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The Kumeyaay Nation of southern California. 'This Web site is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the Kumeyaay culture. Kumeyaay.com tells the story from the Kumeyaay perspective, and is the premiere source for Kumeyaay Indian information.' With an interesting history, language and culture section.
posted on Nov-12-03 at 12:52 AM

The Beast of Bodmin. 'Photographs and even films had been taken of these beasts, but there has been little physical evidence to support the sightings. That was until recently when a 14-year-old boy discovered a skull with large fangs, in the River Fowey on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. '
'This is the story of how The Natural History Museum tracked down this beast... '
More at the British Big Cats Society.
posted on Nov-10-03 at 1:50 AM

Early Manuscripts at Oxford University. 'This site provides access to over 80 early manuscripts now in institutions associated with the University of Oxford. Please read the information about using this website. '
'Between 1995 and 2000 the Early Manuscripts Imaging Project created high resolution digital images from manuscripts which were selected as major treasures from their respective libraries, to create wider availability for originals which may otherwise be too fragile for handling. '
posted on Nov-8-03 at 12:52 AM

Hats Off! A Salute to African Headwear. 'Many African cultures throughout the continent have long considered the head the center of one's being--a source of individual and collective identity, power, intelligence and ability. Adorning the head as part of everyday attire or as a statement, therefore, is especially significant. '
Related :- African Loxo: photos of hairstyles from the Fifties (in French); mathematical patterns in African American hairstyles.
posted on Oct-30-03 at 10:39 AM

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.
posted on Oct-26-03 at 1:30 AM

The Atomic Duty of Private Bill Bires. 'This is a short history of Pvt. Bill Bires' military duty with Co."A" 231st Engineer Combat Battalion from Ft. Lewis, Washington. Co. "A" was assigned temporary duty at the Atomic Test Series, Buster-Jangle in the Nevada desert, in the fall of 1951.'
'Co. "A"'s military duty at the test site was unique. While the rest of the battalion built the tent city known as Camp Desert Rock, Co. "A" was sent further into the desert to construct the displays of military equipment and postitioned them around the Ground Zeros for the atomic tests. '
'Thousands of troop observers from all parts of the country were brought forward from Camp Desert Rock to witness these atomic detonations. After the explosions, some were marched or bussed even closer to Ground Zero to see the effects of these explosions on military equipment. They then returned to Camp Desert Rock ... '
posted on Oct-20-03 at 8:22 AM

Gathering the Jewels. Welsh culture online. 'The goal of the project was to put the cream of Wales' cultural history, from repositories throughout Wales, on the Internet for people to learn from and enjoy. ' Politics, religion, sport, domestic life, emigration (the Welsh in Patagonia), the Welsh landscape etc. Via the 24 Hour Museum.
posted on Oct-19-03 at 3:00 AM

They Still Draw Pictures. Drawings made by children during the Spanish Civil War.
posted on Oct-17-03 at 12:51 PM

The Last Jews of Libya.
posted on Oct-16-03 at 10:31 AM

South African township art , urban art, and recycled craft, some of it inspired by the anti-apartheid struggle or day-to-day survival in the post-apartheid era (and a common 'language' in multi-lingual townships).
posted on Oct-13-03 at 2:08 PM

Forgotten Detroit ; the Book-Cadillac, an abandoned hotel in Detroit; Indiana Historic Architecture; the history of Hammond, Indiana; Marktown Historic District, East Chicago, Indiana. The American Midwest seems to be full of interesting, crumbly places.
posted on Oct-12-03 at 1:40 PM

Deserts of Our World: A Literary Adventure. Interesting stories and essays, such as birth among the Bushmen.
posted on Oct-10-03 at 4:49 AM

Weird Gardens. 'It started with the winter blues: I wanted my small rowhouse garden to be aesthetically pleasing - at least to me - all year, not just during the growing season. One Friday evening I discovered a pile of rusted and beautifully shaped boiler parts in my alley; they became the fencing for my new rust garden ... '
posted on Oct-5-03 at 11:11 AM

