This resource represents a virtual library of still and moving images, documents, maps, sound clips and text which make up the history of Western Civilization from prehistoric times to the early 1990s. The interdisciplinary range of materials included is compatible with standard textbooks in middle and high school social science, social studies, history, and art history courses and is designed for interactive use by teachers and/or students. The resource provides access to more than 3,500 still images, with captions and overviews, for research, independent study, or a wide range of instructional purposes. Images include illustrations, paintings, and photographs of historical figures and events, political cartoons, historic sites, architecture, artifacts, and works of art. Motion picture sequences present people and events in recent history from Czar Nicholas to the Beatles. Sound bites pair brief recordings by history-making individuals, like Sigmund Freud discussing psychoanalysis or King Edward VIII giving his abdication speech, to persons in the arts and popular culture. The materials are arranged in 15 sections according to time period and geographic location. Each section contains a narrated overview which may be used as an introduction or a review of the period presented. Basic, intermediate, and advanced level student quizzes are provided on the CD-ROM. The interactive function allows the user to import additional digitalized pictures in order to create specialized presentations. The barcoded, annotated videodisc Guide Book, and the CD-ROM Index locate specific items and allow data grouping by keyword category. (MM)