Look-In Picture Strip Archive.
'If you were a child of the seventies or eighties growing up in the UK and
watching such exciting ITV television series like *Timeslip, The Tomorrow
People*, *The Six Million Dollar Man, Charlie's Angels, Space:1999, The
A-Team and Robin of Sherwood,* to name but a few, you may have also been a
regular reader of the children's magazine Look-in. If you were, this is the
website for you!'
Girl Solo in Arabia: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta.
'Carolyn McIntyre will travel from the Moroccan City of Tangiers through 46
countries as she attempts to recreate an epic journey made 700 years ago by
the famed Islamic scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta.'
'Along the way she will visit:
'Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestinian Territories, Israel,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya,
Tanzania, Oman, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine,
Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Italy, Spain, Mali, Mauritania, Niger.'
Of McMansions and Shantytowns.
'If you've ever driven south from San Diego and crossed into Mexico, you
know that the border marks a distinct line between two dramatically
contrasting cityscapes, with a surprisingly short distance of blurring
between the two. The typical pastel stucco dwellings that sit on
well-watered lawns in southern California, sit in a second incarnation atop
steel frames in Tijuana, steadied by retaining walls made of old tires.'
'The dense shelters people construct from various discarded and salvaged
materials become squatter settlements - settlements because once
established, they cannot legally be demolished, and ultimately must be
provided with basic utilities and infrastructure from the government. But
don't let this picture lead you to believe that the manicured and
carefully-spaced homes north of the border have the upperhand;
Teddy Cruz
will give you a lot of reasons to see that squatters know a thing or two
about good urban development...'
Box of Apples: Fruit Crate Label Art.
'BoxOfApples.com is the online museum (and gift shop) of fruit crate labels
from the early 1900s to 1950s. Back in the days of our grandparents and
their parents, people did their produce-shopping at markets that were more
like a farmer's market than today's grocery stores. The fruit and vegetables
would be displayed in their shipping crates somewhere near the railroad
tracks, probably under a big shed. Each crate would have a label (up to a
foot square) showing the name of the packer, and a colorful design to
differentiate the brand. Fruit crates disappeared with the advent of
self-service supermarkets and cardboard boxes, but thousands of vintage
labels have survived in mint condition, rescued from warehouses and print
shops, mostly on the West Coast. '
London Placard Carriers and 'Sandwich Men'
1820-1840.
'Much like today, London was plastered with
advertising, with armies of chalkers and 'external
paper hangers' decorating blank walls, empty shops
and wooden hoardings with advertisements. '
'The combined inconveniences of an advertising
tax and increased competition for poster space led
advertisers to a simple conclusion - make the
messages become mobile! ...'
Japanese Temple Geometry.
'During Japan's period of national seclusion (1639--1854), native
mathematics thrived, as evidenced in *sangaku*--wooden tablets engraved with
geometry problems hung under the roofs of shrines and temples '
'Of the world's countless customs and traditions, perhaps none is as
elegant, nor as beautiful, as the tradition of *sangaku*, Japanese temple
geometry. From 1639 to 1854, Japan lived in strict, self-imposed isolation
from the West. Access to all forms of occidental culture was suppressed, and
the influx of Western scientific ideas was effectively curtailed. During
this period of seclusion, a kind of native mathematics flourished...'
San Francisco in Ruins:
The 1906 Aerial Photographs of George R.
Lawrence.
'THE YEAR was 1906, and the citizens of San
Francisco must have found it a wildly incongruous
sight--grown men at child's play in the midst of
tragedy. Less than three weeks before, the earth
had shaken and the city had burned. The disaster
began with an earthquake in the early morning of
Wednesday, April 18, and when the fires were
extinguished three days later, at least two hundred
thousand San Francisco residents were homeless. Yet
on the afternoon of May 5, a small group of men was
flying kites near Folsom and Sixth streets. '
'The man in charge, George R. Lawrence, was
anything but mad. As soon as news of the disaster
had reached Chicago, he made plans to go to San
Francisco with his Captive Airship and crew. With
the Captive Airship he knew he could take aerial
photographs of the prostrate city that no one else
in the world could take. He was gambling by going
to the devastated. city, but he took the chance
knowing there would be an international market for
his photographs if he succeeded. '
World Trade Center, September 13, 2001.
