July 4th: Today and Yesterday on the Web

The history of July 4th – Independence Day -- celebrations is the subject of the Library of Congress American Memory’s “Today in History: July 4,” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul04.html. While actually a lesson plan, for insight into the history of the Liberty Bell and wonderful photographs, visit the National Park Service's "The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon" at http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/36liberty/
36liberty.htm. The United States Department of State explains the significance of the event at http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/holidays/july4/. Online versions of the text of the Declaration of Independence are accessible from various sources, including: the Yale Law School’s Avalon Project, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/
declaration.html. A history of Jefferson's editing of the document is available in the Library of Congress Information Bulletin at http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9907/jeffdec.html. Carl Becker's close anaylsis of the document, The Declaration of Independence: A Study on the History of Political Ideas (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1922) is available in full text at http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/HTML.php?recordID=0034. Although not on the Web, see also "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document" American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, edited by Thomas W. Benson (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990). While designed for the primary grades, the lesson plan "Declare the Causes: The Declaration of Independence," at the National Endowment for the Humanities EDSITEment Web site, is instructive and includes an excellent list of additional resources, http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=282. Also useful is the teacher's guide to the appropriate epsiode of the PBS documentary Liberty, http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/tguide_2.html. For background information, the UB community can use the “Overview” option of History Resource Center: U.S., http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/hrc.html. This will retrieve the full text of entries from several academic encyclopedias.

Listen to a report on Washington’s preparation for July 4, 2004 on National Public Radio at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3124028. To hear your favorite NPR personalities read sections of the Declaration (2003) visit http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2003/jul/declaration/
declaration/. For recent images of past July 4th celebrations use AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive, http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/photo.html. The easiest way to search for material is to enter 7/4/year (for instance, 7/4/2004) in the “when” query box.

For even more serious contemplation: Lost and found in translation. The Organization of American Historians' Journal of American History sponsored a roundtable on the Declaration in translation in 1999, which is now fully accessible on the Web at http://chnm.gmu.edu/declaration/. For the version that appeared in the March 1999 JAH use JStor, http://www.jstor.org/browse/00218723?config=jstor. Historians Willi Paul Adams and David Thelen write: "We chose the Declaration of Independence . . . because we expected that its translations would open up rich possibilities for observing both individual creativity and cultural filters." The intent of the OAH project: "Most of the world's past comes to us in translation. 'It may not overstate the case,' writes L. G. Kelly, 'to claim that the history of the world could be told through the history of translation. Indeed, one might even assert that, without translation, there is no history of the world.' At a time when people and ideas, culture and business, seem increasingly to cross barriers of language, translation from one language to another becomes a necessary part of the action. And that action is neither transparent nor automatic." Individual scholarly essays consider the Declaration as translated and interrpeted through the cultures and languages of France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Isreal, Japan, China, Poland, and Russia.

C-Span2’s BookTV: In-Depth Interviews with Prominent Historians and Authors

These three-hour interviews, which include questions and answers from call-in viewers, are accessible as audio-visual files for 2000-2005 at: http://www.booktv.org/InDepth/archive_2000.asp. Among the truly distinguished list of interviewed historians are: Douglas Brinkley, Harold Holzer, David Herbert Donald, Robert Caro, Howard Zinn, Garry Wills, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Other interviewed authors include: Tom Clancy, Cornell West, Peggy Noonan, Jeff Shaara, and Tom Wolfe. These sessions are intimate, intelligent, and engaging. After visiting for three hours you can’t help but feel that you’ve learned something about the interviewees as well as about the range of topics discussed. While viewable free on-line, the programs may also be purchased on VHS, search at: http://www.c-spanstore.org/shop/. There’s a lot more to BookTV, visit at: http://www.booktv.org/. I’ll write about BookTV again because it’s an incredible public service and offers the opportunity to “virtually” attend more lectures and conferences than most of us can even imagine.

Summertime is a Time for Travel: Maps for Today and Yesterday

Well, it may not be a collection of historical maps; but it’s pretty darn amazing. Maps and satellite images (varying in levels of detail by locality) are linked in Google’s new map resource and as you drag your way across either a map or a satellite image, you can toggle seamlessly between the two. Urban satellite images are good enough so-- in the case of large buildings – very basic details are often discernable. Your place of residence will not come up in “detail,” but you’ll be able to pin point it on the map and on the satellite image. Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada are covered and often where maps are not available, much of the remainder of the globe is viewable in satellite images (which vary in detail). At this level much of the world “has not changed much.” There are, of course, historical map collections, but we’ll consider those at another time; although you might begin with this About.Com page, http://geography.about.com/od/historicmaps/. Also, visit the Perry-Castaneda map collection at the University of Texas, Austin, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/index.html and the resource maintained by The History Cooperative at http://www.historycooperative.org/elibrary/hw/maps.html. Use Google at: http://maps.google.com/. This is not, however, a review or comment on using Google for your next road trip.

