As I have been browsing the Internet for digital collections of interest, I found the Memorial Hall Museum Online. This is a broad collection of about 2,000 artifacts, documents, photographs, and other interesting items that are from the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. The collection ranges from Native American artifacts to twentieth-century pieces. The site is well organized and is divided into different categories that visitors may browse; Art, Entertainment, Work, and Rituals are just a few. Within these broader categories are smaller, more precise sets, such as, music, travel, and weddings. Visitors are not just limited to browsing, but they can also search using keywords or topics provided.
The site is very educational. Under each digital image, a small caption is given that explains the history of the item. The caption gives where it came from, what it is used for, and how old it is. The collection is focused on the lives of these people and what their daily routines were like.
My favorite part of the entire collection was the wedding dresses from the 1800s. Under each photograph, a brief history was given containing who wore the dress, the particular features that were fashionable, and the age of the dress. They looked to be in very good condition. They were a reminder of how different wedding gowns used to be.
Another item of interest was an article entitled “Americans with the Wrong Ancestors” that was written by Clara Breed, a San Diego librarian. The article, published in The Horn Book Magazine in July 1943, addressed the issues of the lack of reading material to the Japanese-Americans that had been interned during World War II because of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Breed was a strong advocate of establishing libraries to service those innocent people that had been wronged. She established inter-library loans and gathered donations to send to the internment camps or relocation centers. We as librarians should view her example of bravery and advocacy as a goal that all people should have the right to information regardless of who their parents are.
Thanks for the heads-up on this site. I have never run across it before but thought it was well done and well organized. I would love to know if those who created it have modeled it after the American Memory Site created by the Library of Congress. The one thing I really liked about the site is that it provided lesson plans to teacher to help them find ways to get students to utilize primary sources. As a former teacher I think that getting students to do that is invaluable and found that when students were able to use primary sources it gives them a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
As for the Breed article, I totally agree with her in that we do need to make sure that we make information available to those that are under served. Without information these populations will continue to be disadvantaged as information equals power in our ever changing society today. Hence, the need for digital collections where people can access information remotely.