Adoption is a significant public and private issue. This site is based on the conviction that history is an indispensable resource for understanding the personal, political, legal, social, scientific, and human dimensions of this particular form of kinship. The Adoption History Project is devoted to making adoption history accessible and interesting to visitors who may not be aware that adoption has a history at all. This site introduces the history of child adoption in the United States by profiling people, organizations, topics, and studies that shaped adoption during the twentieth century. I hope individuals with personal or professional ties to adoption who are curious about adoption’s past will find the site relevant to their concerns. It is also intended for students and teachers interested in social welfare, the human sciences, and the history of children and families in the modern United States. This site was created and is maintained by Ellen Herman in the Department of History at the University of Oregon. It was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0094318. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The site has also received funding from Project ECHO, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, and from the Viola W. Bernard Foundation.