Physical Sciences

WWW Virtual Library

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:18.

URL:

Excerpt:

The VL is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web.

Annotation:

Collection of links to other virtual libraries which catalog sites in the following topics: Agriculture, The Arts, Business and Economics, Communications and Media, Computing and Computer Science, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Humanistic Studies, Information and Libraries, International Affairs, Law, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Recreation, Regional Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Society. Material is well maintained and can be browsed by subject or searched, and is available in English, Spanish, French and Chinese.

Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 20:18.

URL:

http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin

Author:

J.A. Leo Lemay

Excerpt:

I began compiling Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History as a source for a biography of Franklin. I gradually came to think that it had scholarly value of its own, though I still intend it to be the basic documentation for the biography. Since the Documentary History (DH) is arranged chronologically, the dates in the biography can be readily checked in the DH, where bibliographical references are given. The DH calendars but does not print Franklin's writings. It refers to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin far more frequently than to any other source, citing the Papers for the innumerable scholarly contributions made by that great edition. Since The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is also arranged chronologically, the date itself in the DH can serve as a reference to the Papers.

Annotation:

This site presents a 7-Volume "Documentary History" of Benjamin Franklin with content useful for researchers and educators. The content was originally compiled by historian J. A. Leo Lemay of the University of Delaware, writing a biography of Franklin. Volume One of the Documentary History abstracts all contemporary references to Franklin. Naturally the Documentary History becomes more detailed as Benjamin Franklin became older. The latter volumes are more selective, but at least for the first three volumes (until his departure from America in 1757), Lemay attempted to include all references regarding Franklin's whereabouts and his opinions. Lemay believes that the documentary history is more accessible and useful online than as a series of expensive, ponderous volumes. In essence Lemay is correct, however the site's technology is out of date, making it difficult to use and read.