"A nationwide community Project..."

Welcome to the largest community heritage project since the new Deal! With the help of local volunteers, we're developing the first comprehensive, online guide to America's local history, culture and environment. We share the mission of the Federal Writers' Program, which authored the highly successful American Guide Series of the 1930's. In addition to online versions of the original WPA State Guides, we're developing 3,000 digital County Heritage Guides, supplemented by a National Heritage Database (NHDB). See What's in it for me? and Volunteers to submit material for the Guides.  

Partnering with local communities

We partner with local high schools, governments, and non-profits to help document, preserve and promote their local history and their environment. Partners represent the Project locally, while volunteers  help us research, write, and/or edit portions of each County Heritage Guide.

Bringing their heritage to the world

The American Guide Series is still considered an invaluable reference for both historians and heritage tourists. However, these critically-acclaimed books skipped many communities and their local attractions. Without the limitations of a physical book, the new County Heritage Guides share the organization of the originals, while adding modern features, such as GPS locations, online mapping, and hyperlinks to other resources. Once online, each Guide will be distributed in print and other media. Meanwhile, the NHDB is designed to become the place to collect the rest of our heritage. Future AGP programs may include TV, radio, and film productions, as well as related products. Volunteers can help develop related Blogs, Podcasts, YouTubes, email newsletters, and more!

To fulfill our vision, we only need 3,000 Partners, Sponsors, 20,000 volunteers, and your financial support!  

Please make a donation or purchase a  Sponsorship in the name of your favorite County!

Alternative Format

This site is one of the first public web sites built upon Adobe's advanced knowledge management tool, Ehelp (formerly RoboInfo). If you'd like to explore our content using the table of contents, search tools and glossary offered by this tool, click here. When you wish to return to the default format, just visit the main index page - www.AmericanGuides.org.