Laurie Katz, Director of Publicity
Email: [email protected]





Facts On File Adds Videos to History Databases



New York, NY, October 23, 2007 – Facts On File, the award-winning publisher of print and online reference materials for the school and library market, is proud to announce the introduction of videos into four of its highly acclaimed history databases: American History Online, Modern World History Online, American Women’s History Online, and African-American History Online.

“We are thrilled to be able to integrate such an enormous amount of video content into many of Facts On File’s existing online reference products,” said Nicole Bowen, Facts On File’s Director of Electronic Publishing. “We’re really excited about the results. Incorporating video into the study of history makes the learning process more visual and accessible to all learning levels—not to mention entertaining and compelling. The videos provide a real ‘you-are-there’ feel.”

The videos, a mixture of black-and-white and color, include many clips from old newsreel footage. They offer a full-screen option, links to related records, and explanatory captions, and they require no downloads. They appear in search results under an “Images & Videos” tab as well as under the new “All Results” tab. There is also a new “Images and Videos” section on the home page under the “Browse” section. Users can browse by topic, time period, or editor’s highlights.

Paul Conklin, Facts On File’s Director of Sales, anticipates the videos in the databases being useful to a wide audience. “Teachers can supplement their lesson plans with videos that document major events, movements, and topics,” he said, “while students and researchers can watch and hear history come to life on their computer screens. The videos can spark lively classroom discussion as well.”

Some of the wide-ranging video coverage is detailed below:
American History Online
More than 500 historical videos cover events and topics such as the presidency, World War II, and American culture. Watch cable cars pick up passengers in 1901, view a series of congressional hearings sparked by the Immigration Reform and Control Act, and watch newsreel footage and the famous newscaster Edward R. Murrow’s reporting of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Modern World History Online
More than 300 historical videos cover events such as the cold war, World War II, and space exploration. Watch film footage of Fidel Castro or of Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev during their “Kitchen Debate”; see what an atomic bomb explosion looks like; listen to newscaster commentary as Yasir Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres shake hands at the Oslo Accords; and much more.

African-American History Online
More than 70 historical videos cover themes such as civil rights, politics, sports, and the arts. Watch film footage of civil rights protests and marches, great sports moments, important congressional meetings, and more. Listen and watch as opera singer Marian Anderson performs at the Lincoln Memorial—and as the Harlem Globetrotters play a game at Madison Square Garden.

American Women’s History Online
More than 60 historical videos cover events such as working women, women in politics, and changing women’s fashions. Watch women laborers wrap coil in a factory, listen to Olympia Snowe and Pat Schroeder discuss women in Congress, see Lana Turner modeling a new hair style, and much more.

For reviewer access to American History Online, Modern World History Online, African-American History Online, or American Women’s History Online; questions about pricing; or further information, please contact Laurie Katz at 212-896-4269 or at [email protected]. We ask that you not publish any pricing information about our databases without first confirming it with us. Thank you for your consideration.