HistoryQuest.US is a standards-based curriculum enhancement program that connects learners to remote historical and cultural objects -- and the people who know them best -- live over the Internet. Through partnerships with local museums and historical sites, HistoryQuest.US also enables learners to choose important objects, and teach distant peers about important social and historical themes using web-based distance learning technologies to bridge geographic barriers. The goal of HistoryQuest.US is to bring students together virtually in cooperative and community-building experiences that foster a deeper understanding of the true issues at the heart of history and contemporary culture. It aims to use close-up access to important historical and cultural objects to stimulate appreciation for history as more than just a set of dates. HistoryQuest.US is unique in that participating students interact live online with experts and with other students across the nation, and around the globe. The live interaction includes actual online voice discussion and a wide variety of stimulating and exciting collaborative activities, including live show and tell sessions and Q&A forums. In addition to live interaction on the Web, participants also take part in a series of classroom-based activities with their own teachers, do independent research at nearby historic sites and museums, and join in asynchronous web-based activities with remote peers. The HistoryQuest.US program has been designed by Columbia University Teacher's College Institute for Learning Technologies and Jonathan Finkelstein, with ongoing guidance and support from several museums.