Message-Id: <199902041426.HAA32530@dns.ccit.arizona.edu> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 09:23:54 -0400 From: Tamara Swora-Gober <mailto:tswo@LOC.GOV> Subject: URL for new NDL collection To: mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Please note URLs below which were omitted from the initial announcement.************************************************************ The National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html
announces the release of collection number 44, the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress from the Manuscript Division at:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html
This online collection will ultimately represent a portion selected from the original Bell Papers and will comprise approximately 4,700 items, totalling about 38,000 images. The first release contains over 1,000 items consisting of correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, sketches, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his aeronautical and other scientific research. These manuscripts, dating from 1862 to 1939, offer a well-rounded portrayal of Alexander Graham Bell not only as an inventor and scientist but also as a teacher, humanitarian, husband, and father. Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 3, 1847. He and his parents moved to Canada in 1870, and, a year later, he moved to Boston to teach speech to deaf students. Teaching notes used and taken by Bell can be found in the Bell Papers selected to appear online. Bell's efforts to build a multiple telegraph led instead to the invention of the telephone in 1876. Included among Bell's papers are his first sketch of the telephone and an experimental notebook with an entry from March 10, 1876, that describes the first successful experiment with the telephone, during which he spoke through the instrument to his assistant, Thomas Watson, the famous words, "Mr. Watson-- Come here -- I want to see you." Bell, Watson, and Bell's financial supporters, Gardiner Greene Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, formed the Bell Telephone Company the following year. After his invention of the telephone, Bell continued to pursue his interests in deaf education and science. Bell's scientific pursuits ranged widely throughout his life and led to various inventions, such as a vacuum jacket for artificial respiration and the tetrahedral kite. He dedicated much of his research to aviation and was a member of the Aerial Experiment Association, a small group of engineers and mechanics who brought about the first flight of a heavier-than-air machine in Canada. Bell's sketches of the vacuum jacket and tetrahedral kites and notes and photographs of his aeronautical work are among the items digitized for the first release.
Of particular interest in this NDLP collection website are special presentations including: a time line, Alexander Graham Bell as inventor and scientist and a Bell Family tree. Parts of the collection being released include original typescript letters and documents, correspondence with transcripts, and other printed items. These typescript materials were converted to machine-readable form and encoded with Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The text of the transcripts and original typescripts has been translated to HTML for indexing and viewing on the World Wide Web.
The final release of the remainder of images from the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers is scheduled for Fall 1999.
Please direct all comments and questions about this collection to mailto:ndlpcoll@loc.gov.