MetaFilter posts tagged with database and history

Davy Jones Locker

tellurian — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:17:41 -0800

The NAVIS project is a multilevel international database for ancient ships of Europe. The database has very detailed information and pictures of ships from the 2nd millenium BC to the 12th century AD (found whilst trying to answer this AskMe). See also NAVIS 2 (ship depictions on objects).

Canadian War Posters

flibbertigibbet — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:29:12 -0800

Canadian War Poster Collection at McGill University. And if that doesn't strike your fancy, the list of digital collections include such time-honoured favourites as Expo '67, and the award-winner for unexpected collection, Gynaecology in Traditional Chinese Medicine. (previously)

World War II History Reference

netbros — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:03:07 -0800

"With Germany arming at breakneck speed, England lost in a pacifist dream, France corrupt and torn by dissension, America remote and indifferent... do you not tremble for your children?" ― Winston Churchill, 1935. The World War II Database connects people, events, photographs, and other elements of history in relational db form to tell the story of the 20th century's 2nd great war.

An online history of jurisprudence, and lack thereof

foxy_hedgehog — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 06:57:11 -0800

Sacco and Vanzetti et al. The amazing Famous Trials website, compiled as a labor of love by University of Missouri law professor Douglas Linder, is a motherlode of information on historically significant trails, ranging from Galileo to the Amistad to Lenny Bruce. It features not only official transcripts, but also equally intriguing details such as a map of the railroad cars in the Scottsboro Boys trial, Klan documents from the Mississippi Burning case, and opinion polls related to the My Lai courts martial.

Crimes of the century

tcp — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 02:58:59 -0800

Homicide in Chicago: 1870-1930
July 25, 1899 Murphy, James, 28 years old, shot dead, saloon 1210 Wabash Av., by Lorezo Sodini, proprietor. Murphy refused to pay for drinks and ran out of saloon and threw stone through window. Sodini ran out and fired at him, killing him instantly. Harrison St. Station. Held by Coroner's Jury, July 29. Acquitted Dec. 9, 1899, by jury in Judge Baker's court. Case number: 1498

Children's literature 1850 and up

schoolgirl report — Sun, 04 Apr 2004 09:10:55 -0800

Online collection of children's literature circa 1850 and up. Primarily American and British, from thrilling stories of the ocean to a peep at the beasts. Every page (and even the spine) digitized in both JPEG and PDF format, and in some cases color-corrected. (Similar collections have been posted here previously)

A treasure trove of math history

wobh — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 10:36:26 -0800

The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive from the University of St. Andrews' School of Mathematics and Statistics.

American Tours

plep — Sun, 26 Oct 2003 01:30:59 -0800

National Register of Historic Places Travel Itineraries. Virtual American travel - Detroit, the Underground Railroad, utopian communities in Iowa, Pipestone, Minnesota, Shakers, Indian mounds of Mississippi, etc.

Ellis Island Immigration Records

BitterOldPunk — Mon, 14 Jul 2003 11:12:10 -0800

Got roots? The American Family Immigration History Center has made available online the passenger manifests for all the ships that docked at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1924. It's searchable by name, and you can look at a photostat of the actual page of the manifest. I found my great-uncle (Demetrios Calisperis, from Samos, Greece, debarked Ellis Island Nov 1907, at age 11 -- hiya, Uncle Jim!). Free to register and search. Paid membership lets you build a family scrapbook about your ancestor that can be searched by other researchers.

Spartacus sucks you in - Happy Historical Hyperlinkation

taz — Fri, 14 Mar 2003 03:55:30 -0800

Wow. Spartacus Educational is a masterwork of hyperlinked history with a rather eclectic list of focus topics that can suck you in and never let go. Start anywhere, and then just click, and click, and click...

In light of recent events, you might begin, if you wish, with a brush-up on the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and from there go on to find out more about the Black Hand secret society responsible for the killing. You may attempt to sidestep politics by going to cartoonists, or U.S. novelists and poets, but you will find that the site is organized against a backdrop of world politics (viewed chiefly from a British perspective), a point of view that weaves its own endlessly looping and mesmerizing mesh.

snarkout — Wed, 29 Aug 2001 21:50:07 -0800

"The gremlin in Falling Hare (who, let us reiterate, is *not* Wendell Willkie) has an elegant flying helmet/plane tail design and a Benny Rubin-like laugh." The Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion covers the heyday of Merrie Melodies and Loony Toons, with capsule biographies of Warner Brothers animators, explanations for no-longer-obvious cultural references, and brief notes on the characters. No design to speak of, but a wonderful resource for anyone searching for a list of WB cartoons that parody Cab Calloway, arguing about whether Elmer Fudd predates Yosemite Sam, or just wondering what the heck Marvin the Martian's given name was.

rschram — Wed, 25 Apr 2001 11:29:48 -0800

Gendex: A Family History Database For some time, I have been casually researching ways to store and query complex kin relations. I may have found just the model I want, developed by none other than the CJC-LDS (Mormons!) Specifically by the family history department.
The FAMily record is used to record ... family unions caused by two people becoming the parents of a child. There can be no more than one HUSB/father and one WIFE/mother listed in each FAM_RECORD. If, for example, a man participated in more than one family union, then he would appear in more than one FAM_RECORD.
And thank God they thought of a bigamy data model! Now, will it export XML?