Recently, while perusing the internet, it occurred to me that the folks over at the US Department of Defense had no real concept as to the full potential of the web they were helping to create during the cold war. Sure they understood they were pioneering a network of computers across the country and around the world that would despite a nuclear attack continue to share data. Perhaps, some of them even understood that this internet of computers would one day revolutionize the world as we know it via its ability to disseminate information. But did they also realize that one day it would be able to teach me how to dance the Tango? Doubtful. There is a stop one can make while travelling the internet where you may in fact among other things learn how to dance that Tango.

While the site bills itself as being "a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States." I find its appeal to be much broader than just that of American interest.

America is after all a land made up of peoples, ideas and religions from all over the world. Historical information, documents, sound files, video and photos relating to the indigenous population of the land, the American indian are of course abundant at this site, but it does not stop there. The German, Irish, Polish and Italian Americans, for that matter virtually any nationality that has found its way to the north American shores is represented here.

People's lives are documented here along with their ideas, arts, inventions and whole life works.

Back to that Tango I mentioned earlier. In this case dance happens to be the life works of Miss Swepstone & Mr. Tweedale and it is preserved beautifully here for all to enjoy:

"The tango, as standardized and taught by the representative dancing masters of the North American continent; tango two-step, hesitation waltz, Boston glide, one-step, described by Miss Eileen Swepstone ... illustrated by Miss Swepstone and Mr. Bernard Tweedale."

Text, video and photographs relevant to dance is but a tiny fraction of what The "American Memory" has to offer. With close to 7.3 million digital items from well over 100 historical collections to choose from, you can imagine how easy it is to become lost in this wealth of information and entertainment.

As Al Pacino once said in Scent of a Woman: "The beautiful thing about the tango is that if you get all tangled up you can just tango your way out." The same applies for The American Memory, Historical Collections of the National Digital Library.