Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Ross Archive of African Images

Ross Archive of African Images
http://raai.library.yale.edu/

One can explore over 5,000 pictures of African art published before 1921 as part of the James J. Ross Archive of African Images (RAAI). This intoxicating tonic of wonderful items is the result of an eight year collaboration between Ross and Susan Vogel, the project's co-directors, as well as other research specialists. First-time visitors should read over the History section, which offers a narrative essay by Ross on his motivations and inspirations for creating such an archive. The archive aspires to include all the African art in books, periodicals, catalogs, newspapers, and other publications appearing in 1920 and earlier. This is an ambitious goal; visitors can check the Archive's progress via the Search link. One neat feature here is that visitors can use the Compare Images option to look at images side-by-side. Additionally, visitors ca n browse by author and also perform a complete publication search. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Sophia Smith Collection: Population and Reproductive Health Oral History Project

Sophia Smith Collection: Population and Reproductive Health Oral History Project
http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/prh/prh-intro.html

Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Population and Reproductive Health Oral History Project includes accounts of individuals throughout the world who have made valued contributions to the field. The materials here are part of the Women's History Archives at Smith College and the series includes the voices and perspectives of advocates, communication specialists, lawyers, managers, physicians, researchers, and social workers from the period 1965 to 2005. First-time visitors should read the Project History essay and then take a closer look at the several dozen interviews offered here. Those profiled here include the "mother of Asian demography," Mercedes Concepcion, and Lee Minto, the president of Planned Parenthood of Seattle-King County from 1967 to 1993. Other people interviewed here include Dan iel E. Pellegrom, Nafis Sadik, and Sara Seims. It's a wonderful archive for persons interested in public health, women's studies, and a range of other crucial areas of academic study.[From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

William J. Clinton Presidential Library

William J. Clinton Presidential Library
http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/

Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library is the official repository for the documents and related materials that narrate the life and times of President Clinton. Visitors to the site will find six separate sections, including Research, Biographies, Museum, and Education. In the Biographies area, visitors can find essays on both President Clinton and his wife and former US Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, along with photo galleries and detailed research guides. The Research area contains a video gallery, a digital library, and finding aids for the papers contained within these collections. The video gallery is a great resource, as it contains several dozen important addresses, including the 1993 State of the Union Address and the Transportation Equity Act bill signing in 1998. The Education area con tains lesson plans for those who might visit the Library, along with information for families who may be hoping to enhance their young people's experiences as well. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

The Geography of Slavery in Virginia

The Geography of Slavery in Virginia
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/

Created by Tom Costa on behalf of the University of Virginia, the Geography of Slavery in Virginia presents full transcriptions and images of over 4,000 runaway and captured ads for slaves and servants placed in Virginia newspapers from 1736 to 1790. Additionally, the project offers a number of documents related to slaves, servants, and slaveholders, including court records, other newspapers notices, slaveholder correspondence, and assorted literature about slavery and indentured servitude. Photos of advertisements for escaped slaves, often situated beside other ads describing missing livestock, offer a chilling reminder of a time when humans were considered property. Users of the site can browse the advertisements by month or by location, or use the full-text search. The Essays area contains a rather fine piece which places Virginia slavery into the context of the larger colonial America and Atlantic picture. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Public Art Archive

Public Art Archive
http://www.publicartarchive.org/

The Public Art Archive was launched in 2009 as a free resource for comprehensive data and extensive information about thousands of public art installations across the United States. New users should visit the About area for information about the functionality of the site and its history. After a quick visit here, the Browse tab filters this information by artist, collection, location, materials, work type, placement and year. Those unacquainted with the world of public art would do well to start in several large cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and Miami. The clickable map interface makes it easy and quite enjoyable to look at different cities and regions quickly. Browsing around by year is interesting as well; the works are listed chronologically all the way back to the year 1802. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Mapping for Results: The World Bank

