Digital Commonwealth News & Announcements «

News & Announcements

The Digital Commonwealth Board and Conference Committee

invite you to register for:

A Virtual Conference Contextual Conversations:Representation and Digital Practice

Join us for an exciting day as we explore the issues of representation, politics, ethics

and other important aspects of digital collections

with an outstanding group of scholars

When: Tuesday April 7, 2020, 9:00AM-4:00PM Where: Zoom Webinar

Advance registration is required. This event is FREE to all attendees.

Once you register you will receive a Zoom link to the event.

Conference Schedule (subject to revision), changes will be posted to the website.

Conference Schedule

Elaine L. Westbrooks, Vice Provost for University Libraries & University Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be the Keynote Speaker.

Ms. Westbrooks is a Board Member of the Digital Public Library of America. Her keynote address is titled “Representing the Others: Preserving Evidence and Knowledge for Equity”.

An annual update on the Digital Commonwealth Collection will be presented by Eben English, Digital Repository Services Manager at the Boston Public Library.

There will be two panel discussions on: “Politics, Privacy, and Ethics in Digital Collections”; and “LGBTQ+ Collections in Context: The Politics of Representation”, and presentations on “History of Chinese Students at Phillips Academy”, “Visibility for Disability Digitization Project”, and “Beyond Orality: Digital Preservation and the African Ajami Library”.

08_01_A_004287 — Prairie St. Jamaica Plain

A lot of new content was added in February–must have been the leap year effect! There’s something for everyone with maps, manuscripts, prints and photographs all ready for research and enjoyment. The Leon Abdalian Collection, containing the work of self-taught photogapher Leon Hampartzoum Abdalian reminds me of the Leslie Jones Collection.

Both men turned their lens’ on the people of Boston, Jamaica Plain West Roxbury and surrounding communities and brought ordinary people into sharp focus. Leon and Leslie, good eye! Travel back in time with them via Digital Commonwealth.

Boston Public Library

Colonial and Revolutionary Boston (2 items)*

Early, Rare, and Exceptional Items from Special Collections, Rare Books (3 items)*

French Artists (1 item)

Incunabula (9 items)*

Leon Abdalian Collection (2,618 items)*

Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (5 items)*

Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection (5 items)*

Coast Guard Heritage Museum

D.M. Rowland Collection (40 items)

Lawrence Public Library

Lawrence School Photographs (9 items)*

Lawrence, Mass. Engineering Department (62 items)*

Massachusetts Archives

Eastern Lands papers Land Office correspondence, 1783-1859 (1,347 items)

Massachusetts Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission, Quabbin Reservoir, Photographs of Real Estate in the Swift River Valley, and of General Engineering of Quabbin Reservoir, 1927-1950 (162 items)*

commonwealth_qr46s812w — Doll House Scrapbook

Digital Commonwealth ushered the new decade in with new collections from the Massachusetts Archives relating to the Quabbin Reservoir and the Swift River Valley, Boston Children’s Museum Scrapbooks as well as some additional items to existing collections. Engineers and geologists will be fascinated by the depth and breadth of the photographs of the Quabbin Reservoir and the Swift River Valley in the Masschusetts Archives haul.

Fans of turn of the century and early 20th century postcards, greeting cards and advertisements will be charmed by the Boston Children’s Museum scrapbooks from the American History Collection. American History was a big part of the curriculum at the museum which was founded in 1913 by the Science Teacher’s Bureau. Each scrapbook is viewable either page by page or in spreads. The handwritten entries in some are really adorable.

Boston Public Library

Boston Children’s Museum – Boston Children’s Museum Scrapbooks from the American History Collection (9 items)

Boston Public Library – Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction) (1 item)

Boston Public Library–WHDH Collection (1 item)

Massachusetts Archives

Massachusetts Archives – Massachusetts Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission, Quabbin Reservoir, Photographs of Real Estate in the Swift River Valley, and of General Engineering of Quabbin Reservoir, 1927-1950 (2,795 items)