General Interest
As one of the world’s greatest urban green spaces, Central Park is loved by dyed-in-the wool New Yorkers as well as visitors to the city. This reverential website provides detailed information about this fine public space and the activities that take place within its confines. On this site, visitors can look over maps of the park, learn about the park’s many attractions, and browse a selection of photographs of this fine urban paradise. The homepage contains much of this material, along with a “Central Park News” feature, which provides news updates about goings on throughout Central Park. For those planning a visit to the park, the Events area will be most useful, as it provides information about such pastimes as rock climbing, ice skating lessons, and yoga. [KMG]
http://www.bl.uk/listentonature
The British Library's new Listen to Nature web site features 400 recordings selected from the more than 150,000 animal sounds held by the Library. Listen to Nature can be browsed by location, animal type, or habitat. Maps are provided with red dots plotting the locations of recordings; clicking any dot launches a player and the sound file. Alphabetical lists of animal sounds also accompany maps from the region. Visitors are invited to search the Catalogue, in this case the combined catalogue of the British Library Sound Archive, which includes all types of recorded sound. It is best to use the advanced search, limit searches to Wildlife sounds, and look for the "Electronic access" link. On a recent visit we heard loons, wolves, and a whip-poor-will recorded in Canada, enjoying the ability to hear sounds originally captured in North America sent back to us from the UK via the Internet. [DS]
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/inteldesign/
Recently, many interested parties have taken up the debate surrounding intelligent design and the teaching of evolution in public schools. While it can be hard to sort through the vast debates surrounding these issues, the good people at American Radio Works have created this thoughtful and introspective website that explores some of the issues surrounding this important topic. Under the careful direction of Mary Beth Kirchner, the documentary takes a look at some of the people involved in the debates, and features interviews with high school teachers, intelligent design theorists, and others. After listening to the documentary, visitors will also want take a look at the site’s other features, such as an interview with Professor Ted Peters (a theology professor) and a selection of additional relevant sites, such as those for the National Center for Science Education and the Institute for Creation Research. [KMG]
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/subcollections/BrittinghamImgsAbout.shtml
For many well-to-do American families in the late 19th century, tours of the Continent were quite fashionable, and in some quarters, almost expected. The Brittingham family of Madison, Wisconsin, was no exception, and they spent a great deal of time documenting their travels (and home life) through a wide range of photographic images. This collection, created by the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center, brings together over 1600 of these lantern slides, all of which were created between 1897 and 1922. In the collection, visitors will find images of scenic landscapes, street scenes, and domestic life from 22 states and 32 countries. Here visitors can delight in seeing the entire clan at their homestead in Wisconsin as well as in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Overall, the site provides insight into both the life of the Brittinghams and the social and cultural world they were a part of during the Gilded Age. [KMG]
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/jamesriver/
Floating down the James River through the Chesapeake Bay, one begins to take note of the stately plantations that line the banks of this body of water, particularly around Richmond. As part of their ongoing Travel Itinerary series, the National Park Service has created this tribute to the cultural and historic landscape along the James River. What is particularly striking about the site is its ability to tell the stories of these plantations in a way that is well rounded in its perspective and its incorporation of compelling maps and narrative descriptions. To get a better sense of the history of the region, visitors may want to start by reading one (or all) of the three essays offered on the site. Of course, the visually inclined may wish to look at an interactive map offered on the site that will allow them access to information about a number of the plantations, such as the ancestral manses of Kittiewan or Westover. [KMG]
http://specialcollection.dotlibrary.dot.gov/
While the design of this site is fairly basic, the information contained within will be of great interest to those with a penchant for the world of American transportation history. Created by the Department of Transportation, the site contains a wide range of transportation-related documents, ranging from FAA reports to ICC railroad investigative reports dating from 1911 to 1993. One particularly nice clutch of documents includes the papers of H.S. Fairbank, Frank Turner, and T.H. MacDonald. All three men were intimately involved with massive road building and construction projects both in the United States and abroad, and these documents provide insights into the initial phases of the construction of the Federal Interstate Highway System and the even earlier days of the Bureau of Public Roads. [KMG]
