Description
The Digital Scriptorium, a project that began
at Duke University in 1995, is the culmination of one of the pioneering
efforts in digitizing primary source materials. The materials are from
Duke's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library and represent
frequently used items from the collection as well as archived exhibitis.
The holdings of the Special Collections Library range from ancient papyri
to records of modern advertising. These materials support research in
a wide variety of disciplines including African-American studies, anthropology,
classics, economics, history, literature, political science, religion,
sociology, and women's studies. The Digital Scriptorium is organized
into sixteen projects.
Women's Studies Content
The site is rich in materials for women's studies. Some
projects of particular interest are:
- Emma
Spaulding Bryant Letters
- Ten letters from Emma Spaulding Bryant to her husband,
John Emory Bryant during the summer of 1878. Because these letters
are unusually frank for this time period, they reveal much about
the
relationships between husbands and wives in this era. Not searchable.
- Documents
from the Women’s Liberation Movement
- Transcribed texts and scanned images of over 40 articles,
pamphlets, flyers, and booklets published from 1969 to 1974 which
reflect the diversity of theory and activities characterizing the
early years of the U.S. Women’s Liberation Movement. Items range
from radical theoretical writings to humorous plays to the original
manuscript
minute books of DAR II (Dykes for the Second American Revolution),
a local activist group in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Civil
War Women
- Scanned pages and texts of the writings of three women
during the American Civil War: the 1864 diary of a 16-year old girl,
the papers of a renowned Confederate spy, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, and
the papers of a spy for the Union, Sarah E. Thompson. Not searchable.
- African
American Women
- Scanned pages and texts of the writings of African
American women. Currently includes memoirs of Elizabeth Johnson Harris
(1876-1942), an 1857 letter from Vilet Lester, a slave on a North
Carolina plantation, and several letters from Hannah Valentine and
Lethe Jackson, slaves on the estate of the Virginia governor.
Not searchable.
- Historic
American Sheet Music
- A representative and comprehensive collection of
19th and early 20th century American sheet music. This project provides
access to digital images of 3,042 pieces from the collection published
in America between 1850 and 1920 and presents a significant perspective
on American history and culture. See
Browse Sheet Music by Illustration Type for images of female performers, women in a societal and cultural context,
as well as stereotypical images of women.
- Duke
Papyrus Archive
- Texts about and images of nearly 1400 papyri from
ancient Egypt. There is a "Women and Children" category
which includes texts written by or addressed to women as well as
texts
otherwise relating to women.
- William
Gale Gedney Photographs and Writings
- Photographs of women from the mid-1950s through the
early 1980s covering Gedney's travels throughout the United States,
Europe, and India.
- Ad
Access
- Images from advertisements printed in U.S.
and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955 are organized
into five subject areas -- Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty
and Hygiene, and World War II. Predictably, the category containing
the bulk of images relating to women is "Beauty and Hygiene."
Searching
Searching is not available in all collections and varies
across those collections that do allow searching. Controlled vocabulary
is helpful in:
- Historic American Sheet Music
- HASM -- Historic American Sheet Music local catalog
- HASM Subject Content -- refers to the music itself
- HASM Illustration Type -- refers to illustrations in the music
- HASM Advertising -- refers to advertisements in the music
- LCTGM -- Library of Congress Thesaurus of Graphic Materials
- AAT – Art and Architecture Thesaurus
- LCSH – Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Duke Papyrus Archive
- Library of Congress Subject Headings and genre headings from the Art and Architecture Thesaurus.
Archive Review:
Marcia Barrett
The University of Alabama
| Last updated:
January 15, 2007
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