If you’d like to travel back in Buffalo-time, try the digital Sanborn maps of Buffalo (the rest of New York State’s cities and towns as available, including New York City) at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/sanborn_maps.html. From the Web site: “Sanborn fire insurance maps are the most frequently consulted maps in both public and academic libraries. Sanborn maps are valuable historical tools for urban specialists, social historians, architects, geographers, genealogists, local historians, planners, environmentalists and anyone who wants to learn about the history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods. They are large-scale plans containing data that can be used to estimate the potential risk for urban structures. This includes information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. The maps also give street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers. Seven or eight different editions represent some areas.”

Encyclopedia of New York State Published

As New Yorkers, either temporary or “permanent,” not to mention students of history, you may be happy to know that the long-awaited The Encyclopedia of New York State has been published by Syracuse University Press (2005). It has not been cataloged as of this writing, but it will soon be on the reference shelves of both the Undergraduate Library and Lockwood Library. The Web site for the product provides sample entries and other features, http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/encyclopedia/.

An article on it (Syracuse, The Post Standard, 19 May 2005) observes: “’The book is the first comprehensive compilation of state information in about 150 years,' said Peter Eisenstadt, editor-in-chief. There were about 1,200 contributors to the book, and an editorial board of about 40 to 50 people helped decide what went into the final volume . . . “ The National Endowment for the Humanities contributed $640,000 toward its production. Other monies came from Syracuse University, the Cultural Education Center in Albany, individuals, foundations and various corporations. Currently, it can be purchased from Amazon for $59.95.

Local people have contributed, check out a copy to see who!

Yes, The Colonies were British . . . Part 2

Early English Books Online (EEBO) provides access to photographic images of the texts of over 125,000 works printed between 1475 and 1700. Publication in the English language is not a restriction: material in a diversity of languages is included, for instance: European languages, Hebrew, classical languages, and Algonquin. Neither is place a restriction and places of publication include: the North American colonies, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and European nations.

These images are printable and may be enlarged for ease of reading. Subjects covered include English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, and the fine arts. Among the well-known authors represented are: Malory, Bacon, More, Erasmus, Boyle, Newton, and Galileo. Also included are musical exercises by Henry Purcell and novels by Aphra Behn; prayer books, pamphlets, and proclamations; and almanacs, calendars, and many other primary sources. From the Web site: “The original, printed version of royal statutes and proclamations, military, religious, legal, Parliamentary, and other public documents are reproduced in the collection.“ Access the collection at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/eeb.html.

To use EEBO effectively you will benefit greatly by beginning with a careful reading of the various help screens, accessible at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/help/contents.htm. While you can try it, don’t rely on it: Subject searching is NOT an effective way to mine EBBO, keyword searching – combined with other options -- is a wiser approach. Try both or combinations. When searching by keyword, be conscious that words have variant spellings, not to mention meanings. See “How do old spellings affect my searches? at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/help/faqs.htm#7. Searching for meaning, perhaps the Oxford English Dictionary will help, visit it at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/oed.html. Or do you need information about authors, subjects, or printers, try the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ODNB.html. Be sure to also review the description of the collection at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/about/about.htm. While users may search EEBO, representative texts have been identified to assist undergraduates and other users with becoming comfortable with the collection and the periods and topics covered, see these materials at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/info_res/featured.htm. In addition, printable handouts are available that show how the students in a few disciplines can use the resource. These also are also accessible at: http://eebo.chadwyck.com/info_res/featured.htm. Text Recreation Partnership (TCP) subscribers have a richer set of options when searching than non-partners, because they have access to coded texts. To learn about this option, visit: http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/. SUNY Buffalo is a partner, and a list of partners is available at: http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/proj_stat/ps_partners.html.

UB Honors Student Wins Contest: Each year there is a contest to reward undergraduates for distinguished use of the collection, the first prize winner (not grand prize winner) for 2005 was SUNY-Buffalo’s Meghan Fadel, a University Honors scholar, for her paper "Reason through the Unreasonable." From the Spring 2005 Access: A Newsletter from the University at Buffalo Libraries: ". . . the essay addresses the 'last words' of condemned women uttered just before their execution . . . Investigating pamphlets dealing with the lives, convictions, proclamations of innnocence, and penitence of women 'felons' in the second half of the 17th century, Fadel places these documents in the framework of a genre of execution accounts."

Yes, The Colonies Were British . . .

