The best free cultural & educational media on the web
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
≡ Category: Film, History | ≅ Leave a Comment
The Graduate came out in 1967 and astounded audiences with its now famous storyline. The young college graduate Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) finds himself seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a family friend, only to then fall in love with her daughter, Elaine. Pretty shocking material for many in 1967. A financial and critical [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 1 Comment
It’s more than a theme park. It’s an iconic American institution, a symbol of an imagined Golden Age in American history, and a site of many good childhood memories. We’re talking about Disneyland. Construction began in July 1954 in rural Anaheim, California, and the park opened but a year later in July 1955. And, thanks [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 1 Comment
Otto von Bismarck (1815 – 1898) – he was a towering 19th century political figure, the Iron Chancellor who unified Germany under Prussia’s leadership, and the man who invented Realpolitik. And now, thanks to Thomas Edison’s wax cylinder, you can hear the voice of this distant historical figure. The recently-discovered recording was made back in 1889, when [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 11 Comments
Give John Green 40 weeks, and Green will give you a playful and highly visual crash course in world history, taking you from the beginning of human civilization 15,000 years ago through to our modern age. If you’re not familiar with him, Green is a bestselling author of several young adult books (Looking for Alaska, [...]
≡ Category: History, Photography | ≅ Leave a Comment
Before pixels there were silver halide crystals, and before memory cards, film. Little yellow boxes cluttered the lives of photographers everywhere, and the Eastman Kodak Company was virtually synonymous with photography. Things have really changed. With the recent news that Kodak is teetering on the brink of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, many are feeling nostalgia for [...]
≡ Category: History, Religion | ≅ 1 Comment
With the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the emotional whiplash that followed, the monotheistic religions of the West took a more stridently political turn. It was in this context that Jonathan Miller, the British theatre and opera director, felt compelled to create a three-part documentary tracing the history of religious skepticism and disbelief. Broadcast [...]
≡ Category: e-books, History | ≅ Leave a Comment
What better way to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Today, the King Center has made available online 200,000 papers belonging to the civil rights leader — the first step to bringing more than one million documents to the web. The documents give you a good glimpse of Dr. King’s role as a [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ 9 Comments
When you write history, you’re always confronted with the question: what facts and events will make it into your historical account, and which ones will be left out? When it comes to this viral video produced by Donolinio Studio, what makes the cut? Europe. America. Men. And a long list of downers: war, depravation, natural [...]
≡ Category: History | ≅ Leave a Comment
Harry Houdini (né Erik Weisz) emigrated from Hungary to the United States as a youngster, settling first in Wisconsin, then later in New York City. Captivated by magic from an early age, Houdini (1874-1926) began performing small-time magic shows and experimenting with escape acts, eventually honing his ability to escape from handcuffs. Then he never looked back: Arriving [...]
≡ Category: Current Affairs, History, Video - Politics/Society | ≅ Leave a Comment
This fall, the world’s population reached seven billion. A sobering thought. How did we get to this point? Producer Adam Cole and photographer Maggie Starbard of National Public Radio have put the world’s accelerating population growth in perspective in a two-and-a-half minute video, above. In those two and a half minutes, 638 babies will be [...]
Get updates as soon as they go live, via RSS feed, email and now Twitter!
Get the latest from our Twitter Stream.
Why can't we be friends?
Got a link we should post? Send it our way!
©2006-2012 Open Culture. All rights reserved.
