The Library of Congress is making many of its historical collections available on the Internet through the web site. More than one million items now available in digitized versions of unique materials have been collected and preserved by the nation's Library since its founding in 1800. By the Library's Bicentennial in 2000, millions of historical materials will be on-line.

The papers of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, diaries of Walt Whitman, documents relating to the civil rights and women's suffrage movements, early films of Thomas Edison, panoramic maps, and rare oral histories are among the materials that convey the breadth of our national experience and put Americans in touch with the nation's history as never before.

These primary source materials are widely used by students, teachers, researchers, and lifelong learners across the country to enrich their understanding of American history. A special Learning Page designed for students who want to integrate the American Memory collections in their studies is available for educators who seek to use them in the classroom. The popular "Today in History" page provides information on noteworthy people, places and events every day of the year, with links to the Library's on-line collections.

Other American research institutions are cooperating in this program as well, representing a powerful public-private partnership that receives one-fourth of its funding through federal appropriations and three-fourths from the private sector. The National Digital Library Program's American Memory is the bicentennial's digitized gift to the American people.