'These photos were taken at Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in New
York, on September 13, 2001. '
'They were taken by someone named "Ed" who was allowed into the area by a
member of the emergency response crew, at a time when all civilians --
including most journalists -- were forbidden to enter the area. As a result,
these photos are just about the only close-ups ever taken of the World Trade
Center site so soon after the 9/11 attacks.'
2006 Transit of Mercury.
'On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, a transit of Mercury was visible in the
afternoon and evening for much of the North America. It began around 2:12
p.m. EST and continued until 7:10 p.m. EST, though *sunset occured before *then
for many viewers. During the transit, the silhouette of Mercury was visible
by day as the innermost planet passed directly between the earth and the
sun...'
A Russian Miners' Village.
'This is a photo session from a miner's village
in Russia. These photos are made nowadays though
when watching them it might seem that they are
made in the previous century.'
'A few days ago in Russian newspapers there was
an article that 25% of Russian families sometimes
experience lack of the money to buy simple bread,
and I suppose that more than 40% of families live
in the similar conditions, especially in countryside,
and the same time in major cities there is a class
of very rich people, buying Ferraris and soccer
players for their teams worth of tens millions
dollars...'
Abandoned Castle.
'A series of photos of Gosford Castle in Northern Ireland. One of the
largest castles ever built in Ireland in the unique style of Normandic
revival, which sadly has lain empty for nearly ten years now. It is slowly
but surely turning into a ruin.'
Eyes.
'Some photos I've taken of (my) eyes. Almost close up and digitally worked
out in Photoshop. I like eyes, hope you like them, too. :)'
Modern Military Ruins of San Francisco.
'In 1990, the San Francisco Bay Area was home to several large U.S. military
facilities.'
'By 2000, they were all gone.'
'These are scenes from the Bay Area's recently-abandoned, Cold War-era
bases: Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard (San Francisco), Treasure Island Naval
Station (San Francisco), Alameda Naval Air Station (Alameda), the SF-88 Nike
Missile Site (Marin Headlands), Hamilton Field Air Force Base (Novato), Mare
Island Naval Shipyard (Vallejo), Naval Security Group Activity base (Skaggs
Island), and portions of Moffett Field Federal Airfield (Mountain View). '
Banned Books.
An exhibition of of books which have survived
fire, the sword, and the censors.
'Robert Vosper had, above all, a commitment to
the library as the home of free and open inquiry.
During the McCarthy reign of terror, early in Vosper's
tenure-1951 to 1960-as
Director of Libraries at KU, he and the equally
committed Chancellor, Franklin D. Murphy, supported
what became an internationally noted exhibition on
intellectual freedom. Demand for its catalogue was
so great that it was repeatedly reprinted until
20,000 copies had been distributed. Fifteen years
later, on May 6, 1970, at UCLA, in response to
intense pressure to close the library at the time
of anti-war rioting and police action on the campus,
Robert Vosper posted a notice which expresses the
essence of his library faith...'
Hell Money.
Images of the banknotes
sometimes burned in Chinese funerals.
'Surviving relatives want to send gifts to make
the afterlife as comfortable as possible. Aside
from intricate paper objects such as houses, cars,
clothing, watches, mobile phones, appliances and
even domestic helpers, Hell Bank Notes are most
popular. Burning sends them on their way.'
The Nixon-Presley Meeting, 21 December 1970.
When Nixon met Elvis.
