Interested in learning more about what’s new in the Library of Congress’ digital collections? The Signal now shares out semi-regularly about new additions to publicly-available digital collections and we can’t wait to show off all the hard work from our colleagues from across the Library. Read on for a sample of what’s been added recently and some of our favorite highlights. Visit here for previous updates.
What’s new on loc.gov?
145,000 Digitized General Collections books available online
The Library of Congress continues to release thousands of newly digitized books online each week! To date, nearly 145,000 titles (totaling over 30 million pages) have been released into the Selected Digitized Books collection. Highlights from recent additions include Spalding sports manuals and rulebooks for rugby, archery, bowling, roller polo, and more; “Photo-Auto” Maps, 11 volumes showing photographs of driving routes from 1909; Panorama of the Hudson, showing both sides of the river from New York to Albany as seen from the deck of the Hudson River day line steamers; thousands of books of poetry; and much more including books on travel, cooking, agriculture, children’s literature, philosophy. Below are a few of these newly digitized books:
Princess Marie Bonaparte Papers
Correspondence from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) to Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962), his analysand, pupil, confidante, and benefactor, forms the entirety of this digital collection now available on loc.gov for the first time. This release is part of a larger collection of Princess Marie Bonaparte Papers at the Library and also features Freud’s letters, telegrams, and cards that span the years 1925-1939, providing an intimate perspective on the last fifteen years of his life. Below are a few images from this new collection:
Collection updates and migrations
Franz Liszt at the Library of Congress
This online presentation has been updated to incorporate more than 900 newly-scanned items related to Franz Liszt. These primary source materials include music manuscripts, early editions of printed music, correspondence, personal records, and annotated ephemera. Included in the Essays section is a biography of Liszt.
Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake
Migrated from the Global Gateway platform, this online presentation of the Hans and Hanni Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division consists of manuscripts, books, maps, medals and portraits documenting Sir Francis Drake’s accomplishments as an explorer and naval strategist. These materials reveal a great breadth and scope in the primary and secondary materials that concern Sir Francis Drake; they range in date from 1579 to 1765 and are written in English, Spanish, Latin, Italian, German, French, and Dutch.
This online collection contains digitized items from the Library of Congress originally made available through a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the National Library of Brazil as “The United States and Brazil: Expanding Frontiers, Comparing Cultures/Brasil e Estados Unidos: Expandindo Fronteiras, Comparando Culturas,” as part of the Global Gateways initiative. The collection explores the history of Brazil, interactions between Brazil and the United States from the eighteenth century to the present, and the parallels and contrasts between Brazilian and American culture and history.
New datasets
7 new dataset items were added to the Selected Datasets collection recently! Some highlights include the Dataset from the bug bytes sound library and the annual update to the National Enquirer Index and Database Files, 1977 – present.
New OA eBooks
Over 1,100 new OA titles added to the collection! Some highlights include books about music, such as Global metal music and culture, Carillons and carillon music in old Gdansk, and Popular music and public diplomacy. There are also a number of new books about education, including Higher education revolutions in the Gulf, Theories in adult learning and education, and Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education.
New crowdsourced transcriptions
The By the People crowdsourced transcription program added over 5,700 completed volunteer transcriptions into loc.gov this summer, bringing the program’s lifetime total to over 138,000. These transcriptions now enable enhanced discoverability and accessibility of online images of collection materials. New transcriptions are now available for the following loc.gov collections: Women’s Suffrage in Sheet Music and The crystal : a record of visions and conferences with the in-dwellers of the spirit world.
Additions to the Library’s Web Archives
The Web Archiving Team has added newly released content for 443 items on loc.gov. The archives coming out of embargo include additions to 42 collections and content spanning 41 countries and 31 languages. The new releases include content in government, political science, African studies, journalism, music, history, education, law, economics, art, and more.
One highlight is the Openly Available Online Serials Web Archive, which now includes the Journal of New Librarianship, Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, Journal of Hip Hop Studies, Center for Italian Modern Art, and the Encyclopedia of the History of Science (ETHOS).
The Performing Arts Web Archive and the Professional Organizations for the Performing Arts Web Archive also have new items, including Dunham’s Data: Katherine Dunham and Digital Methods for Dance Historical Inquiry, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Society for the Study of Sound and Music in Games (SSSMG), and Ludomusicology – Videogame Music Research Group.
Leave us any questions or comments below and keep an eye out for our next edition at the end of November!