Wednesday, January 27, 2010

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
How do you tell the life of a country through its people? It is a difficult task, to be sure, and in the 1930s and 1940s the Federal Writers' Project sent hundreds of interviewers out across the country to talk to people about their lives and experiences. These interviews touch on the Great Depression, slavery, political views, the role of the federal government, local folklore, and a myriad of other topics. First-time visitors to this Library of Congress website should read over the "Voices from the Thirties: An Introduction to the WPA Life Histories Collection" section. Visitors can search the interviews by keyword or state, and visitors may wish to start by reading the interview of Louis Larsen, a farmer, social activist and singer in Nebraska, who the interviewer noted "feels the masses are victims of a planned exploitation by a vicious class of legal bandits." >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

National Portrait Gallery: Sitters, artists and photographers talking

National Portrait Gallery: Sitters, artists and photographers talking [pdf]
The National Portrait Gallery in Britain has a great digital collection of artists and photographers speaking on the process of creating specific portraits, as well as a collection of sitters speaking about their experience of being the subjects of those portraits. Visitors interested in reading about the sitter, the artist who painted them, and the actual portrait, need only choose from the list of "Contemporary Sitters", and read the transcript of an audio recording, a video recording, or both. Then look at the list of "Artists", and choose whichever artist painted the portrait, and read an audio or video transcript, or both. It's interesting to compare the artist's perspective on the sitter, and the sitters own perspective. The transcript of what Germaine Greer described as a sitter contrasts greatly with what the artist Paula Rezo said about the experience of painting Greer. Visitors interested in seeing the result of what the sitter and artist were talking about, can look in the far right hand column of the homepage, entitled "Related Portraits", to view the actual painted portrait. The sitters' names are not in alphabetical order, so look at the whole list. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Biomedical Search

Biomedical Search
Wading through the tremendous online resource that is the BioMed archive can be a bit tricky at times. This process just got much easier through the creation of the BioMedSearch feature. The goal of this work is "to make these important works available to the community in a way that is fast and easy, while still offering the advanced features demanded by power users such as portfolios, collaboration features, bibliographical citation export, alerts, and more." Their search engine contains all of the data in Pub Med/Medline, along with additional full-text documents, and a large database of theses and dissertations. Many users will find the "Clusters" section of the site most useful. Here, visitors can view "clusters" of documents grouped together thematically into topics such as clinical trials, exercises, diet and cholesterol, and medical imagining. The homepage contains a basic search engine, and visitors may also wish to use the "Search Tutorial" to gain a better understanding of how best to use the archive. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

The Digital Locke Project

The Digital Locke Project
The influence of John Locke on human thought is hard to overstate, and scholars continue to mine his substantial corpus for insights into the ways that humans interact. This delightful website brings together a scholarly text edition of many of his works. The project is being overseen by Professor Paul Schuurman, and the database here includes multiple drafts of some of Locke's most powerful works, such as the seminal "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding." Visitors can get started by clicking on the "Texts" button to find the text of his works, along with an "About" area that gives some background material on each work. Those persons who might not be familiar with Locke might also appreciate the "About Locke" area of the site. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Open Congressional Research Reports for the People

Open Congressional Research Reports for the People [pdf]
Each year, the American taxpayers provide $100 million for the operating costs of the Congressional Research Service. The Service crafts hundreds of timely research papers and reports, but they can be hard to locate. The Open Congressional Research Reports (OPEN CRS) initiative makes this process much easier. The initiative is a project of the Center for Democracy & Technology, and they work with partner organizations such as the National Library for the Environment and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library. On their homepage, visitors can view the "Recent Reports", which include reports dealing with federal employee's retirement system and Medicaid. Visitors can also use the search engine to look for reports of particular interest, and they may also sign up for their RSS feed as well. Finally, visitors can also look through their "Featured Report Collections" area. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Monday, January 25, 2010

Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives

Oral History of the U.S. House of Representatives [Flash Player]
The rich oral history of the House of Representatives of the United States was finally authorized to be preserved in 2004. This website of the Office of History and Preservation in the Office of the Clerk has much to recommend it. Visitors interested in getting a scope of the project should click on the link "Interviewees", in the middle of the page. The range of sessions of Congress included in the interviewees is from the 72nd to the 111th. Interestingly, the interviewees are not only elected Representatives, but also include "House Officers, Member aides, committee staff, support staff, family of Members, and select former Representatives." The "Historic Events" section in the lower third of the page links to a list of historic events of the House, as well as the number of interviewees who discuss the event in their interview. Visitors can click on the event to bring up the name of the interviewee and the link to their interview. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Open Collections Program: Islamic Heritage Project

Open Collections Program: Islamic Heritage Project
Working together with the generous support of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program has digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps, and published texts from the institution's vast holdings. All told, the project currently includes over 145,000 pages dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries CE. The documents are from many regions, including Saudi Arabia and Central Asia, and the subjects covered here include rhetoric, logic, philosophy, calligraphy, medicine, and law. Visitors can search the entire site, and they may also make their way through sections such as "Published Materials", "Manuscripts", and "Maps". The "Maps" area is quite a find, and visitors can browse maps such as a rendering of the Turkish Empire in 1714 and one of Syria from 1853. Of course, most of the materials here are in languages other than English, but for scholars of the Islamic world, this collection is invaluable. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Daphne Dare Collection

