Digital Research Library - News
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Nov 16, 2009
More Hopkins Maps Added to Historic Pittsburgh
As part of an ongoing effort to identify and digitize all the Hopkins maps produced for Pittsburgh between 1872 and 1940, the DRL added eight more real estate plat maps of Pittsburgh created by the G.M. Hopkins Company to the Historic Pittsburgh Maps Collection. They include an 1882 atlas; Volume 3, Volume 4 and Volume 5 [1890]; Volume 1 [1898]; Volume 2 [1899]; a 1910 atlas; and Volume 2 [1914]. Twelve more volumes will be coming soon in the following months.
Oct 29, 2009
Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection Updated
The Digital Research Library is pleased to announce the largest update to the Archives Service Center's online Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection with the addition of nearly 2,000 digitized images. The new images are part of an initiative to reformat all the glass plate negatives in the Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection (AIS.1971.05) to facilitate preservation and access. The images found in the newest addition, which represent the earliest ones in the collection (1901-1908), document improvements to city infrastructure, such as the construction of the Aspinwall and Ross Pumping Stations, the development and condition of roads in many neighborhoods (e.g., Shadyside, Point Breeze, and Morningside, among others), and residents and construction workers in these neighborhoods. This collection is part of the Historic Pittsburgh website.
Aug 14, 2009
Improvements Using the Hopkins Maps
To improve your experience navigating the G.M. Hopkins Company Maps in the Historic Pittsburgh website, we now offer viewing of the maps through the Zoomify interface. This enables a big improvement when zooming and moving around in a map. We also now offer two methods for browsing the Hopkins maps. In addition to browsing the maps using the Index page, we offer thumbnail browsing of entire volumes. Also note that you can now freely download map plate images as 200 dpi JPEG files for noncommercial and educational purposes.
Aug 03, 2009
Separate Search for Historic City Directories
To improve the usefulness of our full-text search, we have separated the full-text City Directories into a new collection that may be searched alone, or in combination with the Historic Pittsburgh General Text Collection. The Historic Pittsburgh City Directories collection contains 125 directories published between 1815 and 1945. The majority of the directories were published by J.F. Diffenbacher and R.L. Polk & Company. While most of the directories cover Pittsburgh and Allegheny City, a portion includes Homestead and nearby boroughs.
To search the directories alone, simply visit the collection's home page; to search directories in combination with all Historic Pittsburgh full-text content, visit the Historic Pittsburgh Full-Text page.
Jul 29, 2009
New Image Collection Added to Historic Pittsburgh
Today the Digital Research Library added a new image collection to Historic Pittsburgh. The Ken Kobus Photograph Collection, held by the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh, features 246 images documenting the railroad and steel industries in Pennsylvania taken primarily during the 1980s and early 1990s. CONRAIL and the LTV Steel Company are the main focus of the collection while secondary points of interest include the Pennsylvania Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Amtrak, and Union Switch and Signal.
Jun 01, 2009
DRL Digitizes Fred Wright Cartoons
The Digital Research Library has digitized and mounted online work by former United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) staff cartoonist Fred Wright. The web site, Drawing on the American Labor Movement, features the entirety of Wright's "Labor History" series in addition to a sampling of his other works. This series of 177 cartoons from the Archives Service Center describes some of the conflicts and hardships faced by workers during the American labor movement, from the colonial period to the Vietnam War.
Mar 24, 2009
DRL Welcomes Point Park University Archives as a New Historic Pittsburgh Partner
The Digital Research Library welcomes Point Park University Archives as our sixth local institution to contribute images to Historic Pittsburgh. They contributed an initial 98 images to the Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections site. The online collection represents the dynamic life of Point Park University and the surrounding area.
Feb 26, 2009
University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions Website Updated
The Digital Research Library updated the University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions Website today. The site now contains 522 titles published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. By digitizing these volumes and distributing them freely on the Internet, the ULS and Pitt Press are enabling greater access to the material previously available only as print editions.
Jan 21, 2009
DRL Adds Honors Convocation Programs to Documenting Pitt
The DRL updated its Documenting Pitt website by digitizing a group of material known as the Honors Convocation Programs. The new additions comprise the Book of the Scholars from the Scholars’ Day Assembly for 1932, 1934-1957, the Honors Convocation Programs for 1963, 1966, 1977-2008 and the Tap Day Program for 1976.
Jan 07, 2009
Latest Additions Push Historic Pittsburgh Full-Text Collection Over 1,000 Items
In 2008, we nearly doubled the number of books in our Historic Pittsburgh Full-Text Collection. There are currently 1,039 volumes available online, totalling 272,996 pages, all of them full-text searchable. Use this link to see only items added in 2008.