. . . and now you’ll want to use the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. It’s the major source for biographical information on individuals - engaged in all areas of activity -- who have lived in the British-dominated world. The latter is important to note because individuals who lived in the colonies, the Commonwealth, or "associated" places are included. For instance, there are lengthy entries for Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison. It’s the direct successor of the esteemed Dictionary of National Biography. Offering 50,000 biographies, all written by experts and illustrated with 10,000 portraits from London's National Portrait Gallery, it is a complete revision of the earlier source's 36,000 articles. Over 13,500 people have been added and coverage of women and other originally under-represented groups has been increased. Most biographies treat a single person, but some contain a subsidiary biography, some cover a group, and there are articles on specific families. Many entries are lengthy and conclude with information on sources of information, pertinent archival collections, the source of likenesses (portraits), and a brief analysis of an individual's wealth at death. When appropriate, a biography is accompanied by a link to a parallel biography in the American National Biography (one would presume perspectives are not always the same) and to a link to the National Register of Archives. The latter is a collection of the catalogs of British repositories.
Visit it at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ODNB.html

Take a Course/Attend a Lecture: Teachingamericanhistory.org

Teachingamericanhistory.org
A project of the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University, Ohio
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/

Lectures and classes are available as audio files, along with a wealth of supporting documents, lists of readings, and summaries and questions. This is an outstanding resource. Take a moment to visit some of the links below, you might find yourself taking a course this summer. It’s free, of course, and at your pleasure and convenience.

From the Web site: “The Summer Institutes and Saturday Seminars are funded by the United States Department of Education's Teaching American History Grant Program. They are offered in conjunction with the Mansfield City School District in Mansfield, Ohio, the Lorain City School District in Lorain Ohio, and the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center. Further information about the Teaching American History Grant Program is available from the United States Department of Education. We also maintain a list of other Teaching American History Grant web sites. “

Previous Summer Institutes Audio-Archived include:
American Democracy, Being Human, and the American Character
Race and Rights in American History
Ideas and Traditions in American Foreign Relations
Presidential Greatness
Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War
The American Revolution and the Founding of a New Nation

Previous Saturday Seminars Audio-Archived include:
Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas -- Instructor: David Hackett Fischer
A Reconsideration of the Original Case against the Bill of Rights — Instructor: Hadley Arkes
The Emancipation Moment: Abraham Lincoln and the First of January, 1863 — Instructor: Allen C. Guelzo
Thomas Paine — Instructor: John Koritansky
Martin Luther King, Jr. — Instructor: Peter Myers
The American Way of War — Instructor: Victor Davis Hanson

Blogs Devoted to History

A good place to begin to learn about blogs “in the service of history” is an article entitled “Were There Blog Enough and Time” by Ralph E. Luker from the History and Technology column of the May 2005 issue of Perspectives, the newsletter of the American Historical Association. Links are provided to the blogs that are discussed. It’s readable at http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/Issues/2005/0505/. Be sure to check out CLIOPATRIA: A Group Blog at http://hnn.us/blogs/2.html. One might also visit the highly visited World History Blog at http://world-history-blog.blogspot.com/.

The Library of Congress and National Library of France Launch Joint Web Site on the French in North America (10 May 2005)

Complementing the recent post on the French and Indian War: A recent LC press release notes: “The Library of Congress and the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France) have launched a bilingual (English-French) online presentation that explores the history of the French presence in North America and the interactions between the French and American peoples from the early 16th to the early 19th centuries. The Web site was unveiled today at a ceremony in Paris attended by Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and John Van Oudenaren, chief of the European Division of the Library of Congress and director of its Global Gateway initiative.” To view the entire list of collaborative libraries visit: http://international.loc.gov/intldl/find/digital_collaborations.html. To visit "France in America," go to http://international.loc.gov/intldl/fiahtml/fiahome.html. See the thematic outline to identify material on the rivalry between Britain and France, http://international.loc.gov/intldl/fiahtml/fiasitemap.html#track1 A wealth of full-text primary source material is presented.