Belomorkanal. The history of the canal between the White Sea and Leningrad, constructed using penal labour and opened 'in Stalin's name' in 1933.
From the International Institute of Social History's collections. Of related interest :- Photo Album Van Marken ('one of the first Dutch entrepreneurs who took care of the social welfare of his employees.'); the William Morris Archive; Zo d'Axa ('Adventurer, traveller, anti-militarist, individualist, satirist, journalist, founder of two of the most legendary French magazines of the 1890s'); Auguste Fabre's 'Les Sky Scratchers', an optimistic vision from the 1890s; Sylvain Maréchal, who 'proposed a new calendar replacing the names of the Saints with those of the "benefactors of humanity" '. More inside.
posted on Oct-2-03 at 10:33 AM

"Individuals Active in Civil Disturbances". Rare Alabama publication from the Civil Rights era. Courtesy of the Memory Hole.
posted on Sep-24-03 at 11:47 PM

Glasgow University Library Exhibitions. Some nice online exhibits : nineteenth century views of Glasgow, sixteenth and seventeenth century anatomical illustration, British bookbindings, Glasgow Cathedral windows, rare Spanish books, music books, flower illustration, etc.
posted on Sep-23-03 at 6:46 AM

Stories from Seattle history to mark the Seattle Times' centennial in 1996 - altered Indian images, 'new women', the General Strike of 1919, anti-Communist hysteria, out and about at the turn of the century, etc.
posted on Sep-22-03 at 4:54 AM

Virtual tours of Salisbury Cathedral. Views and essays.
posted on Sep-21-03 at 2:46 AM

Project 312. 'We broadcast our vision of equal educational opportunity through original photography that challenges negative stereotypes while creating positive reflections for growth and self-discovery. '
(Related news story: Photos Open Doors for Inner City D.C. Kids).
posted on Sep-18-03 at 6:04 AM

Tanzanian Cartoons.
posted on Sep-15-03 at 1:54 AM

McIntyre, Pennsylvania, The Everyday Life Of A Coal Mining Company Town: 1910-1947.
posted on Sep-13-03 at 3:32 AM

First-hand accounts of the 1973 coup in Chile. Thirty years ago yesterday.
posted on Sep-12-03 at 12:14 AM

The Emma Goldman Papers. "I Want Freedom, the Right to Self-Expression, Everybody's Right to Beautiful Radiant Things"
posted on Sep-10-03 at 2:04 AM

Test your scientific literacy. 'Do you think you know what science is? You may be surprised.'
posted on Sep-4-03 at 11:03 PM

Cincinnati's Abandoned Subway.
posted on Sep-2-03 at 11:21 PM

Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus.
posted on Sep-1-03 at 10:11 AM

Austin Postcard. Photographs, postcards, history and ephemera related to Austin, Texas.
posted on Aug-29-03 at 10:01 AM

Building the Washington Metro.
posted on Aug-28-03 at 8:32 AM

Nicaraguan Murals 1930-2000.
posted on Aug-27-03 at 8:23 AM

Staffordshire Past Track. History and images of an English Midlands county : old photographs and online exhibitions on historic churches, celebrations, birth, death, serial killers and mining (and the 1984-85 strike).
Related sites :- the Museums of the Potteries, the area around Stoke-on-Trent which played a major role in the Industrial Revolution; thepotteries.org, including postcards and photographs; In Search of Agenoria, black and white photographs of the post-industrial Black Country landscape; A Miner's Son- more mining history in the Midlands (with more on the 1984-85 strike, possibly the most divisive political event in recent British history); save Bethesda Chapel, a historic Methodist chapel in Stoke; panoramic views and history of Lichfield Cathedral and other Staffordshire places.
posted on Aug-25-03 at 12:36 PM

Asian Historical Architecture. 'Here you can view over 6500 photos of 462 sites in seventeen countries, with background information and virtual tours. '
posted on Aug-24-03 at 12:20 PM

Posters American Style - patriotic posters, posters that preach, commercial posters, events posters, etc.
posted on Aug-21-03 at 11:23 PM

