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Kent State Shootings: Selected Websites

Special Collections and Archives

Kent State Shootings: Selected Websites

Special Collections and Archives

Kent State Shootings: Selected Websites

May 4 Annotated Bibliography

Selected May 4 Web Sites

Updated by Cara Gilgenbach, January 2020; Last Updated: August 2023


PLEASE NOTE: This bibliography is intended to be inclusive of selected web sites that feature content about the Kent State shootings. Inclusion on this list does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of the sites in question. Users should carefully assess the content of these sites before utilizing for curricular or scholarly purposes.

50 After 13: 50 years after 13 seconds that changed Kent State University forever, students reflect
An online magazine site created in 2019 by students in three courses taught by Professors Jacqueline Marino and David Foster of the Kent State University School of Media and Journalism. Through this multi-layered site, students "relay [their] own views of the May 4th shootings through words, photographs and videos" and "tell stories that haven’t been heard before." 
https://studentsonmay4.com

CNN.com's coverage of the 30th anniversary of May 4, 1970
Includes a story "Kent State forever linked with Vietnam War era," real audio clips of John Darnell, Bob Carpenter, and Paul Tople, three photographers and newsmen who were there, and a chat transcript with John Filo, who took the famous photograph of Mary Vecchio screaming over Jeffrey Miller's body. Also includes a message board.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/views/y/2000/04/tuchman.kentstate.may4/

FBI Files on the Kent State Shootings
The FBI investigated the shootings at Kent State. From their investigation a report was created, available online in PDF format.
https://vault.fbi.gov/kent-state-shooting

Four Dead in Ohio (William A. Gordon)
Author William A. Gordon's website in support of his book Four Dead In Ohio: Was There a Conspiracy at Kent State? (The book was originally published as The Fourth of May: Killings and Coverups at Kent State. It is currently available in an expanded ebook edition.) Gordon is a 1973 graduate of Kent State. Presents Gordon's argument of what happened, along with a list of other questions he addresses in his book, review blurbs, and ordering information. The site also includes an annotated bibliography on the Kent State shootings.
https://www.kentstateshootingsexpert.com

Glenn W. Frank, May 4, 1970
A website created by the family and estate of Glenn W. Frank, a Kent State geology professor and peace marshal on May 4, 1970. Frank was an eyewitness to the shootings and was instrumental in calming students and others down after the shootings, helping to ensure that the violence was not further escalated. This site, released in 2019, is meant to share Frank's life story, his research, and book entitled Anatomy of a Tragedy.
https://www.glennwfrankmay4.com

Kent State Guardsmen Oral History Project
The Kent State Guardsmen Oral History Project began as an assignment in a public history class taught by Dr. David Strittmatter at Ohio Northern University. The project seeks to record and document the perspective of the National Guardsmen in the narrative and evolving memory of the Kent State Shootings on May 4, 1970.
https://kentstateguardsmenoralhistoryproject.weebly.com/

Kent State Shooting [sic] on History.com
A brief overview of the Kent State shootings compiled by History.com. Please note this site includes advertisements.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state-shooting

Kent State Shootings on Ohio History Central
A brief overview of the Kent State shootings compiled the Ohio History Connection (formerly known as the Ohio Historical Society).
https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Kent_State_Shootings

Making Meaning of May 4
The Making Meaning of May 4 web site provides resources for educators to use to promote understanding of the Kent State shootings, enhance humanities education across the disciplines, and demonstrate the meaning of May 4 for today. Making Meaning of May 4 is part of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Kent State University Together: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
https://www.kent.edu/ehhs/making-meaning-may-4

Mapping May 4
This web app draws from the oral histories in the May 4 Collection, Kent State Special Collections & Archives. It maps stories from those histories that describe memories of events at a particular place in Kent between May 1st and May 5th, 1970. It is designed to serve as a digital memorial, to remember and honor these events.
https://mappingmay4.kent.edu/

The May 4th Augmented Reality Experience
The May 4th augmented reality experience is designed to engage and immerse users as they journey through the events of May 4th, 1970 and reflect on its meaning for today. The experience invites users to view multiple perspectives of the Kent State shootings through the lens of augmented reality using historical imagery, audio, and related experiences that highlight past and current humanitarian struggles.
https://may4thxr.kent.edu/ 

May 4th Task Force
This student organization coordinated the annual commemoration of the Kent State shootings through the year 2019. The organization also educates the public about the shootings. "Since 1975 it has been the purpose of the M4TF to raise the level of awareness of students, faculty and the general public about the May 1970 shootings and the history of subsequent related events."
https://www.facebook.com/m4taskforce

Vietnam War Era Ephemera Collection. University of Washington Libraries. Digital Collections.
This database contains digitized images of leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. They reflect the social environment and political activities of the youth movement in Seattle during that period. This site includes some materials directly related to the Kent State shootings and provides resources for placing the student protest movement at Kent within a larger, national context.
https://content.lib.washington.edu/protestsweb/index.html

Virtual Vietnam Archive. Vietnam Center and Archive. Texas Tech University.
Provides digital access to seven million scanned pages and images of materials held by the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University. This digital archive includes selected materials related to the Kent State and Jackson State shootings, while also providing a much larger context of materials relating to the Vietnam War.
https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/