Consumer Technology

Sparks Telegraph Key Review

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

URL:

http://www.zianet.com/sparks/index.html

Excerpt:

Telegraph Keys possess both historical value as well as aesthetic appeal. As more keys find their way to collectors, fewer are available for the rest of us to see. This display and the links provided will hopefully allow all who wish to enjoy seeing them. Please visit as often as you like and tell your friends about our website. Thanks in advance for coming and for any suggestions you have for future

Annotation:

A photographic collection of different telegraph keys used over time. Narration tracks development and innovations in the types of keys and their effect on users and communication. Site indicates it was last updated in late 2004.

Museum of Broadcast Communications

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

URL:

http://www.mbcnet.org/

Excerpt:

The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is one of only three broadcast museums in America. It opened to the public on June 13, 1987, after five years of development, led by Chicago broadcaster Bruce DuMont. The MBC will move from its current home in the Chicago Cultural Center into its new home at State & Kinzie Street in downtown Chicago, which will open in 2005.

Annotation:

Lots of goodies. Popular culture through sights and sounds of radio and TV.

Thomas A. Edison Papers

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

URL:

http://edison.rutgers.edu/

Author:

Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, National Park Service, New Jersey Historical Commission, Smithsonian Institution

Excerpt:

The extensive collection of papers preserved in the archive at the Edison National Historic Site—approximately 5 million pages in all—is the product of Thomas Alva Edison's sixty-year career as inventor, manufacturer, and businessman. Until now, the sheer size and organizational complexity of the archive have deterred researchers from delving extensively into its wealth of documentary resources. With the publication of the selective microfilm and book editions, these historically significant papers are for the first time readily available to scholars and other researchers. Because the arrangement of the documents on the microfilm parallels the organizational structure of the archive itself, it is helpful to understand how the records of Edison's laboratories and companies were generated during his own lifetime and how the archivists entrusted with their guardianship have subsequently treated them.

Annotation:

This site is a vast database of Thomas Edison's papers including 71,000 pages of correspondence and 12,000 pages of technical drawings. Processes for searching the site are complicated and visitors are recommended to read a 3,000-word guide to searching it. The site may be searched by name, date, or document type, by Folder/Volume, or by Series notes. Series collect documents in groups, such as scrapbooks and legal papers. The site includes over 2,000 facsimiles of Edison patents from 1868 to 1931 for products such as the electric lamp and the phonograph. More than 7,000 clippings from 103 journals and newspapers discuss Edison's achievements. Journals range from the American Engineer to the Westminster Gazette. "Document Sampler" contains over 20 documents including Edison's wife's design for a light bulb and a list of 19 different possible names for the phonograph. A collection of photographs, maps, and prints depict Edison, his environs, and his inventions. There are two chronologies of Edison's life on the site, the longer one running 13,0000-word. The site offers an 8,000-word essay on Edison's companies and over 20 pages about Edison and the development of the motion picture industry. A 70-item bibliography and a shorter 10-item version direct visitors to books and articles about Edison. The site links to 20 Edison-related websites. Because it is somewhat difficult to search, this site will be most useful to experienced researchers.

Panoramic Photographs

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

URL:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/panoramic_photography/panoramic_home.html

Author:

National Archives and Records Administration

Excerpt:

This exhibit of panoramic photographs is but a small sample of the wide variety of panoramic images in NARA`s still picture holdings located at the National Archives Building at College Park, Maryland. The exhibit photographs date from approximately 1864 until 1937. The vast majority of the collection, however, dates from the World War I era.

Annotation:

Online exhibit drawing on "The Long View: Panoramic Photography from the National Archives," which was displayed at the National Archives at College Park from August 15, 1998 through May 1, 2000. Collection of twenty-three panoramic photographs, many of military subjects, which are also viewable interactively through QuickTime Panoramic. Includes links to other areas of the National Archives site.

Media History Project

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

Consumer Technology

URL:

http://www.mediahistory.umn.edu/index2.html

Author:

Kristina Ross

Excerpt:

Promoting the study of media history from petroglyphs to pixels

Annotation:

Media history links: print, radio, TV, comics, film, music, computer, etc.

WWW Virtual Library

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

URL:

http://vlib.org/

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.