October, 1942: National Scrap Metal Drive
During World War II, the United States government promoted scrap drives to reduce shortages in basic materials such as metal, rubber and paper. In September, 1942, the War Production Board announced that scrap metal was urgently needed, and promoted a National Scrap Metal Drive in October. For three Saturdays, there were local scrap drives were…
Special Event with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective
How well are people discovering and understanding the photographs in your digital collections? There are currently more than 100,000 photographs in Digital Commonwealth. How can you improve the chances of users finding the ones that are relevant to their research? Join the Digital Commonwealth at a special program called Enhancing Photograph Descriptions: Advice from the…
New Collections Added to the Digital Commonwealth in July and August
These past two summer months, Digital Commonwealth has added some new collections. Check them out! Phillips Academy Andover Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection at Phillips Academy : 2 items added to existing collection Massachusetts Archives Massachusetts Metropolitan Water Works Photograph Collection : 92 items added to existing collection Massachusetts Horticultural Society Library Botanical Prints : 756…
Looking at Eyeglasses
August is National Eye Exam Month, which seemed like a good enough reason to go looking through the Digital Commonwealth for pictures of eyeglasses — and there’s a lot to see. The photo on the left shows Philadelphia Phillies player Morrie Arnovich examines his glasses in front of the dugout at Braves Field. It was…
MBLC Celebrates 125 Years of Service
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is celebrating 125 years of service this year. Established in 1890 as the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, the MBLC is the oldest state library agency in the country. To honor the past and look forward to the future, the MBLC has created MBLC Celebrates 125 Years, a…
New Deafblind History Collections on Digital Commonwealth
By Molly Stothert-Maurer The Perkins School for the Blind Archives recently added four new collections to the Digital Commonwealth Repository. These collections are important primary resources including photographs of Helen Keller, from childhood through adulthood, correspondence from Anne Sullivan (including her first letter describing her arrival in Tuscumbia, AL when she first met Helen Keller),…