The grand panorama of a whaling voyage ‘round the world
The grand panorama of a whaling voyage ‘round the world from the New Bedford Whaling Museum

The best, totally unique item added to the Digital Commonwealth in March was the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s The grand panorama of a whaling voyage ‘round the world.  The section above does not do it justice.  The full panorama is divided into four sections.  To get the full affect, you need to click on each section and then click on the image again to enlarge and use your cursor to travel the entire panorama.  Believe me, the effort is worth it.  It’s easy to understand why it was a popular exhibition when it toured the country from 1849-1851.

But, if whaling voyages aren’t your thing, there are more of those wonderful Medford Historical Society & Museum Civil War photos, pre-presidential photos of John F. Kennedy from the Rocco Paoletta Collection at the Boston Public Library, photos and maps from the Sharon Public Library and historical town records from the Wayland Town Clerk.  As always, a little something for every taste.                                                                                                       

Boston Public Library
John Copley (1875-1950). Lithographs – 297 items
Rocco Paoletta Collection – 480 items

Harvard Law School Library
Sacco-Vanzetti Collections – 468 items added to existing collection

Medford Historical Society & Museum
The Medford Historical Society Civil War Photograph Collection – 273 items added to existing collection

New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum Panoramas – 1 item

Sharon Public Library
Sharon Public Library Image Collection – 146 items added to existing collection
Sharon Public Library Map Collection – 5 items

University of Massachusetts Lowell Libraries
No new items, re-harvested to add new URLs

Wayland Town Clerk
Wayland Massachusetts Historical Town Records – 24 items

Greetings from Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Greetings from Lebanon, Penna. from BPL Tichnor Brothers Collection

LebTown, an independent media organization in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, has discovered Digital Commonwealth – big time!  In a posting entitled, Wish You Were Here: Lebanon County postcards of decades past, LebTown uses over 20 postcards from the Boston Public Library’s Tichnor Brothers Collection.  This collection includes approximately 25,000 office proof postcards from across the United States.  LebTown, naturally, has extracted many postcards of interest to residents of Lebanon County.  They advise any viewers to go to “Massachusetts Digital Commonwealth” for postcards for the rest of Pennsylvania and “other states”.

If you need a little inspiration for planning your vacation this summer, Tichnor Brothers concentrated on views of vacation spots.  Take a look at California, the Grand Canyon, or Vacationland itself, Maine.

 

 

Bagpipe Performance 1988
Bagpipe Performance 1988 from Gebbie Archives Image Collection

 

In February, the Boston Public Library was in an artistic frame of mind, adding to the American Artists collection as well as adding two new collections: Frank W. Benson (1862-1951) Prints and Drawings and Joseph Pennell (1857-1926) Prints and Drawings.

If you’re not in an artistic mood, the Harvard Forest Archives has added hundreds of maps.  Holyoke Community College has uploaded the Frank N. Fowler Postcard Collection.  The largest addition this month was the harvest of 1,230 items from Wheaton College’s Marion B. Gebbie Archives Image Collection, including the bagpipers at left.

Parade season is right around the corner.  Time to get your kilts from the dry cleaners.

 


Boston Public Library
American Artists – 23 items added to existing collection
Frank W. Benson (1862-1951). Prints and Drawings – 677 items
Joseph Pennell (1857-1926). Prints and Drawings – 529 items

Harvard Forest Archives
The Harvard Forest Map Collection – 648 items

Holyoke Community College
Frank N. Fowler Postcard Collection – 24 items

Wheaton College
Marion B. Gebbie Archives Image Collection – 1,230 items harvested