Tour
http://www.senate.gov/vtour/index.html
This JAVA-based presentation comes in both high and low bandwidth versions, using QuickTime Virtual Reality technology to provide 360 degree panoramic views of the different rooms and chambers on the tour. Links to historical events that took place in different locations are a value-added bonus.

Change.gov
http://change.gov/
The official site of the Office of the President-Elect, covering plans for the transition to the Obama administration including information on both Obama and Biden, announcements, agendas, and the opportunity to blog and share your own aspirations for the new government.

Experience DC
http://www.washington.org/visiting/experience-dc/presidential-inauguration/information
This D.C.-based website offers local information on the upcoming inauguration with links to all kinds of information about events, tourism, businesses, services, traffic and other pertinent information for those planning to see the swearing in live. See also http://ahp.gatech.edu/dc_map.html for an interactive map of the National Mall.

History of Inaugural Balls
http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_of_inaugural_balls
Kirk Brown offers this concise review of inaugural balls over the years, including how the number of balls has grown over time, which balls were canceled and why, how both of President Grant's balls were ruined, and how President Truman saved the tradition of inaugural balls for us today.

"I Do Solemnly Swear . . ."
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pihome.html
This Library of Congress presentation touts some 2,000 digital files relating to inaugurations from George Washington's to George W. Bush, including diaries, letters, handwritten drafts of inaugural addresses, broadsides, inaugural tickets, programs, prints, photographs, and sheet music.

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/inaug.asp
Yale Law School's Avalon Project offers this hotlist of links to each President's inaugural address, from 1789 to 1989 (Clinton and George W. Bush's pages are not available), in quick-loading plain text pages that are easy on the eyes and easy on your printing resources. See also http://www.bartleby.com/124/ for Clinton and G.W. Bush speeches.

Inaugural History
http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/politics/inauguration/history.pdf
CBS News offers this Acrobat document that presents trivia as well as a chronological accounting of each inauguration since Washington. Not able to view the file? You may need to download the Acrobat plugin from Adobe by pointing your browser to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

Inaugural Precedents and Notable Events
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pinotable.html
All kinds of trivia on inaugurations over the years, listed chronologically from the first to walk to and from his inaugural and the first sworn in wearing long pants, to the first known newspaper illustration of a presidential inauguration and the first inaugural recorded by video camera.

Inauguration History
http://uselectionwatch.org.au/elections-101/inauguration
U.S. Election Watch offers this quick-reading collection of facts about presidential inaugurations, including famous firsts, noteworthy trivia about addresses, traditional inauguration day events, and significant quotes from Presidents making their inaugural addresses. See also http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/WH/Family/html/inauguration_history.html.

Inauguration History Quiz
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/inauguration2001/quiz.htm
This ten-item quiz on presidential inauguration trivia is presented by the Washington Post to stir interest and curiosity in the history of this event. Once you're done, hit the "How'd I do?" button to have the answers spawned in a new pop-up window. Whether you get them right or not, the questions prompt learning and discussion.

Inauguration Watch
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inauguration-watch/
The Washington Post's coverage of the 2009 inauguration, including news coverage, reporter blogs, and a widget for syndicated coverage of news as it is reported. Also browse stories by category and date, use the Post's new, improved search function, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Inaugurations from George W to George W...
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/inaug/home.html
Flash-based site from the Library of Congress' Learning Pages that provides an overview and insight into the tradition and history of this American spectacle, including video clips, images of primary source documents, and interactive SchockWave based activities. Prepared for the 2005 inauguration.

Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
http://inaugural.senate.gov/
Did you know the senate is responsible for planning and conducting the inauguration? This is the official site of the committee that is sponsoring this year's event, including a nice treatment of certain eras of inaugural history and information on developments for this year's inaugural event.

Location of the Inauguration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/graphics/inaugLocation_012005.html
The Washington Post offers this interesting set of information on the different venues used for swearing in American Presidents and why, as well as a chronological listing of the history of the weather for each inauguration from the warmest to the very coldest temperatures.