The Anniversary of the French and Indian War

The Seven Years War (1754-1763) was an international conflict. Contention in North America is known as the French and Indian War. By the time the war was over, Britain had established herself as the superpower of the 18th century. British colonists, like their French counterparts, played a critical role in complementing the forces of their respective mother countries. Many of the s0ldiers and officers of America's revolutionary army learned the arts of war in the conflict. Among them was a very young and physically imposing George Washington. The war’s aftermath -- the search for money to pay for the war --motivated British taxation and Indian policies toward her colonies. The fact -- that she had relied on colonials to assist her in armed struggle -- combined with colonial taxation to pay for the victory -- created a reason and context for colonial discontent. The formal military skills acquired by the colonists emboldened them to forcibly rebel. New York State was an important theater and Fort Niagara was an important French and then British (it passed to the British 25 July 1759) outpost on what was then the frontier. See Robert L. Emerson, "Gateway to Empire: The French and Indian War in Western New York and the Significance of Fort Niagara," Western New York Heritage 8, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 27-35, 46. Emerson is the executive director of Old Fort Niagara. Also, it is important to appreciate the critical importance of Britain’s alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy, see “Clash of Empires” at http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2005-05/clash.html. Yet for all its profound importance, I recall only passing attention to the war in my own education -- although having spent a summer as a child in upstate New York near Lake George with my grandparents, I have always had some interest in it. The anniversary of the war will be punctuated by various publications – and we’ll have additional posts. A very useful bibliographic essay by Matthew J Wayman has already appeared in Choice (December 2004): 595-605. Sections cover: General and Comprehensive Works; Indian Traders and Agents in the North; Indian Affairs in the South; Pontiac’s Rebellion; Diplomatic Histories; Soldiers. Officers, and Colonial Officials; The Colonies; Military Campaigns; and Legacies. In his introduction the author writes: “One could say that the ultimate legacy of the Seven Years’ War was the War for American Independence . . . “

Among the Web sites one might visit is “French and Indian War Commemoration” at: http://www.frenchandindianwar250.org/. Information on historic sites, historical commentary, images and press releases, and a calendar of related events are provided. See also “Beyond the Last of the Mohicans: Resources for the French and Indian War” at http://www.historypoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=368&column_type=hpfeature. For background on Fort Niagara, visit http://www.oldfortniagara.org/history.htm.

Among the fictional treatments of the topic is, of course, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Those who have not read the book may well have seen the movie, search http://www.imdb.com/. One might also read Kenneth Roberts’ Northwest Passage. Roberts’ novel was also made into a movie, search http://www.imdb.com/. Wilderness Empire: A Narrative (Little, Brown, 1969) by Allan W. Eckert, based on both primary and secondary sources, is fast-paced and engaging – E195.E25. Robert Rogers of Roger’s Rangers is the subject of White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America (Da Capo Press, Inc., 2005). Rogers’ search-and-destroy raid on the Abenaki village of St. Francis was British retaliation for the massacre at Fort William Henry -- http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo08009.html --of the defeated and departing British by France’s Indian allies.

Please feel free to suggest other titles. There are many, and there are sure to more as we move through the commemorative period.

ARTstor, A Resource for Historians

The ARTstor Digital Archive Collection contains over 300,000 digital images and associated catalog data from notable art and architecture collections worldwide. The collection spans many times and cultures and encompasses architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Intended to support teaching and research in art history, architecture, the humanities, and related disciplines, ARTstor also includes the tools to actively access, manipulate, and deliver these images. Currently, ARTstor is comprised of the following special collections: the Art History Survey Collection; the Carnegie Arts of the United States Collection; the Huntington Archive of Asian Art; the Museum of Modern Art Architecture and Design Collection; the Mellon International Dunhuang Archive of murals and texts from Buddhist cave shrines in China; and the Smithsonian Native American Art and Culture collection. A core collection, The Image Gallery, is comprised of over 200,000 reproductions from slides "created in response to fairly representative teaching needs in the arts, humanities, and social sciences." Many images familiar to students of American history are included -- and all periods are covered. Upcoming collections will cover women in America, Hellenistic and Roman sculpture, the art and architecture of Islam, the image of the Black in Western art, and more. By 2006, ARTstor is expected to contain approximately 500,000 images.

University faculty, staff, and students. as well as onsite visitors, may access this resource at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ARTstor.html

The University Libraries Conclude Hosting Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation

How was it that a nation founded on ideals of freedom and equality was also, from its birth, home to slavery? The University Libraries of the University at Buffalo are proud to host the traveling exhibition "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," 2 March through 15 April 2005 . By tracing Lincoln 's journey from an anti-slavery moderate to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and beyond, this exhibit explores the events and ideas which gave birth to the Proclamation, which forever transformed our nation. The Emancipation Proclamation was the death blow to the "peculiar institution." Slavery was finally abolished as an American institution with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.

Organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino , California , and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, in cooperation with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, this traveling exhibit is made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). It consists of 150 feet of exhibit panels that present reproductions of rare historical documents, period photographs, and illustrative material, such as engravings, lithographs, cartoons, and political ephemera. Attention is directed to Lincoln 's life and thought, sectional differences and stresses, slavery, racial attitudes, the Civil War and the role of African American troops in the Civil War, the Proclamation, and beyond. The exhibit shows that slavery was the underlying cause of the Civil War.

An extensive guide to pertinent Web and hardcopy resources remains accessible at the associated Web site. It will be recast over the course of the summer. It is currently avaiable at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/ForeverFree/index.htm