Web Reads: History for the ears and the eyes

This week’s selection of interesting reads from around the web:

Listen closely. The Roaring Twenties was a noisy decade, and nowhere was noise more bothersome than in New York City. The website documents noise complaints, organizing them by type of sound, year, and location. An interactive map and timeline shows what’s going on graphically, and news reel videos of noise-producing activities—blasting, drilling, Salvation Army preaching, and even a Kung Fu demonstration accompanied by drums—help users experience it aurally.

Map of war. The YouTube channel EmperorTigerStar presents more than 300 historical map animations, including WWII in seven minutes, and The Civil War. The website frequently posts new maps.

Everyday things. A museum of the everyday object in Parma, Italy, has on display a collection of 60,000 things—tools, shoes, shoe laces, cups, canned goods, clocks, socks, sunbursts, suitcases, graters. Some objects are whimsically arranged on walls. Others march across shelves and line the floors.

Cash archive. A 1971 performance by Neil Young on the Johnny Cash Show. During that same show, Cash performed Man in Black for the first time.