Founded 900 years ago, the city of Timbuktu (located in what is now the country of Mali) was a center of major commercial importance and a place where many Islamic scholars received their education. This exhibit, developed by the Library of Congress (with the use of manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha) explores some of the many...

Visitors to the Web version of this Getty Museum exhibition may well have an advantage over on-site visitors. While the physical exhibition features more than 130 illuminated books produced in Flanders between 1470 and 1560, viewers at the Web site have a chance to get much closer to twenty selected manuscripts, using the Zoom & Explore functions provided. Click a thumbnail to investigate a single...

This site is designed to serve as a single access point to information on the catalogs of the British Library's Department of Manuscripts, which cover accessions from 1753 to the present day. Visitors may search the catalogs index (a list of those available online can be found in the About section) by name, language, year, and other modifiers. They can also search the descriptions by keyword or...

The online exhibits and digitization projects of the British Library are some of the finest in the world, and the Turning the Pages exhibit may be one of their best thus far. Utilizing the most contemporary advances in interactive display, visitors to the site can virtually turn the pages of the nine currently available original manuscripts located here. The manuscripts available represent some of...

The Darlington Digital Library was created from the first major collection of books, manuscripts, and maps donated to the University of Pittsburgh. The lion's share of the credit for this collection goes to the attorney William M. Darlington, who was born in Pittsburgh in 1815. During his long life, Darlington collected items like John James Audubon's "Birds of America" and hundreds of...

The British Library presents this online exhibition to complement their in situ exhibit of the Ramayana manuscripts. The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic dated from around 500 to 100 BCE, which tells the story of Prince Rama's quest to rescue his beloved wife Sita. The Ramayana manuscripts were commissioned by Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar (1628-52) and are "among the most important documents of...

How can you turn the pages at the Art Institute of Chicago if you aren't there in person? The gentle digital experience offered on this site is a fine surrogate if you can't make it to the Windy City. Currently, there are over 35 items here that are organized into four categories: Sketchbooks, Manuscripts and Paintings, Printed Items, and By Date. One place to start is with the work of James...

Local history, cookery, and the American Civil War come to life within this fine site created by the Digital Libraries Collection department at Virginia Tech. The site contains thirteen digitized manuscripts which provide insights into various facets of the state's history and life in the 19th and 20th centuries. The documents are divided into four sections, including "American Civil War", "Local...

Bringing together primary and secondary materials from their extensive archives and manuscript collections, the Yale University Digital Images Database provides interested parties access to a wealth of various ephemera. While the site doesn't contain any specific finding aids, savvy users will be able to use the search functions to locate materials quickly. Additionally, visitors can browse...