Technology Review: Endangered Archives Programme

The ENDANGERED ARCHIVES PROGRAMME from the British Library is a global project focusing on preservation of archival material.

Dozens of countries have participated in this project that helps preserve endangered historical materials. Grants are used to provide financial assistance. Users can access ten years of projects by year or by country. The collections include a wide variety of primary source documents including wills, contracts, correspondence, diaries, maps, and other materials.

Librarians will find this website to be a unique way to talk with students about the importance of preserving cultural heritage. Connect this website with a social studies project focusing on the culture of a particular country. Ask students to explore the digitized items from one of the dozens of countries represented in the project. Then, connect the primary source materials with the country’s history.

To visit the website, go to https://eap.bl.uk/.

Digital Collections: Walt Whitman Archive

WALT WHITMAN ARCHIVE

Contents: This digital project is intended to bring the works of poet and writer Walt Whitman to the public. It includes the six editions of his major work Leaves of Grass along with other writings, notebooks, letters, articles, and other items.

Classroom Connections: English teachers will find this resource to be useful in exploring the life and works of Walt Whitman. Involve youth in exploring a particular area of the website such as pictures, sounds, editions, or marginalia.

Featured Digital Objects: 
Picture and Sound - https://goo.gl/WSqKkI
Marginalia - https://goo.gl/ROgV91

To visit the collection, go to http://www.whitmanarchive.org/

Technology Review: Digital Stories

DIGITAL STORIES from the Wellcome Collection weaves digitized primary sources into fascinating historical stories.

This London library website currently contains two digital stories: Minecraft and The Collectors.

Using an intriguing web-based format, Minecraft explores a century of madness, murder and mental healing through historical photographs, drawings, paintings, and other primary source documents. In many cases, interactive features are available such as zooming into documents, extended galleries, and informational sidebars. Multimedia elements are also available.

The Collectors is a digital story focusing on the power of curiosity and the naturalists, explorers, scientists, and others who have been involved with collecting in centuries past. This interactive web-based project also features primary source materials and multimedia elements.

Librarians will find this website to be a fascinating way to present archival materials. Use the website when exploring primary sources and design an activity the involves students in writing their own digital stories based on a collection.

To visit the collection, go to http://digitalstories.wellcomecollection.org/.