Mapping for Results: The World Bank
http://maps.worldbank.org/

The effective visual representation of key demographic data through the use of dynamic maps is a powerful tool for policymakers, journalists, and others. The World Bank developed such a program in 2010 as part of the Mapping for Results website. So far, their team has analyzed over 2,500 World Bank-financed projects and geo-coded more than 30,000 locations spanning 144 countries. Visitors can look over the featured articles on the homepage to get a flavor of the projects here, which include stories like "Mapping for Results Goes Local" and "Mapping the Financial Sector in Africa." Visitors can use the interactive map to view projects by country or indicator, which include population density, malnutrition, and infant mortality. Visitors can also learn about the Methodology deployed throughout the maps, which will be useful to those persons looking to understand the inner workings of this complex underta king. Visitors can sign up to receive updates about the site via Twitter or RSS feed. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Thursday, October 24, 2013

"A Strike Against Starvation and Terror"

"A Strike Against Starvation and Terror"
https://appalachiancenter.as.uky.edu/coal-strike/background-coal-strike

This site compiles historic films, images, and text related to the coal miners' strike that took place in Kentucky's Bell and Harlan Counties during 1931 and 1932. Created by the Appalachian Studies Program at the University of Kentucky, this educational resource profiles the cultural and economic milieu surrounding this event. First-time visitors would do well to read the introduction to a recent book on the subject, "Harlan Miners Speak," authored by John Hennen. Moving on, visitors can dive into the Archives and the Archival Exercise area for an archive of the work of newspaper reporter Herndon J. Evans, who was on the scene i n the coalfields of eastern Kentucky during the time. Other sections include Local Elite, Miners, National Media, and New York Writers. This serves as a wonderful model for others seeking to create a similarly rich learning experience. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Bacterial Identification Virtual Lab

Bacterial Identification Virtual Lab
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/bacterial_id/index.html

Created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the Virtual Bacterial Identification Lab provides interested parties with a great way to learn about the science and techniques used to identify different types of bacteria based on their DNA sequences. Visitors can enter the lab and get started by preparing samples from a patient, copying the desired pieces of the DNA, and then sequencing and analyzing the DNA. The entire experience is quite interactive: visitors can record their observations in the Notebook area and also learn about the various samples, which were obtained from stool, lymph nodes, urine, and blood. Finally, there's the Reference area, which contains a glossary of terms, a list of tools in the lab, and an encyclopedia of selected bacteria and other pathogens. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Native American Manuscript Collections

Native American Manuscript Collections
http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/whc/nam/

Based at the University of Oklahoma's Western History Collection, the Native American Manuscript Collections contain over 200 documents relating to Native Americans in Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and the southwestern United States. On the homepage, visitors can browse the manuscripts, which are listed by nation. The Creek Nation area is quite fascinating, as there are over 35 documents here including handwritten journals, trading company ledgers, and letters from farmers like James M. Latty and other Creeks. After this introduction, visitors can browse around through the works of other nations, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

New York State Archives: Native American Digital Collection

New York State Archives: Native American Digital Collection
http://iarchives.nysed.gov/PubImageWeb/listCollections.jsp?id=337

The New York State Archives contains a vast cornucopia of materials related to the history of Native American groups in the Empire State and surrounding areas. On this site, visitors can take advantage of maps, artifacts, photographs, and publications that document communities such as the Iroquois Six Nations, the Long Island Algonkians, the Shinnecocks, and the Poospatucks. The materials here are divided into areas that include Maps, Visual Resources, Treaties and Land Use, and Census Records. First-time visitors should take a look at the Artifacts area to explore annotated photos of items such as cradleboards, moccasins, and elaborate pouches. The Treaties and Land Use area is quite compelling, as it features thirteen documents that provide insights into the relationships between various nations and the federal and New York state governments. The Maps area should not be missed as it contains representations of various reservations in the 18th and 19th century rendered with great detail. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection

American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection
http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/

Created by the University Libraries of the University of Washington, this remarkable digital archive presents a vast collection of materials related to the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures. Along with these primary source items, the site also contains essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about particular tribes and cross-cultural topics. Additionally, the site contains bibliographies and links to related text and images and lesson plans for K-12 educators. The database contains over 2,300 original photographs, 1,500 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 to 1908, and six Indian treaties negotiated in 1855. Visitors can try out a Sample Search and then go ahead and get started with their own quest for knowledge and edification. Additionally, visitors can use the Browse Images and Browse Documents tabs to explore this massive collection. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