'On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley paid a visit
to President Richard M. Nixon at the White House
in Washington, D.C. The meeting was initiated by
Presley, who wrote Nixon a six-page letter
requesting a visit with the President and
suggesting that he be made a "Federal Agent-at-Large"
in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The
events leading up to and after the meeting are
detailed in the documentation and photographs
included here, which include Presley's handwritten
letter, memoranda from Nixon staff and aides, and
the thank-you note from Nixon for the gifts
(including a Colt 45 pistol and family photos)
that Presley brought with him to the Oval Office...'
Stagestruck!: Performing Arts Caricatures
at the Library of Congress.
'Oscar Cesare (1885-1948) drew theatrical
caricatures for the New York Times at a time when
Al Hirschfeld was just beginning his career at the
newspaper. A skilled and versatile cartoonist and
illustrator, Cesare used diverse styles to create
his images...'
Washington As It Was:
Photographs by Theodor Horydczak
1923-59.
'Spanning from the mid 1920s through the 1950s,
the Theodor Horydczak collection (about 14,350
photographs online) documents the architecture
and social life of the Washington metropolitan
area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including
exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential,
and government buildings, as well as street scenes
and views of neighborhoods. '
Find a Grave.
Millions of cemetery records.
Graves of famous people.
Prints Abound: Paris in the 1890s.
'Paris witnessed an explosion of printed
imagery in the 1890s. Painters such as Pierre
Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec delved into printmaking,
creating original prints for posters, albums,
books, periodicals, music primers, song sheets,
and even folding screens. '
American Patriotic Melodies.
'Here you can listen to Kate Smith sing "God Bless
America," page through a manuscript of Copland's
"Fanfare for the Common Man" or learn about the
origins of our national anthem -- "The Star Spangled
Banner." A combination of hymns, national songs, music
of the theater, radio and television, military
themes, and poetry, all of this music demonstrates
that while over history many things have changed,
this expression of pride and hope remain a constant
part of the American experience.'
Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou.
(... or 'voodoo').
'Vodou is Haiti's mirror. Its arts and rituals
reflect the difficult, brilliant history of seven
million people, whose ancestors were brought from
Africa to the Caribbean in bondage. In 1791 these
Africans began the only successful national slave
revolt in history. In 1804 they succeeded in
creating the world's first Black republic: the
only one in this hemisphere where all the citizens
were free. Their success inspired admiration,
fear and scorn in the wider world...'
Pet Food Labels.
Vintage labels.
'These labels range in date from the 1920s to
the 1960s.'
Exploits of Lord Krishna.
'While Lord Krishna is widely worshipped among
Hindus as an avatar of Lord Vishnu, the cause for
his popularity is his intensely human form as
described in the Hindu epics. His exploits
(collectively called "Krishna Leela") are a popular
theme for Indian artists over centuries...'
Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of
Youth in 19th Century America.
'This collection presents 163 Sunday school books
published in America between 1815 and 1865, drawn
from the collections of Michigan State University
Libraries and the Clarke Historical Library at
Central Michigan University Libraries. They
document the culture of religious instruction
of youth in America during the Antebellum era.
They also illustrate a number of thematic divisions
that preoccupied nineteenth-century America,
including sacred and secular, natural and divine,
civilized and savage, rural and industrial, adult
and child. '
Prairie Settlement.
'This digital collection integrates two collections
from the holdings of the Nebraska State Historical
Society, the Solomon D. Butcher photographs and the
letters of the Uriah W. Oblinger family. Together
they illustrate the story of settlement on the Great
Plains. Approximately 3,000 glass plate negatives
crafted by Butcher record the process of settlement
in Nebraska between 1886 and 1912. Butcher
photographed actively in central Nebraska including
Custer, Buffalo, Dawson and Cherry counties. The
approximately 3,000 pages of Oblinger family letters
discuss land, work, neighbors, crops, religious
meetings, problems with grasshoppers, financial
problems, and the Easter Blizzard of 1873. Uriah
Oblinger came from Indiana to Fillmore County,
Nebraska in 1873 to claim a homestead for his
family. In the eloquent letters exchanged between
Uriah and his wife Mattie, and in letters to other
family members, Oblinger expresses very personal
insight into the joy, despair, and determination
in their struggle to establish a home on the
prairie. '
Prince Edward Island 1841 Census.
