Tag Archives: digital collections

U Kentucky Goes Digital with Thousands of Oral Histories

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By Denise Harrison, Cindy Skalsky – 09/09/09

Since its inception, the University of Kentucky Libraries Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History has amassed nearly 8,000 interviews. These are stories that often focus on Kentucky–its history, politics, authors, military, geography, and more. Interviews include the famous (Martin Luther King Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Stan Musial, Robert Penn Warren) and the not-so-famous from all walks of Kentucky life. These are not only precious recordings of personal stories that journal many aspects of the state; the recordings are also used by scholarly researchers. Historians, folklorists, anthropologists, linguists, armchair politicians, and horseracing buffs alike have found much to explore in this large, prestigious repository.

For more information, Listen to “Voices from the Collection,” “Voices from the Collection,” an audio introduction to the Nunn Center.

Community Collections

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The Great War Archive (part of the the University of Oxford digitization project The First World War Poetry Digital Archive) includes historical materials related to First World War experiences that have been digitally captured and cataloged by members of the public.  Digital copies of publicly owned artifacts were submitted via the Web between March and June 2008.   The collection includes family photos, diaries, letters, artifacts, and oral histories.  The collection is still growing on The Great War Archive Flickr Group.

If you are interested in how to go about starting a community collection, Stuart D. Lee and Kate Lindsay’s article If You Build It, They Will Scan: Oxford University’s Exploration of Community Collections is a great place to start!

Another great digital collection based on the community collection principle is Flickr’s The Commons. This great picture of Stubby, the American army dog with the rank of sergeant contributed by Nationaal Archief is one of many great photos that can be found and used without copyright restriction.

Stubby the American Army Dog

Digital Library featured in Post and Courier

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Collaboration brings area archives online

The Post and Courier
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Lowcountry Digital Library is a collaborative effort to bring online more than 50,000 items from public and private archives in the Lowcountry.  Project partners included the Medical University of South Carolina, The Citadel, Gibbes Museum of Art, Historic Charleston Foundation, Beaufort County Library and the Charleston County Public Library.
The digital library received a $305,000 grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, which will enable it to grow from its current 7,500 images to 50,000 over the next three years.

15 Minutes a Day: LIFE Photo Archive Hosted by Google

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Google is hosting the LIFE Photo Archive, featuring a collection of photos dating back to the 1750’s.  Many of the photographs were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

Charleston Photo

Charleston

View of Main St. in Charleston. 1946

View of Main St. in Charleston. | Location: Charleston, SC, US | Date Taken: March 1946 | Photographer: Elliot Ellisofon | Size: 1280 x 951 pixels (17.8 x 13.2 inches)

Want to Search for Photos in the Google/Life Photo Archive Only?

Add “source:life” to any Google image search and search only the LIFE photo archive. For example: computer source:life