The National Digital Library (NDL) Program announced on March 5 the availability of five new collections from its World Wide Web homepage (http://www.loc.gov/).
Like the more than 40,000 images now available from the Library's Internet site, these are from American historical collections:
- Documents of the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention, ca. 1774-1790; 272 broadside documents.
- African American Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1820-2910; 351 pamphlets on 11,000 pages.
- World's Transportation Commission Photographs by William Henry Jackson, 1894-1896; approximately 900 photographs.
- Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1860-1920; approximately 160 documents comprising 10,000 pages.
- Daguerreotype Photographs, 1842-1862; about 600 photographs.
Dr. Billington said when announcing the collections' launch before the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, "These primary source materials from American history provide valuable content for enriching the education of students and lifelong learners."
The new offerings bring to more than a dozen the number of collections the Library has made freely available over the Internet. Others collections include Mathew Brady's Civil War photographs (many of which were used by filmmaker Ken Burns in his acclaimed PBS television series, "The Civil War"), recently recovered notebooks of Walt Whitman, sound recordings from the Nation's Forum and early motion pictures.
In addition, the Library has mounted an online congressional database called THOMAS, which offers bills of the current and previous Congress, the full text of the Congressional Record, the Bill Digest from the Library's Congressional Research Service and links to other legislative Internet sites.
The Library's Internet site also provides access to the card catalog, records from the U.S. Copyright Office and links to other Internet sites. Text and images from nearly a dozen of the Library's major exhibitions are also available, including rarely seen treasures such as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in Jefferson's own hand.
A public-private partnership is making many of the digital initiatives possible. Congress has pledged $15 million in total appropriations for fiscal 1996-2000, and the Library is committed to raising $45 million more in private funds. So far, the Librarian has raised more than $20 million in private money for the NDL Program.