'The colony of Prince Edward Island grew swiftly
through the first half of the nineteenth century.
It was a time when emigrants poured out of the
British Isles. Many Scots came because of the
foreclosure of their ancient rights on the land.
Irish made the perilous crossing of the North
Atlantic owing to worsening economic conditions
and in the late 1840s because of famine. The
English and Welsh emigration, though not as
dramatic, was steady and brought many new farmers,
shipbuilders and merchants...'
Life on Prince Edward Island today.
Ad*Access.
'The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment
"Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database
information for over 7,000 advertisements printed
in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between
1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main
subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation,
Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, providing a
coherent view of a number of major campaigns and
companies through images preserved in one particular
advertising collection available at Duke University.'
When Everybody Called Me Gah-bay-bi-nayss:
"Forever-Flying-Bird"
An Ethnographic Biography of
Paul Peter Buffalo.
A Native American life.
'Paul Buffalo's mother, herself an Ojibwa
medicine woman, told Paul, her oldest son,
shortly before she died, that she had a dream
revealing that one day someone would come to write
down their Indian ways of life. She told him that
when that time came he should speak of those things
she had taught him: "You are the oldest and I have
taught you my ways. Someday someone will ask you
about these things. I have dreamed about that. Keep
these things that I have taught. Someday people will
want to hear about them again." ...'
Timbuktu to W2.
'An exhibition of sumptuous black and white
photographs of the people and architecture of
the west African country of Mali by Stuart Redler
is being shown simultaneously in both London and
Timbuktu.'
Jewish Architecture.
'English Heritage says Jewish
is at risk as the community diminishes. Liverpool's
Princes Road Synagogue is one of the buildings
appearing in a new guidebook...'
Indian Campus Lingo.
Campus expressions and slangs of India.
'Gandhi -- A good student who doesn't smoke,
drink or eat meat. Example: "He was a Gandhi till
3rd semester, but now doing joints". '
The Richest Man in the World: Andrew
Carnegie.
'Andrew Carnegie's life embodied the American
dream: the immigrant who went from rags to riches,
the self-made man who became a captain of industry,
the king of steel. He preached the obligation of the
wealthy to return their money to the societies where
they made it -- then added, says Carnegie's
biographer, Joseph Frazier Wall, "a very revealing
sentence. He wrote, 'and besides, it provides a refuge
from self-questioning.'" '
The Story of Beowulf.
'This is a long out-of-print retelling of the
Beowulf saga. A prose translation, it captures
the mood of the original without being
self-consciously archaic. The black and white
illustrations are stylized and sometimes a bit
cartoonish, and nicely dimensionalize the story. '
NASA Dawn of the Apollo Program Slides.
'Collection of 20 3x4 inch glass slides that appear to be from a government presentation
on the early Apollo program. The best I can tell, the slides date from 1959-1963.'
Farm Tomita.
'... famous for its lavender gardens and other
colorful flowers.'
Moldovan Orphanage.
'These images were shot in several institutions in
Moldova, Europe's
poorest country.'
Hanko - Summertown.
'Scenes and details from the southernmost city in
Finland located by the
Baltic Sea.'
link
The Workhouse.
'The Workhouse often evokes the grim world of Oliver
Twist, but its story is also a fascinating mix of
social history, politics, economics and architecture.
This site, www.workhouses.org.uk, is dedicated to
the workhouse -
its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators,
even its poets...'
My Cancer.
'After that day, your life is never the same.
"That day" is the day the doctor tells you, "You
have cancer." Every one of us knows someone who's
had to face that news. It's scary, it's sad. But
it's still life, and it's a life worth living.
