Images

This site examines the history of vehicles (mostly automobiles) powered by electricity rather than by an internal combustion engine. Providing an overview of the technology and its development, this site includes several recent articles on electric vehicles as well as important historical pieces. Most significantly, the site encourages current and former owners and drivers of electric vehicles to contribute their recollections to a lasting archive. That growing archive contains stories from the early days of electric-powered vehicles from engineers, early adopters and others involved with their production and use. The site is useful for understanding the goals, attitudes, successes and failures of current and former electric vehicle advocates.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has established this site to record the history of digital methods of sound recording and playing, the technology behind compact discs and digital audio tape. A brief historical essay prefaces the site, and a timeline beginning in the late 1950s and running up to the present day details the milestones in the technology. An extensive bibliography of digital recording accompanies the essay and timeline, as does an international list of educational institutions involved with the original (and continuing) research in the field. In addition, there are links on the site to other histories of the compact disc, CD-ROM and recording technology in general. The distinguishing feature of this site is its interest in collecting (via input forms) the personal recollections of those who worked on the research and development of digital audio recording and its associated technologies. Visiting engineers are asked to submit photographs, audio clips and other memorabilia to the site for its historical archive.

The Iconographic Archives are a project of the University of Bologna's International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS). The Archives are an online repository for images of people, artifacts, and places with corresponding descriptions and location information. The University, founded in 1088, has a long history as a center for scientific scholarship, and these images reflect this relationship. Though the CIS site is available in English, the archival information is in Italian, requiring some knowledge of the language to utilize the search functions. Searches can be made by year to circumvent this. Unfortunately, there also is no way to browse the images without using the search tool.

This comprehensive site focuses on the history of the 1965 blackout in the Northeastern United States and the 1977 blackout in New York City. These two landmark events in the history of technology and the cultural history of America are recounted in a number of ways: through interviews, excerpts from various media, a timeline of events, recent historical writing, and, most compellingly, a growing database of first-hand recollections entered by visitors to the site. These recollections cover both the behind-the-scenes experiences of those who worked for the utility companies and the people who lived through the events. The site is therefore an excellent example of how to create an oral history archive on the Web, as well as a good source for understanding the tremendous social, cultural and technological impact the blackouts had on the people who lived through them.

Online database of the Greater Glasgow National Health Service Board Archive's holdings, largely comprised of the records of patient care and of hospital administration from the foundation of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1794, which can be searched or browsed through several directories. The site also offers research guides and several image galleries.

Archive of Australian scientific and corporate material. Contains biographies of over 3,000 Australian scientists as well as listings of documents available for order and a Cabinet of Curiosities-an interpretive creation about Australia's scientific history. Not updated since 1999.

This site is dedicated to exhibiting the treasures of the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village that include a replica of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park complex. The site is rich in details and images relating to the history of invention in America. Online exhibits include Buckminster Fuller's "Dymaxion House," the 1811 Dickson Steam Engine, the Showroom of Automotive History, biographies of famous inventors, and the first Kodak Camera. These exhibits provide a useful introduction to various inventions. The site also provides information about the archives and collections contained in the research center, most of the materials have not yet been digitized. Collections include: the Ford Motor Company archives, the Edison collection and Edison Institute archives, and the archives of the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, Stickley Brothers, the D.S. Morgan Company, and the Gebelein Silver Company. Teachers and researchers will find the site useful.

The Institute Archives serves as Caltech's collective memory, preserving the papers, documents, artifacts and pictorial materials that tell the school's history, from 1891 to the present. Holdings include manuscript, photographic, print and audio-visual materials, oral histories, fine art and historic artifacts. Many of the photographs are available in digital format (thumbnail and full size) through the photo archive. The site also includes information about using the physical archive, online versions of archive exhibits and facts about the Cal Tech archive.

A number of online exhibits are made including several on Yale's history with medicine, one on stem cells, and another about the hospitals of New Haven. A catalog of the library's literature is available, and includes several texts available online. The digital library also includes several collections of prints and photographs including 83 nineteenth century paintings by Lam Qua of patients with tumors. There are also images of collections of weights and measures, obstetrical instruments, and medical medals. Comprehensive lists of databases and Internet resources, as well bibliographies are compiled.

The Dittrick Medical History Center is dedicated to the study of the medical past through a distinguished collection of rare books, museum artifacts, archives, and images. This web site includes images of exhibits and scientific instruments in the Dittrick Museum, images and annotations of samples from the 60,000 volume rare book collection, information about the archival collections and image collections. In addition, the site also hosts two virtual exhibits, "Haunting Images: Photography, Dissection and Medical Students," and "Smallpox: A City on the Edge of Disaster." Finally the site includes a section about research aids including on-line catalogues and bibliographical information.