The Digital Library Program is proud to present the U.S. Steel Gary Works Photograph Collection, a series of more than 2,200 photographs of the Gary Works steel mill and the corporate town of Gary, Indiana held by the Calumet Regional Archives at Indiana University Northwest. In images of compelling diversity, historians and the general public can view all aspects of this planned industrial community: the steel mill, the city, and the citizens who lived and worked there.
September 11, 2001, will be remembered as one of the most shocking days in American history. Armed terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and used them as weapons against the United States. The attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and killed more than three thousand people.
Soon after September 11, the National Museum of American History began collecting objects to document the attacks and their aftermath.
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History presented the exhibit "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" one year after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The immediacy of the events and exhibit prompted more than 10,000 visitors to share their story on cards in the exhibit hall, which are availble from the September 11 Digital Archive website. Visitors to the online exhibition may share their stories through a partnership with the September 11 Digital Archive, and thousands have already done so.
Discover the many ways that women have influenced and enhanced the practice of medicine. The individuals featured here provide an intriguing glimpse of the broader community of women doctors who are making a difference. The National Library of Medicine is pleased to present this exhibition honoring the lives and accomplishments of these women in the hope of inspiring a new generation of medical pioneers.
The Changing the Face of Medicine exhibit provides a wealth of information about the experiences of women in the medical profession, from the first doctors to researchers facing a glass ceiling in the late twentieth century. There are a large number of biographies of individual women searchable by location, ethnicity, career path, or medical school. Additional resources include information about how to prepare for a medical career, lesson plans for K-12 classrooms, activities for teaching anatomy and physiology and tied to the research of featured doctors. Finally, there is a separate section to "share your story" along several different themes. Visitors are asked to reflect on the care provided by female doctors, individuals they admire, having a female doctor in the family, and female doctors particularly involved in their communities.
These pages are an on-line museum celebrating Babbage's Analytical Engine. Here you will find a collection of original historical documents tracing the evolution of the Engine from the original concept through concrete design, ending in disappointment when it became clear it would never be built. You'll see concepts used every day in the design and programming of modern computers described for the very first time, often in a manner more lucid than contemporary expositions. You'll get a sense of how mathematics, science, and technology felt in the nineteenth century, and for the elegant language used in discussing those disciplines, and thereby peek into the personalities of the first computer engineer and programmer our species managed to produce. If you are their intellectual heir, perhaps you'll see yourself and your own work through their Victorian eyes.
This virtual museum and archive preserves and shares the history and historic records of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and of the securities industry from the 1930s to the present. It includes a wide range of primary materials, including a timeline, papers, photos, oral histories and original programs broadcast from this site, which contribute to the understanding of how the SEC has shaped and continues to shape U.S. and international capital markets.
The Securities and Exchange Comission Historical Society's virtual museum and archive provides a great deal of information and hosts a large amount of primary source material. A timeline presents major events in SEC and US history since the stock market crash through the 1980's. There are a number of papers and publications from individuals and the government available for download in a PDF format, and several hundred photos organized by person. Extensive oral histories with more than 25 individuals and more than 5 roundtables are available as transcripts, audio files, or in some cases video files. The online programs hosted by the historical society are produced frequently and archived on the site as well.
This site explores a period of U.S. history when racial prejudice and fear upset the delicate balance between the rights of a citizen versus the power of the state. Focusing on the experiences of Japanese Americans who were placed in detention campus during World War II, this online exhibit is a case study in decision-making and citizen action under the U.S. Constitution.
Experience the story through interactive galleries that combine images, music, text and first-person accounts in the Story Experience, and then share your own memories and responses in Reflections. Search more than 800 artifacts from the Smithsonian Collection in Collection Search, and find related activities, links, bibliography and more in Resources.
In addition to the wealth of material available in the online exhibit and collection, this site includes a "Reflections" section where visitors may share their responses to seven different questions about issues raised in the exhibit and read the responses of others. In addition to asking for reactions to the website and exhibit itself, there are questions asking for visitor experiences of internment or the World War II era. There also are three more reflective questions asking visitors about the causes of interment and possibility of a similar situation in the future, the meaning of citizenship, and the tension between national security versus indiviudal liberty. Finally, there is a question asking the visitor to compare the attack on Pearl Harbor with the events of September 11, 2001.
Utilizing over 800 scanned documents, photographs, audio clips and video excerpts, this website narrates the incredible achievement of Linus Pauling and others in the discovery of the nature of the chemical bond. Scattered throughout the project are images of a number of very important and extremely rare items, most of which are held within The Valley Library's Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, and many of which have not been previously displayed. It is expected that this website will serve as a primary reference point for individuals interested in the history of chemical bond.
The Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History is a digital history project of the Special Collections Division of Valley Library at Oregon State University, where Pauling was a 1923 graduate. In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Pauling’s first Nobel, the project documents the events surrounding Pauling’s most phenomenal discovery.
Linus Pauling is known as the twentieth century’s greatest chemist for his work integrating the fields of chemistry and quantum physics. The description of the nature of the chemical bond was only one of Pauling’s many significant contributions to science, and his prolific career made him the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes.
The Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History is a digital history project of the Special Collections Division of Valley Library at Oregon State University, where Pauling was a 1923 graduate. In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Pauling’s first Nobel, the project documents the events surrounding Pauling’s most phenomenal discovery.
The site is well organized and divided into three sections. The first, narrative section of the site tells the story of Pauling’s development as a young scientist influenced by other greats such as Bohr and Schrödinger. The story is interesting and informative and the writers have done well presenting the chemistry with emphasis on the meaning and importance of each development without confusing those who lack a chemical background. This section boasts 49 “chapters” detailing Pauling’s history, but these chapters are, in some cases, little more than a couple of paragraphs. Still, the amount and depth of information available is substantial.
In the second section, a visitor will find a mountain of primary manuscripts and correspondence as well as one of the jewels of the site--a list of “key participants.” Throughout the previous narrative, the names of the most famous or important people who worked with and influenced Pauling are linked to pages that give extra information about these individuals. The information includes the years the person lived, one or more quotes about his relationship to Pauling, and links to any audio or visual clips available. But most importantly, there is a record of the location and contact information for the archive that holds the papers of each supplemental characters. Researchers thus find references to information about the key figures surrounding Pauling at the peak of his career.
Other resources available in the document section of the site include digital images of Pauling’s published works, Pauling’s correspondence from 1925-1939, manuscripts totaling more than 300 pages of notes and lectures, pictures, illustrations, and quotes. Audio and video clips are forthcoming and will enrich the site by allowing visitors to hear and see Pauling speak about his work. All told, the site contains more that 800 digital documents.
The final section, “Linus Pauling Day-By-Day,” offers calendar-style pages that place the scientist’s correspondence, work, and travel into an easy-to-follow timeline. Users can click on each day to find all of Pauling’s known activities for that date including entries as obscure as making a payment to the DMV.
The site is well designed, attractive, and easy to navigate. The sections are cross-linked so that related information is quickly at hand. A list of links and a well-developed bibliography also contribute to the success of the site. Overall, The Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History is a fitting tribute and resource for a truly important scientific personality.
Miles Travis
George Mason University
February 3, 2005
On November 29, 1944, a small, frail child was wheeled into an operating room at the Johns Hopkins Hospital for the first attempt to treat tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart malformation that robs the blood of oxygen. This life-threatening condition is often signaled by a bluish or "cyanotic" cast to the skin, hence the term, blue baby. The procedure joined an artery leaving the heart to an artery leading to the lungs, in an attempt to give the blood a second chance at oxygenation. It was the first blue baby operation and came to be known as the Blalock-Taussig Shunt.
This site is the companion to a 1995 exhibit that commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the first "Blue Baby Operation," a procedure designed to treat a congenital heart defect that deprives the blood of oxygen. The procedure was pioneered by a surgical team that included Alfred Blalock, Helen B. Taussig, and Vivien T. Thomas. The site contains a description of the procedure, an account of the idea, several images, and notes on the three main contributors. A link to further readings also directs visitors to related information as well as the manuscript archives of Blalock, Taussig, and Thomas.
In partnership with the September 11 Digital Archive, the Library of Congress is providing this opportunity for you to share your experiences and memories of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The Library of Congress Witness and Response Exhibition presents the images, text, audio, and video realted to the attacks of September 11, 2001 collected by almost every section of the Library. Featured selections of each type of material can be viewed by and visitors also have the opportunity to contribute their own stories, email, or art work, some of which is featured on the site as well.
As part of our effort to preserve our national heritage, we are seeking stories, memories or anecdotes about the wartime home front embodied by "Rosie."
The Ford Motor Company has partnered with the Natioinal Park Service and the National Park Foundation to collect stories and memoirs from women who worked on the homefront during World War II. Visitors are able to submit their story online, and there is one sample submission for viewing. The narratives and materials collected through this online venture will be maintained by the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Site and used by the Park and others studying this period of American history.