"My Cancer" is a daily account of my life and my
fight with cancer.'
The Mathematical Art of MC Escher.
'Maurits
Cornelis Escher, who was born in Leeuwarden,
Holland in 1898, created unique and fascinating
works of art that explore and exhibit a wide range
of mathematical ideas...'
Toy Ray Guns.
'Whimsical and zany, these fanciful objects conjure
fond childhood memories of Buck Rogers and Captain
Video, of backyard spaceships that blasted off for
high adventure in the endless reaches of space. The
stuff of fancy, toy ray guns are powered by pure
imagination, by our almost unlimited capacity to
wonder. Yet they represent other things as well.
They are weapons intended to protect us from our
deepest fears of the dark unknown, and they remind
us of our vulnerability in the face of an endless
and mysterious cosmos.'
Enduring Outrage: Editorial Cartoons by
Herblock.
'This
exhibition features original work by the
Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist
Herb Block and draws from the generous gift of
14,000 original drawings and more than 50,000
preparatory sketches donated to the Library of
Congress by the Herb Block Foundation in 2002.
The exhibition focuses on themes of enduring
importance to Herblock that continue to resonate
in American society today The exhibited works
cover most of the presidential administrations
from the 1940s through the 1990s. In true Herblock
form, the cartoons critique and comment on Democrats
and Republicans alike.'
An Otter Family Album.
'My name is Scott Shannon, and for the last 23
years, I have observed a population of
seacoast-dwelling otters in far-northwest
California. '
The Culture and History of the Americas.
'To celebrate the donation of the Jay I. Kislak
Collection, the Library of Congress presents The
Cultures and History of the Americas, an exhibition
featuring fifty highlights from the more than 4,000
rare books, maps, documents, paintings, prints,
and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak
Collection at the Library of Congress. Like the
collection itself, the exhibition focuses on the
early Americas from the time of the indigenous people
of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean through
the period of European contact, exploration, and
settlement.'
Annie Oakley.
'Over time she became an American legend --
the loud, brassy, cocksure shooter celebrated
in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun." But that
legend had little to do with the real Annie Oakley.
Although famous as a Western sharpshooter, Oakley
lived her entire life east of the Mississippi. A
champion in a man's sport, she forever changed
ideas about the abilities of women, yet she opposed
female suffrage. Her fame and fortune came from her
skill with guns, yet she was a Quaker. This probing
American Experience production examines the dramatic
life of a uniquely American icon whose complex
character manifested many of the paradoxes of the
nation.'
The Leopold and Loeb Trial.
'Few trial transcripts are as likely to bring tears
to the eyes as that of the 1924 murder trial of
Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold. Decades after
Clarence Darrow delivered his twelve-hour long
plea to save his young clients' lives, his moving
summation stands as the most eloquent attack on the
death penalty ever delivered in an American courtroom.
Mixing poetry and prose, science and emotion, a
world-weary cynicism and a dedication to his cause,
hatred of bloodlust and love of man, Darrow takes his
audience on an oratorical ride that would be
unimaginable in a criminal trial today....'
(Leopold and Loeb, both brilliant young men,
murdered a young boy 'because they could', claiming inspiration
from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche; one of them was later
murdered in prison, the other lived to a ripe old age. The
story of the crime was the inspiration for the Hitchcock movie
'rope').
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Persian poetry celebrating life and laughter.
'The Rubaiyat is not a single poem, but is rather
a collection of verses written by or attributed to
'Umar Khayyam, the Persian mathematician, philosopher
and astronomer who lived from ca. 1048 - 1122. '
Japanese Labour and Social Movement Posters.
'Ohara Institute for Social Research owns about
1400 posters of labor and social movements in
the post-1945 period. Many of the posters are
those in the second half of the 1940s and the
1950s when labor unions, legalized for the first
time in 1945, engaged in intense struggles with
employers and the government in order to win better
wages and working conditions.'
