http://www.lib.drake.edu/heritage/ding-darling/index.html

Among the ranks of political cartoonists in the first half of the twentieth century, Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling certainly ranks near the top. As a young man, he started drawing cartoons for the Sioux City Journal and then spent periods of time at the New York Globe, the New York Herald Tribune, and the Des Moines Register. He won two Pulitzer Prizes during his career, and he was also instrumental in the early days of the conservation movement. As part of this work, he helped establish the Sanibel National Wildlife Refuge in Florida in 1945. His work is held in the Cowles Library's Special Collections at Drake University, and this rather engaging digital archive contains over 5000 of his cartoons. First-time visitors can get started by browsing the collection by decade, and after a look around they may wish to use the search engine to look for specific topical illustrations. The "Advanced Search" area is quite advanced indeed, and visitors can search the text of cartoons, or look around by place name, people, year, subject terms, or events, such as the Battle of Britain or Thanksgiving. [KMG]

http://www.conservatoire.bcu.ac.uk/hic

If you have ever had a penchant to check out an ancient flageolet or a historic bass horn, this delightful online collection from the Birmingham Conservatoire Historical Instrument Collection is just the ticket. The project was developed by Professor George Caird and his colleagues at Birmingham City University, and funding for the project was provided by Arts & Humanities Research Council. From the homepage, visitors can browse the catalogue of instruments by name or by maker, look over a host of images, and listen to some excellent audio samples of the instruments. The instruments are divided into categories that include "Trombones", "Plucked Strings", "Keyboards", and "Serpents, Ophicleides and Bass Horns". Each instrument is accompanied by information about its place of origin, its maker, its overall size, and numerous photographs. Moving on, the "Audio Resources" area is quite a pip, and visitors can listen to expert musicians playing everything from an 1836 piccolo to a folded coach horn making its way through Mozart's Post Horn Serenade. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://themannahattaproject.org/

Amongst old time residents of the island on Manhattan, talk can turn to what the Lower East Side used to be like 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. Some like to bemoan the gentrification of Harlem and others recall the "bad old days" in Hell's Kitchen. The folks at the Wildlife Conservation Society are interested in the long view, and they'd like to find out what Manhattan (or Mannahatta as it was called by local Indians) was like in 1609. Over the past decade they have been involved in uncovering and investigating the original ecology of Manhattan, and they have found a natural landscape of hills, valleys, forests, fields, salt marshes, beaches, and streams. Visitors to the site can explore Mannahatta via the "Explore" page and even look at block-by-block species information. Moving on, the "Science" page gives visitors information about the science and technology involved in creating an ancient landscape. There's even a "Discuss Mannahatta" area where visitors can talk about Mannahatta-related issues with other interested persons. Finally, visitors can also go to the "News" page to find out about upcoming Mannahatta walking tours, talks, and exhibitions. [KMG]

To find this resource and more high-quality online resources in math and science visit Scout's sister site - AMSER, the Applied Math and Science Educational Repository at http://amser.org.

http://audiovideo.economist.com/

The audio and video segments of the Economist online are plentiful, and free. There is no need to register to start listening or watching. Furthermore, there is a very handy feature that allows a visitor to add a segment to their playlist, if they are overwhelmed by all the great choices and don't want to forget to hear them all. On the left side of the screen, visitors can choose view their options by "video", "audio", or "subject". Subject includes categories such as "Asia", "The Americas", "Books and Arts", and "Science and technology". These topics can also be found in the link entitled "From the Audio Edition". The link entitled "Videographics" is a unique feature that should appeal to visual learners, as it uses animated graphics, charts or graphs, rather than photographs or film, to explain a newsworthy concept, such as "A short, recent history of Congo" or "Explaining the Money Markets". Visitors should not miss the video segments called "Kal's cartoons", the link to which is found on the left hand side menu. In these videos, the political cartoonist for the magazine explains various features of his cartoons. "Kal on Thatcher" explains how he drew the former Prime Minister and why. Same goes for "Kal on Bill" and "Kal on Reagan". "The Debate We'd Like To See" with Obama and Hillary Clinton as game show contestants and Regis Philbin as the host may no longer be current, but it is laugh out loud funny, nonetheless. [KMG]

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/digitized_collections/photography_mexico/

The Getty Research Library at the Getty Institute has over 600 digitized images of Mexico from its special collections by Mexican, American, and European photographers in a multitude of photographic formats. The earliest is from 1857, and these photographic images document the history of the nation from different perspectives. To get acquainted with a timeline of Mexico starting in 1810 and going through 1923, visitors should click on "Chronology" on the right hand side of the page. Throughout the chronology are photos and brief descriptions that can be viewed in more depth if users click on "View Full Record", beneath the photo. An extremely helpful and interesting glossary of terms and names can be viewed if visitors click on "Glossary" on the right hand side of the page. The "Glossary" contains the definitions of particular types of photographic images, or processes, as well as explanations of the many ethnic groups that inhabited Mexico at one time or another. Another very interesting section to peruse is of the "Photographers", which is also accessible on the right hand side of the page. With three-dozen photographers to read about including Wilhelm Kahlo, Frida Kahlo's father, visitors will find that some photographers made postcards from the images taken of the revolution in northern Mexico. [KMG]

http://digital.library.unt.edu/browse/department/rarebooks/wwpc/

War posters from World War I and II encouraged the people of the nations at war to buy war bonds, plant gardens, ration, enlist, or work extra hard for the sake of the war effort. A collection of these posters can be found in abundance on the library website of the University of North Texas. The library has over 600 war posters, and fortunately, 493 of them are digitized. Some are quaint by today's standards, but some, like the fifth record on the homepage, entitled "Deliver Us From Evil: Buy War Bonds," has an eerie haunting quality to it. More information about the artist, Harriet Naduea, can be found in the notes on the poster, accessible by clicking on "more info", underneath a partial description of the poster. In the search box underneath the introduction to the poster collection, type in Geisel to see a poster by a familiar artist and author, encouraging Americans to "Starve the Squander Bug." Visitors should click on the thumbnail to see those "squander bugs" in full detail. [KMG]