http://soundtransit.nl/index.html

Would you like to hear the sounds of people playing bingo in Glasgow? Perhaps you are interested in a night recording of crickets in Speyside, Tobago? These and many other soundscapes can be found at the Soundtransit website. Developed as a collaborative online archive of field recordings, the site contains a wide variety of sound clips from around the world, submitted by persons from countries all over the world. Visitors can begin their sound travels by using a search engine that allows them to look for sounds by country, artist, or city. Each clip is accompanied by a short description, such as this one for a clip from Vienna: “an inside-recording from a fridge with a working coffee machine on top”. One feature that is particularly outstanding is the “SoundTransit” area. Here, visitors can “book” audio fieldtrips by selecting an itinerary, complete with stopovers. Clearly, there are few better ways to travel from Casablanca to Cleveland in such a rich aural fashion. [KMG]

http://international.loc.gov/intldl/fiahtml/fiahome.html

A partnership between the Library of Congress and the Bibliothèque nationale de France has produced this digital research library "that tells the story of the French presence in America and the interactions between the French and American peoples from the early 16th to the late 19th centuries." Presented in both French and English, the collection includes maps and many types of documents and images, such as travel narratives, missionary accounts, administrative reports, prints, and drawings. The site is organized into several themes: Exploration and Knowledge; The Colonies; Franco-Indian Alliances; Imperial Struggles; The French and North America after the Treaty of Paris (1763-1803); and France in America: Chronology. An example of materials is "King's Daughters, Casket Girls, Prostitutes", an illustrated account of how, in an attempt to reduce the ratio of six male colonists of marriageable age to every European-born female in the royal province of Canada in the 1660s, Louis XIV subsidized the emigration of over 700 young women, mostly orphans raised at the General Hospital of Paris. [DS]

http://content.lib.washington.edu/ww-spwsweb/index.html

The western United States has been the site of some of the most ambitious public works projects in the country’s history. One only need think of massive structures such as the Hoover Dam or the Grand Coulee Dam to be reminded of the strong human desire that compels various groups of individuals to harness and control water. This latest digital collection from the University of Washington’s Digital Collections group showcases images of hydroelectric power and water supply facilities built in the state of Washington from the 1890s to the 1950s. Among its 695 images, visitors will find construction photographs of the Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant, plans for the “Seattle Water System”, and the Lower Baker River development, which was built with steam donkeys and dynamite. Understanding of these developments in public works (and the photographs themselves) is greatly enhanced by an accompanying essay on the construction of these edifices by noted local historians Paul Dorpat and Genevieve McCoy. [KMG]

http://www.asu.edu/lib/archives/goddard/index.html

Born in Clayton, Missouri, Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr. attended Harvard in the late 1930s, served in the Air Force, and then shortly thereafter, he and his new wife moved to the state of Arizona. Goddard entered the world of politics after a time, and became governor of the burgeoning state of Arizona in the 1960s. The Arizona State University Libraries has created this rather compelling online collection of his papers, and ephemera related to his time in office and his work on the campaign trail. Here visitors can read a rather thorough biography of Goddard, view images and slogans from his various campaigns, and view interview clips with the man himself. The site also contains materials related to the broader political climate in Arizona at the time, along with information about the key legislative battles surrounding that most fractious of issues in the western United States: water. [KMG]

http://www.nfb.org/

When thinking of blind persons in the United States, many people may immediately think of such notable figures as Stevie Wonder or the late Helen Keller. Currently, there are approximately 1.3 million people living with blindness in the United States, and one of the primary organizations dedicated to lobbying for the rights of the blind is the National Federation of the Blind. Their website contains a wide variety of materials, including information on employment and training for blind and visually-impaired individuals and a section titled “How Do You…?”. This section provides answers to questions that children may ask about blind people, such as “What is the White Cane Law?” and “How do blind people cook?”. Visitors will also want to peruse their publications area, which includes current and past issues of the Braille Monitor and Voice of the Nation’s Blind. The site also contains information about a free service that allows blind people to listen to hundreds of newspapers over the telephone. [KMG]

http://www.theparisreview.com/

While George Plimpton may be gone, the Paris Review continues to soldier on, much the same as it has done for the past fifty years. Over its long history, this literary periodical has published important works by Philip Roth, V.S. Naipul, and Samuel Beckett. Their website offers selections from both current and previous issues, and for various members of the intelligentsia, this site will merit several visits. One special feature should be noted straightaway, namely “The DNA of Literature” area accessible on the homepage. Here, the staff members at The Paris Review have placed author interviews, including conversations with the likes of Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, and James Baldwin. Additionally, visitors should take a look at the audio section of the site, which includes readings by a variety of poets and authors, including Billy Collins, Agha Shahid Ali, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. [KMG]