How Products Are Made.
'How Products Are Made explains and details the
manufacturing process of a wide variety of products,
from daily household items to complicated electronic
equipment and heavy machinery ...
For example, you can find here descriptions of Air
Bag, Air Conditioner, Artificial Snow, Automobile,
Battery, Blue Jeans, Chewing Gum, Coin, Compact Disc,
Credit Card, DVD Player, Fireworks, Hologram, Jet
Engine, Laser Pointer, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD),
Nuclear Submarine, Paint, Popcorn, Refrigerator,
Telephone, Television, Temporary Tattoo, Vaccine,
Vacuum Cleaner or Watch. '
Beyond Face Value: Depictions of Slavery in
Confederate Currency.
'Many Southern notes did not feature images of
slavery; this exhibit focuses on the ones that
did. This collection features notes issued and
circulated in the South during the Antebellum,
Civil War, and Reconstruction Eras. Notes were
issued by various entities, including the Confederate
government, state governments, merchants, and
railroad companies.'
Kitab al Khazari.
'Framed as a dialog between the king of the Khazars,
a Central Asian kingdom, and a Rabbi, the Khazari
is an exposition of late medieval Jewish philosophy.
Legend has it that the king of the Khazars held a
symposium to decide whether his people should convert
to Judaism, Christianity or Islam. This book is a
fictional account of the Jewish side of this
debate. '
Le Tumulte Noir: Paul Colin's Jazz
Age Portfolio.
'In 1925, Josephine Baker (1906-1975) and the
musicians and performers of her troupe, La
Revue Nègre, exploded on the stage at Paris'
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with a wild new dance
called the Charleston. The Jazz Age was at its
height, and Baker was destined to become its high
priestess.'
'Four years later, French poster artist Paul Colin
(1892-1985), Baker's one-time lover and life-long
friend, published a portfolio of vividly colored
lithographs titled "Le Tumulte Noir" ("The Black
Craze") which captured the exuberant jazz music and
dance that dazzled Paris.'
The Last Best West: Advertising for Immigrants
to Western Canada 1870-1930.
'This virtual exhibition is about the Canadian
government's role in advertising free land in The
Last Best West to farmers and farm workers in
Britain, the United States and Europe. These were
the only immigrants targeted by the government,
apart from domestic servants. The Canadian Pacific
Railway, and other rail and ocean transportation
companies, helped promote government land in
western Canada to would-be immigrants.'
'The exhibition presents images of western Canada
that appeared in posters put out by the government
and the big transportation companies. Also on view
are colourful government pamphlet covers; newspaper
advertisements for immigrants; promotional photographs
and notices. Photographs of touring exhibition
wagons, and displays of prairie wheat at large
agricultural shows and small country fairs, are
also included.'
The Antislavery Literature Project.
'Antislavery literature represents the origins
of multicultural literature in the United States.
It is the first body of American literature produced
by writers of diverse racial origins. It encompasses
slave narratives, lectures, travel accounts, political
tracts, prose fiction, poetry, drama, religious and
philosophical literature, compendia, journals,
manifestoes and children's literature...'
Micro Images.
Collection of images taken under the microscope.
Art from North Korea.
'This rare collection of gouaches and paintings
offers us a glimpse of how the Kim Jong Il
regime interprets the domestic and international
challenges facing the nation. Meant for a domestic
audience, these works are only rarely seen abroad.
Produced by state-run studios, they are meant to
rally the population behind the political project
of the nation. '
Paris-Anglo.
Good online guide to Paris, as well as being a
collection of vignettes of Paris life.
Waterford, Wisconsin Local History.
Old photographs.
'Western Racine County pioneer families began
staking their claims in the Waterford area in
the fall of 1836. The early years of settlement
are documented here by a collection of historical
artifacts digitized from a variety of formats
including books, manuscripts, photographs, maps
and newspapers. '
The Mapmaker's Wife.