Britain's Small Wars since 1945. India, Palestine, Malaya, Korea, Suez Canal Zone, Kenya, Cyprus, Suez 1956, Borneo, Vietnam, Aden, Radfan, Oman, Dhofar, etc. Iraq and East Timor not featured, as yet.
posted on Aug-20-03 at 11:11 PM

Health Physics Instrumentation Collection. A shoe-fitting fluoroscope, Geiger Mueller detectors, civil defence items, atomic movie posters, radioactive quack cures, radiation warning signs, etc.
Much more in the way of historical scientific instrumentation at the University of Toronto Museum of Scientific Instuments : exhibits on psychology, acoustics, and early electron microscopy; more in the collections.
American Artifacts has some interesting articles and illustrations on antique scientific and medical instruments, such as these quack eye massagers.
posted on Aug-17-03 at 11:40 PM

The New Jersey Churchscape. Quite fascinating. Photos, too.
posted on Aug-15-03 at 8:51 AM

The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe. A photographic exhibition. More photos :- The Dream (photographs of Bulgarian gypsies); the gypsies of Romania; the gypsies of Andalusia; urban gypsies in London; gypsies of Pata-Rat, Transylvania. Katarzyna Pollok is a Roma gypsy artist (site partly in German).
posted on Aug-14-03 at 8:13 AM

The Khoo Kongsi. Images and history of a Chinese clanhouse in Penang, Malaysia.
The 'kongsi' or clanhouses provided a support network for members of the southern Chinese families who migrated to southeast Asia during the 18th century. The Khoo Kongsi is one of the most impressive. Here's an article on the history of the Cheah Kongsi.
More on the heritage of Penang at the Penang Heritage Trust, the Penang Story, and the Penang File.
The history of the Chinese community in Penang; the history of the Indian community in Penang; and Penang's Victorian architecture.
For more news on Malaysia: Malaysiakini, an independent online news service which has been in trouble with the government, is excellent.
posted on Aug-13-03 at 7:02 AM

The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Posters, pamphlets, social protest material. 'In the morning hours of August 21, 1968, the Soviet army invaded Czechoslovakia along with troops from four other Warsaw Pact countries. The occupation was the beginning of the end for the Czechoslovak reform movement known as the Prague Spring. This web site contains material from the days immediately following the invasion, and they reflect the atmosphere in Czechoslovakia at the time: tense, chaotic, uncertain, full of pathos, fear, and expectation... '
Related :- the Berlin Wall and East Side Gallery; A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall; Szoborpark in Budapest, with its gigantic Cold War-era statues.
posted on Aug-12-03 at 5:59 AM

The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Online exhibit.
Related :- Buddhist art and ritual from Nepal and Tibet; photos of Tibet in the 1940s; dissecting the mandala; mandala and temple sacred architecture in Tibet; mandala sand painting; early Tibetan mandalas; Buddhist sculpture and paintings; the Norbulingka Institute.
posted on Aug-11-03 at 2:51 AM

Interesting Ideas. Roadside and outsider art: prison art, Chicago's lakefront, anonymous portraits, ruins, motels, etc.
Related Outsiderart.info.
posted on Aug-10-03 at 2:21 AM

Chinese Heritage of Australian Federation. A page full of stories of the Chinese community in Australia around 1900. 'At this time there were almost 35,000 Chinese in the Australian colonies. Each of these individuals to varying degrees has played a role in the development of Australia. This page explores the lives of some of these people - both ordinary and famous. '
Related :- the Ng Shing Gung in San Jose; the Mai Wah Society and the Asian heritage of Butte, Montana (old building and the Tong Wars); the Wing Luke Asian Museum, Seattle; a Chinese joss house in Darwin; Chinatown Melbourne (history, today, virtual tour); Chinatown Sydney (community and culture); Yema-po, once a Chinese labourers' work camp in California.
posted on Aug-7-03 at 10:01 AM

Exhibition of Deportation 14 June 1941. Some history, moments and life stories. Via the Estonian National Museum.
posted on Aug-5-03 at 11:26 PM

