Thomas Head Raddall Electronic Archive Project
http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/trela/trela.htm
Presented by Dalhousie University Libraries located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Thomas H. Raddall Electronic Archive Project is an extensive online collection of "one of Canada's and Nova Scotia's famous authors and historians." This collection contains a vast majority of Mr. Raddall's published works, from his earliest writings to his memoirs. These include novels, short stories, articles, radio broadcasts and plays, sound recordings, and forewords for other works -- from 1929 to 1976. Visitors may search the archive for references to people, places, or literary works. In addition, this easily navigable site also contains a biography, a bibliography of books and anthologies written by and about Mr. Raddall (arranged alphabetically by title), an inventory outline of the archive's contents, a photo gallery, and links to other related sites. [MG]
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Silk Road Seattle
http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/index.shtml
Silk Road Seattle is a "collaborative public education project using the 'Silk Road' theme to explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era (A.D.) to the Sixteenth Century." The Silk Road is a term understood to have been the overland trade route from China to the Mediterranean, opened first in the 2nd century and coming to an end between the 15th and 17th centuries. Traditional discussions of the Silk Road, however, recognize that there were branches that went into South Asia, or extended from Central Asia north of the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Sponsored primarily by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington and directed by Professors Daniel C. Waugh, Joel Walker, and Cynthea Bogel, this Web site contains a vast range of Silk Road materials. These materials include a list of texts that may be used in teaching and learning about the Silk Road, a section on cities and architecture along the Silk Road, information on traditional culture in Central Asia, a page of teaching and learning guides that list and annotate Silk Road materials, and a virtual art exhibit. This site is still in a constructive stage; therefore, every link is not yet accessible. In short, this site may be of value for a range of audiences, including school children, teachers, college and graduate students, and independent adult learners. [MG]
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Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy
http://www.ibiblio.org/laslave/
In 1984, Dr. Gwendolyn Hall, a professor emerita of history at Rutgers University, stumbled upon a treasure of historical data in a courthouse in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. For the next 15 years, Dr. Hall rummaged through documents from all over Louisiana (as well as archives in France, Spain and Texas) and uncovered the background of approximately 100,000 slaves who were brought to Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries. Armed with this information, Dr. Hall designed and created a database into which she recorded and calculated the information she obtained from these documents regarding African slave names, genders, ages, occupations, illnesses, family relationships, ethnicity, places of origin, prices paid by slave owners, and slave testimonials and emancipations. Together, Dr. Hall, the Center for the Public Domain, and ibiblio.org presents this online collection of significant historical data. The user-friendly database is searchable by name, gender, racial designation, and plantation or origin. From historians, genealogists, anthropologists, geneticists, and linguists, to Americans seeking keys to their past, there are many who can benefit from this freely accessible information. [MG]
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Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
http://www.nmafa.si.edu/
Although not brand new, the Web site of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is worth a visit. The What's New link from the homepage leads to 5 different specialized interfaces of the museum's collections: diversity, uses, imagery, currently on view, and advanced. For example, in the imagery section, you can search by Animal, Human, or Object Imagery. In diversity, clicking on a classification icon -- such as Architectural Elements, Costumes and Textiles, Tools and Equipment, or Toys -- takes you to a search screen for just that particular category, and the uses interface has its own set of categories from Adornment to Weaving. The on view interface searches only those objects that are on display, while advanced search covers more of the collection. For example, a search on Costumes and Textiles gets only one item in on view, and 29 in advanced. Another rich area of the site is Exhibitions, with over two dozen available,including selections from shows that have left the physical museum, such as Beautiful Bodies: Form and Decoration of African Pottery and In the Presence of Spirits: African Art from the National Museum of Ethnology, Lisbon. [DS]
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Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts
http://www.kb.nl/kb/manuscripts/
This Web site is a scholarly database of information regarding medieval illuminated manuscripts of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands, and the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum. Viewers may search the database by keyword or browse by subject content -- Religion and Magic, Nature, Human Being, Man in General, Society, Civilization, Culture, Abstract Ideas and Concepts, History, Bible, Literature, Classical Mythology, and Ancient History. Accessible in English, German, or French, this site is specifically designed for those with an interest in medieval images and history. [MG]
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Digest of Education Statistics, 2001 [.pdf]
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002130
On March 1, 2002, the National Center for Education Statistics released Digest of Education Statistics, 2001. This report provides "a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of education from prekindergarten through graduate school." Topics covered by the Digest include information on the number of US schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, as well as information on educational attainment, finances, Federal funds for education, employment and income of graduates, libraries, technology, and international comparisons. The report consists of seven chapters, an appendix, an index, and definitions -- downloadable, viewable, and printable in its entirety or by chapter. (The Digest of Education Statistics, 2000 was featured in the February 6, 2001 Scout Report). [MG]
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Getting Serious Online [.pdf]
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=55
As readers of this report will discover, Americans are growing more sophisticated in their use of the Internet, both in terms of what they want out of it, as well as how they lend themselves to it. The Pew Internet Project reports that Americans are becoming increasingly more demanding and thoughtful when it comes to the Web, spending more time interacting with it in personally meaningful ways, particularly by communicating with friends and family. An extensive study, the report also reveals that 55 percent of Americans now access the Web from work and that use is more and more focused on overall quality of services and resources, as well as on access speed and reliable connectivity. The report bears this out by attesting that Americans are increasingly turning to broadband providers for Internet service. Further, and not surprisingly, Americans are also turning to the Net to conduct business of all kinds, from banking to investing to paying bills and making purchases. [WH]
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Dictionary of Victorian London
http://www.victorianlondon.org/
Designed and maintained by Lee Jackson, an author and librarian, the Victorian Dictionary is a useful resource on Victorian London history during the 19th century. This site contains over 40 categories that range from architecture, to clothing and fashions, to dates and events, to entertainment and recreation, to words and expressions. The site also contains a bibliography containing most of the resources used for the site, as well as links to other related sites. In brief, this site is a helpful resource for those working on and interested in the history of the Victorian age. [MG]
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