'The Mapmaker's Wife tells the extraordinary story
of Isabel Godin, the first woman to travel down the
length of the Amazon. Her journey brought an end to
the first scientific expedition to the New World,
which was led by Charles Marie de La Condamine.'
'The Upper Amazon that Isabel Godin traveled through
in 1769-1770, where she ended up lost and abandoned,
remains a pristine wilderness. It is one of the most
remote regions in Ecuador, rarely visited by
outsiders. To research The Mapmaker's Wife, Robert
Whitaker retraced her path from Riobamba to
Andoas.'
link
Exploring 20th Century London.
'Explore London's history, culture and religions
from the collections of
the Museum of London, London's Transport Museum, The
Jewish Museum and
Croydon Museum and Heritage Service.'
Boring Postcards.
'I first became a collector of boring and
inappropriate postcards when I discovered that
Southampton University had issued a series of
Christmas Cards with images of its 1960s concrete
tower blocks! Since then, I have come across many
more examples of useless postcards, some of which
are available via the following thumbnails...'
Space Age City.
'Explore the Jetson-esque coffee shops, space
age motels and atomic bowling alleys. Exaggerated
Modern buildings reflected the optimism of
mid-century America.'
The Diary of John Cam Hobhouse.
'John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869) was Byron's best
friend. Educated at Westminster and Trinity
College Cambridge, he travelled east with Byron
in 1809, was Best Man at Byron's wedding in 1815,
travelled across Switzerland in Byron's company in
1816 after the separation, around Rome with Byron
in 1817, and lived with Byron in Venice in the same
year. He met Byron at Pisa again in 1822, after
Byron's facetious poem on his imprisonment in Newgate,
My Boy Hobby-O, had almost terminated their
friendship...'
Strange Maps.
Documenting unusual and fictional
cartography.
Barren Lands Digital Collection.
'This site documents two exploratory surveys of the
Barren Lands region west of Hudson Bay, in northern
Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the area now known as
Nunavut. Drawing on materials from the J.B. Tyrrell,
James Tyrrell and related collections at the Thomas
Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, it
includes over 5,000 images from original field
notebooks, correspondence, photographs, maps and
published reports. '
Strange Soviet Buildings.
'Some of the buildings have weird history.
For example the building number 3, the "Friendship"
hotel attracted a great part of attention from USA
intelligence agency. They thought it was some sort
of missile launching site.'
Broseley Clay Tobacco Pipes.
A rustic craft -
clay tobacco pipes from Shropshire!
'I am a clay tobacco pipe enthusiast, having
researched, excavated, collected and lectured on
tobacco pipes for more than 20 years. Broseley's
clay tobacco heritage stretches back just over
400 years, a tobacco pipemaker being recorded
in the town in 1590...'
We Met the Space People.
'This is a UFO contactee account by two
sisters from the Midwest US in the late 1950s.
The Mitchell sisters, Helen and Betty, are
approached by space aliens, who can pass for
human beings, in (of all places) a coffee shop
in St. Louis, Missouri. On a second encounter
(again in the coffee shop) they are given a
schematic for a communicator, which they build,
and through it they receive messages from the
Space People from Mars and Venus. Unlike the more
aggressive aliens of later decades, they wait
until the third date to take Helen on a ride to
the mothership. There she learns that the aliens
have one-piece uniforms that 'feel like satin,'
speak a Universal Language, and play a game like
shuffleboard when off-duty. '
The Barbara McClintock Papers.
'Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) was an American
geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for her discovery of genetic
transposition, or the ability of genes to
change position on the chromosome. The American
Philosophical Society in Philadelphia is the
repository for the Barbara McClintock Papers,
which range from 1927 to 1991. The collection
contains laboratory notes, correspondence,
unpublished manuscripts, lecture notes, photographs,
charts, illustrations, and audiovisual materials.'
Every Mother's Son.