Robert Hooke. ''Robert Hooke is one of the most neglected natural philosophers of all time. The inventor of, amongst other things, the iris diaphragm in cameras, the universal joint used in motor vehicles, the balance wheel in a watch, the originator of the word 'cell' in biology, he was Surveyor of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666, architect, experimenter, worked in astronomy - yet is known mostly for Hooke's Law ... '
More at Robert Hooke's Micrographia: a digital facsimile. 'In it we are introduced to the living cell; to microscopic fungi and the life story of the mosquito; we find the two contrasting theories about the origin of the lunar craters posed for the very first time ... '
posted on Aug-4-03 at 9:36 AM

Phil Borges: Photographs of People of Indigenous Cultures. A set of online exhibits. Take a look at Enduring Spirit: photography of tribal peoples, from North America, Peru, Kenya, Tibet, Ethiopia and other places. More photographs online : Tibetan Portrait, the Living Link.
posted on Aug-2-03 at 2:31 AM

Australian Stories from Australian museums about unusual aspects of Australian history : rabbits in Western Australia (where they came from, attempts - mostly failed - to control them); the National Quilt Register and quilt stories; fish; Chinese-Australians in rural Australia; indigenous stories from Napranum and Thursday Island; the trams of Ballarat; William Buckley, an escaped convict who lived in the bush for 33 years; Annie Russell of Brewarrina in northern NSW; the Benedictine Community of New Norcia in WA; an ambush at Broken Hill; Australian fashion; conserving a 17th century musical instrument.
Related :- Koori hidden histories and children's art in Victoria (as well as some oral histories from around the world); 100 years of Queensland Aboriginal life; Antarctica and pictorial collections from the State Library of NSW.
posted on Jul-31-03 at 9:26 AM

Diego Garcia islanders await call to go home. 'Cherry and thousands of other islanders were the victims of a brutal depopulation strategy by Britain in the 1960s and 1970s which sought to hand over an empty island to the United States for use as a key military base. The depopulation campaign ended in 1973 with the removal of the last islanders, who were dumped on the quays of the Mauritian capital, Port Louis ... '
The Chagos Islands: A sordid tale. 'The story involves "bribes" from the United States, racism among senior civil servants, and the UK Government deceiving parliament and the United Nations.'
The Chagos archipelago: Decolonisation and human rights., by the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network, includes a brief history of the islands from original settlement by French settlers and African slaves. 'For a people as a whole to be actually victimised by the act of forced eviction from their homeland must be the most humiliating, supreme injustice and degrading treatment any people can be made to undergo. '
posted on Jul-29-03 at 10:12 AM

100 Years of New York City. A New York Times special, originally published in 1998. 'The following articles offer a glimpse into the past 100 years of New York City -- a decade at a time. Each decade includes a full time line prepared by the staff at The New York Times, photos from The Times archives, headline clippings from archive copies of The Times, and essays by noted authors and Times staff writers. '
The new born city, seen from above - a panorama from 1902.
posted on Jul-28-03 at 9:44 AM

The Swann Foundation (Library of Congress). Many links to online exhibitions of American caricature and cartoon: Al Hirschfeld, Arthur Szyk, Blondie gets married, Herblock, Elizabeth Shippen Green, performing arts caricatures, the Water Babies.
posted on Jul-27-03 at 3:54 AM

The Icelanding Phallological Museum. A museum dedicated to the male sexual organ, with an online gallery of phalluses of many species.
Lingam Gnosis is the 'ancient art of penis reading' - like palmistry, only with penises, which can be classified into alchemical earth, fire, water and air types.
Foreskin.org is an educational site about the male foreskin (with photographs and articles).
(Needless to say, probably not suitable for work).
posted on Jul-25-03 at 11:46 PM

Kolyma: The Land of Gold and Death. 'Stalin's prisoners, or "lagerniks" as they were commonly called, referred to the frozen land of Kolyma as a planet, although it physically remained part of Mother Earth. This vast piece of Arctic and sub-Arctic territory, with its undefined political and geographical borders, was located in the furthest North-East corner of Siberia ... ' An online book by a survivor of the gulag.
posted on Jul-24-03 at 11:32 PM