http://www.bath.ac.uk/holburne/

At present, the only way you can visit the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath is online, since they have closed for refurbishing till 2010. You can read about the plans for the improvements and check out floor plans and the development schedule from a link on the homepage. If you click on the "Collections" link on left hand side of the page, you will be able to check out the "History" of the museum's beginnings, the "Highlights" of the fine art and decorative art collections, or use the "Online Catalogue" called Muse, to search through the collection. The objects located in Muse are divided into two primary themes: "The History of the Holburne Collection" and "Art and Culture in Georgian Bath". The best way to learn about these themes is not to search using Muse, but while still in the "Online Catalogue" link, click on the left hand side of the page where it says Georgian Bath. You will see many categories and subcategories from which to learn about Georgian Bath culture, such as Art, Culture, Leisure, Work, and Building the City. The subcategories are clickable, such as "The Urban Environment", "The Poor", "Parades and Pleasure Gardens", and "Service and Labour" – each will lead you to objects from the museum that are representative of the topic. Some include explanatory text with the objects, in order to give them a little more context. If you prefer to see glimpses of the museum exhibitions, past, present, and future, click on "Exhibitions" on the left hand side of the page, to be transported to your options of "Forthcoming", "Current", and "Past." The number of images from the exhibitions is limited in each of these, but a written description does accompany each exhibition. [KMG]

http://uncommonlives.naa.gov.au/default.asp

The Uncommon Lives series on the National Archives of Australia website takes an approach to Australian history that not only encompasses the well-known history-makers, but also lesser known people's role in shaping Australian history. One of the stated goals of the Uncommon Lives series is to show how amateur historians and researchers alike can use the archives to find biographical resources. There are five stories the visitor can discover by simply clicking on the image of the person or people next to the brief description of their story including, "Muslim Journeys", "Charles and Ruth Lane Poole", "Jessie Street", "Wolf Klaphake", and "Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda". By clicking on any choice, visitors will find each story divided into subsections. At the top of the page there are also links to additional topics such as "Life", "Timeline", and "Records". Explanatory text accompanies the thumbnails of each image and these can be expanded into a high quality image by clicking on them. Each of these stories provides a unique and compelling look into Australian history. For instance in Wolf Klaphake's story you can listen to or read the transcript of segments of the ABC radio play "A Doubtful Character" which is about Klaphake's life and in Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda's story, you can view the actual court records of his case, which was the first for an Aboriginal Australian in the High Court. [KMG]

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/

In the eighteenth century, wise sage and journalist Samuel Johnson opined that when one was tired of London, they were in fact tired of life. Well, the same might be said for this exuberant and delightful website, and it is doubtful that visitors will be tired of its fine collection of London maps even after several visits. Organized as part of the British Library's Online Gallery collection, the Crace Collection of Maps of London was brought together in the early part of the nineteenth century by society designer Frederick Crace. All told, the collection consists of over 1200 printed and hand-drawn maps which chart the development of the city and its immediate vicinity from 1570 to 1860. Current map curator and head Peter Barber offers up some of his favorite items from the collection on the homepage, including the rather wordy "A guide for Cuntrey men in the famous Cittey of LONDON by the helpe of wich plot they shall be able to know how farr it is to any Street" from 1593. Visitors shouldn't stop there, as they should press on to search through the rest of the collection and Barber's introductory essays. [KMG]

http://www.gosmithsonian.com/lincoln

Many groups and organizations are gearing up for the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth in 2009, and the Smithsonian Institution has created this nice site to keep interested parties abreast of all the events that they and their partner organizations are sponsoring. As the site notes, visitors can both relive scenes from Lincoln's second inaugural ball and also tour various city sites from the Lincoln era. On the homepage, visitors can look at the "Exhibits" and "Events" sections to get a jump start and on the right side of the homepage, visitors can also make their way through related Smithsonian magazine articles, a virtual jukebox of Lincoln-related ditties, and also view videos from the Smithsonian Channel and the National Portrait Gallery. Finally, visitors can also view museum floor plans here and sign up to create their own customized Lincoln-themed itinerary. [KMG]

http://mediastorm.org/

The principal aim of MediaStorm is "to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and video for distribution across multiple media." Many people have taken notice of their fine work thus far, as they have garnered several Emmys and a couple of Webby Awards in recent years. On their site, visitors can view some of their recent work, either by clicking on any image or by clicking on "Menu" at the top of the page. From the menu, visitors should click on "Projects", which includes a drop-down menu of their work and provides a brief synopsis along with each image. The subject matter covered here is tremendous, as visitors can look in on portraits of modern Rwanda, the global trade in wildlife, and the aftermath of Chernobyl. Moving on, visitors can subscribe to their RSS feed, podcasts, and newsletter in the "Subscribe" section. Finally, visitors will also want to read up on their weblog about their latest and future projects, and maybe even wander on over to their online store. [KMG]

http://broadsides.law.harvard.edu/

"Dying speeches & Bloody Murders" might not sound like a site to visit right before bedtime, but this engaging and fascinating collection brings together an important set of crime broadsides that will engage the attention of historians, legal scholars, and anyone with an interest in the history of crime and punishment. This collection comes from the Harvard Law School Library, and the conservation and digitization of these broadsides was made possible by a generous grant from the Peck Stacpoole Foundation. These broadsides would have been sold in much the same way a program would be sold today at a major sporting event. Their price was usually quite low, and they usually featured a description of the crime in question and a variety of illustrations. Here visitors can view over 500 of these broadsides, and they can browse around at their leisure, or search by category or keyword. [KMG]

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?col_id=198

Sporting-good magnate Albert G. Spalding was quite the baseball aficionado, and during his life he managed to collect hundreds of photographs, prints, drawings, and printed illustrations related to baseball and other popular American pastimes. Of course, Spalding was quite the ball player, as he played for the National Association's Boston franchise and continued to make his mark with the Chicago White-Stockings. This collection was created by the New York Public Library's Digital Gallery initiative, and visitors can browse around via the "Collection Contents" link or they can also use the search engine to locate specific items of ephemera. Some of the highlights here include photographs of Spalding and his colleagues and rare images of "Town Ball" and "Old Cat" which were stick and ball games that existed as variations on the English game of "Rounders". [KMG]

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=13771#

This exhibition from the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) explores the art and culture of the Salish First Peoples of Washington State and British Columbia. The word s'abadeb translates as "gifts" in English, and represents a wide range of beliefs and actions to the Coast Salish First People. The web exhibition is divided into sections on the gifts of the earth, ancestors, families, spirit world, and artists. The last is possibly the most interesting, presenting works of modern artists working within Coast Salish tradition, compared with historical works. For example, a 19th century wooden spindle whorl with a pattern of fish is paired with a glass whorl decorated with frogs, created in 1995. Other pairs include bracelets, canoe paddles, woven items, and photographs. [DS]