'In the late 1990s, three victims of police brutality
made headlines around the country: Amadou Diallo, the
young West African man whose killing sparked intense
public protest; Anthony Baez, killed in an illegal
choke-hold; and Gary (Gidone) Busch, a Hasidic Jew
shot and killed outside his Brooklyn home. "Every
Mother's Son" tells of the victims' three mothers
who came together to demand justice and
accountability. '
The Ebay Haunted Painting.
'Over the past two years, the Internet has been
buzzing with rumours about a curious item labelled
'the E-bay Haunted Painting'. Here Gavin Bevis takes
a look at the phenomenon that got the web world
talking...'
(This painting does send a shiver up your spine. Be
warned).
Historical Maps of Pennsylvania.
'Welcome to Historical Maps of Pennsylvania,
showing images of the region and state from the
16th to the 21st century. Pennsylvania was founded
in 1681, after a petition to the King of England
from William Penn...'
Leather Puppets of India.
'The arrival of the puppeteers' team to an
Indian village is welcome news to young and
old villagers alike. The artists belong to a
nomadic tribe of Gypsies and hence are always
on the move. They carry their own baggage, which
consists of huge leather bags containing puppets,
musical instruments and a few utensils. They pitch a
homemade, moderate-sized tent under a tree and
commence their activities...'
The Gospels in Medieval Manuscript
Illumination.
'This exhibition explores the Gospels as they
appeared in Medieval manuscript illumination.
It presents books, manuscripts, and leaves drawn
primarily from the Museum's manuscripts collection.'
Myths over Miami.
The mythology of Miami's homeless children.
'Captured on South Beach, Satan later escaped.
His demons and the horrible Bloody Mary are now
killing people. God has fled. Avenging angels
hide out in the Everglades. And other tales
from children in Dade's homeless shelters.'
The Human Factor.
Photographs of work.
'In the 1930s Harvard Business School colleagues
Donald Davenport and Frank Ayres contacted leading
businesses and requested photographs for classroom
instruction-images Davenport hoped would
"reveal the courage, industry and intelligence
required of the American working man." They
amassed more than 2,100 photographs, from
strangely beautiful views of men operating
Midvale Steel's 9,000-ton hydraulic press to
women assembling tiny, delicate parts of Philco
radios. Now students, and America's aspiring
corporate managers, had visual data to study
"the human factor,"
the interaction of worker and machine. '
'Noa Noa' by Paul Gauguin.
Polynesian folklore.
'This slight travelogue of an artists' journey
into the heart of the primitive both enthralls
and informs. Written as a potboiler after he
returned to France, there are two distinct parts
of this book. The first part is an extended
narrative of Gauguin's entry into the slow rhythms
of Polynesian village life. Late in the book we
hit folklore paydirt. In an extended passage,
Gauguin's Tahitian child-concubine relates to
him the Tahitian cosmogony, with a number of myths,
legendary genealogies, ethnoastronomy, and a
deluge story...'
Gods of Japan:
A-Z Photo Dictionary of Japanese Buddhism.
'My reasons for creating this photo dictionary
are quite simple. First and foremost, this project
is a labor of love. Second, it is a tribute to
Kamakura, my home for the past 12 years, and home
to dozens of temples from the Kamakura Era
(1185-1333), which still house and display
wondrous life-size wooden statues from the 8th
century onward. Third, this project was prompted
by a dissatisfaction with existing literature on
Japanese Buddhist art -- especially sculpture...'
Slash Magazine.
'This is a celebration of the first punk
publication in Los Angeles, Slash Magazine.
It is also a tribute to the late Claude Bessy,
the editor of the incendiary magazine, as his
editorials are being published here for the first
time since the late 70's by kind permission of his
wife, Philomena. '
Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn.
'Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of
the ring, and slight shadows highlight this
understated view of the majestic surroundings
of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back
toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now
orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn
and its moon Rhea in color a few months ago.'
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