Daphne Dare Collection

http://drc.ohiolink.edu/handle/2374.OX/30999

Daphne Dare worked behind the scenes, but her work was always on stage. Dare was a British costume designer for plays, movies, and TV and was involved in more than 60 productions. She even designed costumes and monsters for the first two years of Dr. Who. The Ohio Digital Resource Commons hosts the digitized collection of over 1100 images of Dare's costumes and set designs. Visitors should read the introduction about Dare on the homepage to see the depth and breadth of her work, which spanned from the late 1950s to the mid 1990s. At the bottom of the homepage, visitors should click on "See all records" to browse the collection. The browsing feature at the top of the page allows for visitors to view the entries by "Titles" "Issue Date" or "Series". Visitors should not miss the drawing "Costume and Set Design for Zorba: 'Men'" which looks like an artwork in itself. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/
World Bank: News & Broadcast [iTunes, pdf]

http://www.worldbank.org/news

From logistics to international development, the World Bank's News & Broadcast website is worth bookmarking, particularly for public policy types, international affairs scholars, and anyone with a penchant for global matters. The homepage presents a "Latest News" area, complete with icons which indicate whether there is video or audio associated with each item. Not only is it a good way to learn about the World Bank's activities, it is another way to stay on top of economic development strategies, political unrest, and foreign investment patterns. Visitors to the site can search all of the media available here, look over the World Bank's YouTube channel, and sign up for their RSS feed. Those persons looking for specific types of information can move over to the left-hand side of the page where they will find a dozen categories, including "Speeches", "Commentaries", and "Issue Briefs" >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Independent Lens: Banished: American Ethnic Cleansings

Independent Lens: Banished: American Ethnic Cleansings

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/banished/

People may generally be familiar with the struggle for civil rights, but how many know about the racial injustices committed against entire black communities in Harrison, Arkansas or Pierce City, Missouri one hundred years ago? This thoughtful and troubling documentary on the forced removal of black residents was produced as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS. Visitors to the site can watch the documentary in its entirety, though it's helpful to look at the sections titled "The Families" and "The Places" to get a bit of context for understanding the film. In "The Places" area, visitors can explore the thirteen counties in the eight states which banished their black residents. For additional information about what might be done today to compensate the descendants of these persons, visitors can click on the "Reparations" section. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Lorenzo Homar Collection

Princeton University Library Digital Collections: Lorenzo Homar Collection

http://diglib.princeton.edu/xquery?_xq=getCollection&_xsl=collection&_pid=gc151-homar

Born in San Juan, Lorenzo Homar is arguably Puerto Rico's greatest graphic artist. He passed away in 2004, and his career included his work with the Puerto Rican Arts Center (which he helped found), the House of Cartier, and a broad range of posters and drawings. This excellent digital collection from the Princeton University Library includes many of these works, including a sketchbook from his days in the U.S. Army, a host of caricatures, and over 90 posters. Getting started here is easy, and visitors can just click on the "page images" button to begin their journey. Visitors can use the "Show" tab to look through the images from the sketchbook and other items, and they can also use a set of navigation buttons to make their way through the collection. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

May 4 Collection

May 4 Collection

http://www.library.kent.edu/page/11247

The shock, anger, and sadness that the world felt when four students were killed by the National Guard during a 1970 war protest on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio will hopefully never be repeated. For researchers, students, faculty, staff, and members of the community, the memories of that tragedy, both written and recorded, have been compiled by the Department of Special Collections and Archives of Kent State University. The May 4 Collection has its own website, which is comprised of such links as a table of "Contents", "Index", "Exhibits/Chronologies", "Oral History Project", and "History Day Help". The "May 4 Collection Contents" reveals that there are 211 boxes of papers, records, newspaper articles, photographs, radio recordings, and comic strips that constitute the May 4 Collection. The "Oral History Project" link explains the ongoing project of recording "first-person narratives and personal reactions to the events of May 4, 1970." It aims to record narratives of all viewpoints of those "whose lives were affected by these historical events." >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/

Science Oxford Online

Science Oxford Online

http://www.scienceoxfordonline.com/

Bolstered by a polar clock in the upper-right hand corner and a collection of intriguing images, the Science Oxford Online website is sure to draw interested parties in with a few clicks of the mouse. The site was originally launched in 2009, and the aim of the site is to give members of the general public "a feel for new research and get some ideas about how science theories of today might create tomorrow's commercial products." On the homepage, visitors are presented with a grid of fifteen different images. Scrolling over these images reveals tags like "What Do Atheists Believe?" and "The Very Strange Properties of Cornstarch". Clicking on each of these links brings up a variety of media, including articles, press releases, video lectures, and so on. Visitors can also search the entire site, or use the "Filter Content" tab to find materials on biology, technology, weather, and other topical matters. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2010. http://scout.wisc.edu/