MPLIC Reference Highway

Useful Sites & Stuff

Thanksgiving — Bureau of Labor Statistics November 24, 2009

http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2009/thanksgiving/home.htm

This is an interesting site on which the BLS gives provides economic and labor statistics relating to the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

Hispanic Heritage Month September 25, 2009

http://www.galeschools.com/hispanic_heritage/index.htm

http://www.loc.gov/law/

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/013984.html

Gale Cengage Learning, the Library of Congress Law Library, and the Census Bureau have all offered sites that provide information on Hispanic Heritage Month 2009, which is celebrated from September 15 to October 15 each year.

 

Learn About the United States of America May 28, 2009

http://www.usa.gov/visitors/about.shtml

USA.gov offers links to governmental sites that provide information on America’s history, culture, symbols, holidays, the Constitution, time zones, weather, and much more.

 

Vintage Christmas Catalogs December 11, 2008

From Wayne Dowdy (History):

www.wishbookweb.com

This site “has scanned copies of Christmas catalogs from the 1940s to the 1980s.  The catalogs are complete and would be helpful to students looking for historical pricing information as well as to those looking for nostalgia.”

 

Arborday.org August 30, 2008

Filed under: All, Holidays & Festivals, Home & Garden, Science — Philip @ 2:39 pm

http://arborday.org/

Thanks to Caroline Barnett, Cordova Public Library Branch manager, for passing this along:

The Arbor Day Foundation offers a Tree Guide here, which provides detailed information of dozens of commonly planted landscape trees, an online guide to tree identification, information on the Arbor Day holiday, including its history, and more.

 

Federal Holidays Through 2020 June 26, 2008

Filed under: All, Government, Holidays & Festivals — Philip @ 8:52 pm

http://www.opm.gov/operating_status_Schedules/fedhol/index.asp

The U. S. Office of Personnel Management provides a list of federal holidays for each year through 2020.

 

A fun site for Midsouth kids and their parents June 13, 2008

www.memphisloveskids.com

This is a fun, informative site that is “the must-have website for Midsouth moms and dads.”

 

Internet Sacred Text Archive May 7, 2008

Filed under: All, Holidays & Festivals, Mythology, Religion & Philosophy — Philip @ 6:41 pm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

An extensive, archive of online books on religion, mythology, and folklore, including online versions of the sacred texts of the world religions.

 

Interfaith Calendar : Primary Sacred Times For World Religions May 7, 2008

Filed under: All, Holidays & Festivals, Religion & Philosophy — Philip @ 6:25 pm

http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/

A calendar of the sacred dates for the religions of the world.  Also information on different world religions.

 

Tennessee Local Legacies–The Library of Congress March 26, 2008

Filed under: All, Community Information, Government, History, Holidays & Festivals — Philip @ 1:23 pm

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/TN/index.html

The Library of Congress has registersed 1,300 local legacies which are the local events, community festivals, and other grassroots activities within each state that celebrate the cultural diversity and richness of its citizens.  Here are found the Tennessee Local Legacies.  The Library of Congress Local Legacies page provides more information about the project and provides links to every states’ local legacies.

 

A fun site for Valentine’s Day February 14, 2008

Filed under: All, History, Holidays & Festivals — andrea @ 4:09 pm

www.history.com/minisites/valentine/

Okay, somebody had to acknowledge this holiday… either you love it or hate it.  This site offers the historical AND fun parts of St. Valentine’s Day.  Enjoy!

 

Local Kwanzaa Events December 28, 2007

Filed under: Community Information, Holidays & Festivals — Sarah @ 12:08 pm

From an email sent by Audrey May (LINC):

“FYI – here is the link to the listing of some local Kwanzaa events sponsored by Kwanzaa International in Memphis, from the 12/20/07 Tri-State Defender:

http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/2464/1/Kwanzaa-A-cultural-celebration/Page1.html

(especially since the article states that ‘Kwanzaa schedules are available at public library branches and other locations.’)

The contact number for Kwanzaa International is included in the article – but I wouldn’t use the KI-Memphis website as it does not appear to have been updated since last year.”

 

A Traditional Music Library December 13, 2007

Filed under: All, Children's Resources, Holidays & Festivals, Music, Performing Arts — Sarah @ 4:35 pm

Thanks to Nita Dunn (Cordova) for passing along this site!

www.traditionalmusic.co.uk

From the site: “A large traditional and folk music library of songbooks, tune-books, sheet-music, lyrics, midis, tablature, plus music reference, chord diagrams, scales and other music educational & academic reference materials.”  So if you’re looking for sea shanties, nursery songs or just classic American folk music, this is the place to go.

 

Christmas Around The World November 20, 2007

www.caslt.org/research/christmas4.htm

OK, I think it might be too early for this, but based on the commercials I’ve seen lately, the time is upon us… This is an annotated guide various online resources with information about Christmas traditions around the world.  The link at the bottom of the page has more information for teachers.

 

Be Food Safe November 14, 2007

Many thanks to Donna Foster for passing this along!

www.fsis.usda.gov/Be%5FFoodSafe/

“The Be Food Safe campaign is designed to educate consumers about preventing foodborne illness through the four easy lessons of Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.”  And just in time for the holidays, they have a guide to safely cooking a Thanksgiving meal.  (Which at my house is the same as a Christmas meal, so it should be good for many holiday dinners!)