UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY / center for electronic text & image
science, the occult, and religion
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY / center for electronic text & image
science, the occult, and religion
The year 1996 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the ENIAC computer, the first large-scale general-purpose electronic computer. Built at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, ENIAC is an acronym for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer," but its birth lay in World War II as a classified military project known only as Project PX. The ENIAC is important historically, because it laid the foundations for the modern electronic computing industry. More than any other machine, the ENIAC demonstrated that high-speed digital computing was possible using the then-available vacuum tube technology.
The Online Register of Scientific Instruments is an international database of historic scientific instruments and related objects available via the Internet. It is developed and supported by the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford in association with the Scientific Instrument Commission of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science
Situated at the center of the world's largest museum complex, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) forms a vital part of the research, exhibition, and educational enterprise of the Institution.
The Historical Society of Princeton (HSP) is a museum and library dedicated to interpreting the history of Princeton, with community support and involvement. Its activities are inspired by the past with the goal of informing the future.
THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES
(opened to the public by Pope Leo XIII)
RULES FOR SCHOLARS
1. The Archives are open to qualified scholars from institutions of Higher Education pursuing academic research.
2. Applications requesting access to the Archives should be submitted, accompanied by a letter of introduction from either a recognized institution of Higher Education or from a suitably qualified person in the field of historical research, to the Prefect.
Until one of the most important libraries in the world shifts its collections to a digital format, researchers will find themselves traveling to Rome and seeking permission to read documents in the Vatican Library and 'Secret Archives' collections. These pages, though mostly in Italian, include information in English about procedures for gaining access to the collections. This information may prove most useful to scholars of Early Modern European Science, Technology and Medicine.
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (PCL 1.306) is a general collection of more than 250,000 maps covering all areas of the world. Many of the maps are included in our online catalog, UTNetCAT. More than 5,000 map images from our collection are also available online.
This site is a great resource for a truly extensive collection of online maps. The site has maps listed alphabetically or geographically, and special sections such as "maps of current interest." One particularly unique grouping is the library's historical map collection which offers maps of cities and countries as represented in specific years in the past. For example, a quick search results in a street map of New York City for 1695. The maps are mostly downloadable and printable, although larger file sizes can be a strain on some hardware. The maps can serve as primary sources, visual aides, and reference materials. This resource could be valuable to people with interests ranging from casual visitors to serious academic work.
The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia maintains a collection of more than 800 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years, from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century. The collection provides a graphic resource upon which scholars can draw in re-discovering the minds and movements of early American explorers, revolutionary statesmen, cultural figures and politicians represented by the library's book and manuscript collections.
There was much debate in Europe during the sixteenth century as geographers tried to incorporate the Americas within their existing world-view. Were they the islands off eastern Asia as Christopher Columbus had presumed (1) ? Or did they constitute an entirely "New World" (2) ?
The Cartographic Creation of New England site is an exhibition of a collection of maps that chronicle the changing understanding of American geography by early European explorers and mapmakers. The site includes images of more than fifty historic maps with essays and captions that interpret the importance of each map. The site is sponsored by the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
Examining the History, Navigation, and Landfall of Christopher Columbus