First Nations Collection

First Nations Collection
http://soda.sou.edu/tribal.html

The First Nations Tribal Collection of the Southern Oregon Digital Archives contains books, articles, and documents related to the history of the native peoples of the area, including the Coos, Hupa, Karuka, Klamath, and more. Many of the items here are in the public domain, and they include tribal language dictionaries, Bureau of Indian Affairs publications, and publications from the Bureau of American Ethnology. Visitors can look through the materials via the Author List or use the Title heading to look around. Documents on the site include a wealth of treaties regarding fishing practices and limitations along with documents detailing the particulars of different religious ceremonies. The site is rounded out by the inclusion of a comprehensive search engine. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Words Like Sapphires: 100 Years of Hebraica at the Library of Congress

Words Like Sapphires: 100 Years of Hebraica at the Library of Congress
http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/words-like-sapphires/Pages/default.aspx

In 1912, Jacob H. Schiff gave almost 10,000 books and pamphlets to the Library of Congress. It was a prodigious collection of Hebrew and Yiddish materials, and since then the Library has added over 190,000 works to this existing collection. This digital celebration complements an ongoing in situ exhibit at the Library, and it has a nice sampling of items from the Library's holdings. After checking out the About area, visitors can click on over to the Themes section to get started. Here visitors can make their way through The People of the Book, Gates of Prayer, Holy Land, and Beauty in Holiness. This last area is particularly noteworthy, as it features a beautiful version of the book of Esther executed by Israeli artist Avener Moriah and a gorgeous modern Passover Haggadah by Asher Kalderon.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Kenneth S. Goldstein Audio Recordings

Kenneth S. Goldstein Audio Recordings
http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/kg_audio

This remarkable collection consists of over 850 audio reels recorded primarily by Dr. Kenneth S. Goldstein. He was a folklorist, record producer, and teacher who happened to also find time to serve as chairman of the department of folklore and folklife at the University of Pennsylvania. These audio tapes include interviews with musicians and storytellers, recitations of folktales from Newfoundland and Labrador, Pennsylvania, and Scotland. First-time visitors might do well to look over the English Language Folktale reels and then move on to perform their own detailed search across the entire archive. Visitors can also elect to receive updates on th e collection via their RSS feed.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Robert E. Lee Papers

Robert E. Lee Papers
https://repository.wlu.edu/handle/11021/18509

Housed at the Special Collections Department of the James Graham Leyburn Library at Washington and Lee University, the Robert E. Lee Papers document several key aspects of the military leader's life. Along with collections at the Library of Congress and the Virginia Historical Society, this offering represents the third key archive of personal letters from Lee to a host of political and military figures in 19th century America. Visitors can browse around the letters by date, author, title, or subject. Currently there are 188 letters available here, with plans to add more in the future. The letters cover matters mundane and monumental, ranging from an 1837 request for the construction of a steamboat a nd engine to an 1855 note to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis recommending Lee's relative for an Army appointment.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

African-American Women: Online Archival Collections

African-American Women: Online Archival Collections
http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/collections/digitized/african-american-women/

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University has a wealth of digitized materials related to African American women. This particular collection brings together three noteworthy collections: Elizabeth Johnson Harris: Life Story; Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson: Slave Letters; and Vilet Lester Letter. This last item is particularly noteworthy as it is a very rare item indeed: a letter written by a female slave. The Elizabeth Johnson Harris: A Life Story area brings together the full text of her memories, along with several poems and vignettes published in various newspape rs in her lifetime. She was born in 1867 to parents who had been slaves, and the memoir includes information about her own childhood and the importance of religion and education in her life. Finally, the last section brings together letters written by Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson to their mistresses and other slave family members in Abingdon, Virginia.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World
http://gos.sbc.edu/