Military Inaugural Tradition
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=40896
The U.S. Department of Defense offers this summary of the role of the military in inaugurations since 1789. Read also about the Marine Marching Band role at http://www.defense.gov/home/articles/2005-01/a011205tj1.html and a broader summary of the day including military participation at http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Inauguration-Day.

Obama Inauguration Caravan
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/organizing/4455w
From the official campaign site, Elizabeth McKinley and 500 of her friends from around the country plan to travel from their homes to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration. Read about the plans to converge on our nation's capital and check out the links to groups who will be participating. Even sign up if you plan to participate!

Presidential Inauguration.com
http://www.presidential-inauguration.com/
This unofficial site with info on planning a trip to the inauguration. Research Metro tickets at http://www.wmata.com/inauguration/ and get more travel tips at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-11-10-inauguration-tips_N.htm. Find even more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27596406/ and http://blog.findingdulcinea.com/2008/11/inauguration-day-travel-get-a-glimpse-of-history.html.

Presidential Inauguration History
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4182559.stm
Done for the 2005 oath-taking, the BBC offers this decidedly British look at the history of U.S. presidential inaugurations, including some unique explanations about when and why the date of inauguration day has changed over time, who gave the shortest inaugural address, and the parade route used.

Presidential Library Audiovisual Finding Aids
http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/1900-75/depressn/index.html
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration offers these links to collections of modern presidential photos and videos including Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Johnson, Nixon, Ford , Carter and Reagan, through their respective presidential libraries.

Presidential Oaths of Office
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pioaths.html
The official oath as prescribed by Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution along with a complete listing of each swearing in by President, date, location and Chief Justice. See also http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pibible.html for Bibles and Scripture Passages Used by Presidents in Taking the Oath of Office.

Presidential Succession
http://www.continuityofgovernment.org/investigation/succession.html
The Continuity of Government Commission offers this succinct description of the current provisions for succession of power, as well as the considerations under discussion to address succession in the 21st century. For a more basic and explicit explanation of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 see http://bensguide.gpo.gov/9-12/government/national/succession.html.

Songs and Oaths: Inauguration
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/oaths.html
Ben's Guide for Elementary Students presents this one page summary of the oaths of office for the American President, Vice-President, members of Congress, and members of the Supreme Court. For more information on the official song of the Commander in CHief, "Hail to the Chief," see http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/hail.html.

Twitter: Inauguration
http://twitter.com/inauguration
Aggregated collection of information on the upcoming event compiled by Twitter, generated by its users. Great way to tap into the ongoing coverage and human interest stories generated by news sources from around the world covering the upcoming swearing in of our 44th President.

Washington Inauguration, 1789
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/washingtoninaug.htm
Part of the Eyewitness to History site, this is a one page recounting of Washington's first swearing in with first-person accounts of the event and accompanying illustrations. A printable version is also offered if you prefer to share it in hard copy as part of your students' inaugural study.

White House Tour
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/tour/
This is the official White House tour led by Spotty the dog and covering the Library, China Room, East Room, Green Room, Red Room, Blue Room, Vermeil Room and the State Dining Room. Select the Today and Yesterday link to see how rooms have changed over time, and enjoy interactive learning.

Who Knew? U.S. Presidential Trivia
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0823_040823_presidentialtrivia.html
National Geographic offers these fascinating facts about Presidents over the years, from the first President born a U.S. citizen and the first President to travel abroad, to the four Presidents who were elected without a majority vote and the President who received every electoral vote but one.

The Works of John Philip Sousa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQhWtRW-KKA
Listen to MP2 and MIDI versions of patriotic songs from "America's March King," many of which will be showcased at the 2009 inauguration, including Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis and the Washington Post. Select the Home link to learn more about this prolific composer of timeless Americana.

You Tube: 39 Words that Make a President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQhWtRW-KKA
View this video of FDR's 1933 inauguration, then scroll through the related videos on the right to view 40 other inauguration videos from over the years; scroll to the very bottom to link to a one page hotlist of all the videos under the topic of presidential inaugurations.

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