The Gifts of Speech site brings together speeches given by women from all around the world. The site is under the direction of Liz Linton Kent Leon, who is the electronic resources librarian at Sweet Briar College. First-time users may wish to click on the How To… area to learn how to navigate the site. Of course, the FAQ area is a great way to learn about the site as well, and it should not be missed as it tells about the origin story for the site. In the Collections area, visitors can listen in to all of the Nobel Lectures delivered by female recipients and look at a list of the top 100 speeches in American history as determined by a group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A & M Univ ersity. Users will also want to use the Browse area to look over talks by women from Robin Abrams to Begum Kahaleda Zia, the former prime minster of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/

The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library

The mission of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is to document "the lives of women of the past and present for the future." The library is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and interested parties can peruse the Library's announcements, scholarship opportunities, and digital collections here. The Picks & Finds area is a great place to start, as it contains a range of interesting posts and essays like "Dining with Dissent: Politics and Protest in Vegetarian Cookbooks." Visitors shouldn't miss the selections from the Kip Tiernan papers. Mary Jane "Kip" Tiernan was known for her work with organizations that aided the poor, homeless, and socially oppressed. One of her most notable accomplishments was the creation of Rosie's Place, which was the first emergency drop-in shelter for women in the United States. Additionally, the library has the collected papers of the late Julia Child. In the overview of area, visitors can listen to Child talk about their culinary collections and also view selected papers. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Discovering American Women's History Online

Discovering American Women's History Online
http://digital.mtsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/women

Based at Middle Tennessee State University, this valuable database gives interested parties access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, and so on) that document the history of women in the United States. Visitors can browse the database by subject, place, time period, or primary source type. There are many fascinating resources and links here, including letters from Abigail Franks to her son from the 1730s and 1740s and Katrina Thomas' wonderfully evocative photographs of various ethnic weddings. Even a close appraisal of items listed by primary source is delightful, as the headings here include everything from broadsides to buttons to trade cards. One particularly noteworthy collection contains the papers of the late Irene Kuhn, who was a global traveler, journalist, and social commentator. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Abraham Lincoln Association Serials

Abraham Lincoln Association Serials
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/alajournals/

Abraham Lincoln has been the subject of a variety of works, including plays, poems, songs, music videos, movies, and countless academic studies and dissertations. Between 1940 and 1952, the Abraham Lincoln Association published 52 issues of "The Abraham Lincoln Quarterly," which contained original articles regarding all facets of Lincoln's life and the world in which he lived. The University of Michigan digitized all of these volumes and they are now available on this site. There are hundreds of articles here, but visitors might do well to start with the very first one from the very first volume: "When War Came in 1861." Another fascinating article is the piece "Italy and Lincoln" from March 194 4, which addresses the response to Lincoln's assassination from the Italian people. [From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2013. https://www.scout.wisc.edu/]

Monday, April 22, 2013

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Project

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Project
http://www.und.edu/instruct/sdonaldson/

There had not been a scholarly edition of the works of the influential Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (EBB) in over a century, the last having been published in 1900. A five-volume print edition of EBB’s works was published in 2010, with Sandra Donaldson as the general editor. The new edition provides readers accurate and accessible texts with annotations on context, composition, and publication, creating a reliable foundation for more complete analysis and interpretation of EBB’s works and of Victorian Britain. [From the website]

Knight Digital Media Center

Knight Digital Media Center
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/

The Knight Digital Media Center offers workshops to mid-career journalists to enhance their expertise and multimedia skills. Our goal is to provide the foundation of technical skills and story-telling techniques required by New Media platforms. We are housed at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. We also provide tutorials and video presentations from industry experts.

The Knight Digital Media Center was launched in April 2006 to focus on helping journalists succeed in the rapidly changing media landscape of the 21st Century. It is built on the foundation of the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism which trained more than 750 professional journalists between 2000 and 2006, as well as providing at least 75,000 more journalists with access to resources and online training opportunities through the efforts of its fellows.

The tutorials on this site are designed to supplement the in-person training seminars put on by the center, and as a service to the journalism community, communication professionals and the public in general.

Highly recommended!

Pew Social & Demographic Trends

Pew Social & Demographic Trends
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/


This site provides the results from studies of behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work, and leisure. Highly recommended!

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln
http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln is a long-term project dedicated to identifying, imaging, transcribing, annotating, and publishing all documents written by or to Abraham Lincoln during his entire lifetime (1809-1865).