Dec 12, 2008
ULS Partners with PALINET and the Internet Archive
As a member of the Open Content Alliance, the University Library System (ULS) is partnering with PALINET's Digital Services to digitize the Darlington books by the Internet Archive. To search and view the books contributed to date, please visit Internet Archive: University of Pittsburgh Library System.
Nov 05, 2008
Two New Image Collections Released
Today two new image collections from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh were added to Historic Pittsburgh:
- Bruce Drisbach-American Steel & Wire Company Photograph Collection
- Progress Photographs: William Penn Hotel, 1914-1916
The Bruce Drisbach images depict the construction of the American Steel & Wire Company building, equipment, and worker housing construction in Donora.
The Progress Photographs show the construction of the William Penn Hotel in chronological order, including the groundbreaking ceremony held on July 7, 1914. The photographs in this album were taken every two weeks to show construction progress.
Mar 03, 2008
DRL Releases Audubon's Birds of America website
The Digital Research Library (DRL) has digitized and mounted online the University of Pittsburgh's rare and complete set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Each of the 435 plates link to their respective narrative within Audubon’s companion publication, his Ornithological Biography, also digitized as part of this project. No other complete set of the double elephant folio edition of the Birds of America is publicly available online in such high detail. Both of these sets were scanned as part of our larger efforts to digitize and make accessible contents from the Darlington Memorial Library. Read the press release.
Feb 29, 2008
DRL Adds More Books to the Darlington Digital Library
We added 78 more books to the Darlington Digital Library for a total of 1,497.
Feb 01, 2008
DRL Adds More Content to the Darlington Digital Library
We added 173 books, 225 maps and 704 images to the Darlington Digital Library. The site now contains 1,419 books, 276 maps, 1,825 illustrations, etchings, and lithographs, 41 broadsides, and 5 atlases.
Dec 03, 2007
DRL Adds New Image Collections to Historic Pittsburgh
We added three new image collections to the Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections website. From Pitt's Archives Service Center, we added images from the Pittsburgh Print Collection and the Rust Engineering Company Records. The Pittsburgh Print Collection contains forty-three prints, including lithographs, etchings, watercolors, engravings, and periodical illustrations, that primarily date between 1843 and 1898. The prints depict a variety of Pittsburgh landmarks, including bridges, downtown buildings, commercial and industrial establishments, and civic institutions that show the city before and during the period of industrial development in the nineteenth century. The Rust Engineering Company Collection consists of seventy images dating from 1905 to 1968 that include views of construction projects, completed facilities, and office personnel.
From the Heinz History Center, we added the Charles M. Stotz Collection. This collection contains 116 images that document the buildings featured in Stotz’s 1936 book, The Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania.
Nov 15, 2007
Books Added to the Darlington Digital Library
We added 56 books to the Darlington Digital Library, bringing the total number of books online to 1,246.
DRL Releases University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions Website
Today the University of Pittsburgh Press and the University Library System released a new website that makes past editions of monographs published by the Press available online: University of Pittsburgh Press Digital Editions. By digitizing these monographs and distributing them freely on the Internet, the Digital Research Library is facilitating greater access to the material the University of Pittsburgh Press has only previously published as hardcopies.
Read the accompanying press release. Also see related Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from January 22, 2008.
Nov 01, 2007
Images Added to the Darlington Digital Library
We added 737 prints, etchings, engavings and illustrations to the Images component of the Darlington Digital Library, bringing the total number of Images online to 1,121.
Oct 01, 2007
Books Added to The Darlington Digital Library
62 books have been added to The Darlington Digital Library, bringing the total number of books online to 1,190. You can view recent additions for July, August, and September.
Sep 27, 2007
Two of our map collections now use the "Zoomify" tool for map viewing. Zoomify allows for dynamic zooming and panning within a high-resoultion map image, without the need to reload the entire page each time. A navaigation thumbnail shows which section of the map is currently on display. Give it a try, and let us know what you think.
The two map collections using Zoomify are the City of Pittsburgh Geodetic and Topographic Survey and Maps from the Report of the Flood Commission of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, 1912.
Sep 13, 2007
New Factbooks and Athletic Media Guides added to Documenting Pitt
The University of Pittsburgh Fact Book began in 1970/71 as a report to give University administrators basic and accurate facts and statistics about the University. Documenting Pitt contains the Fact Book from 1970 to 1995.
The Athletic Media Guides were developed to provide the print and broadcast media basic information about the team for the current year. Documenting Pitt contains selected Media Guides for Basketball and Football from 1950 to 2005.
Aug 02, 2007
New Partner and Image Collection Added
We welcome Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation as a new institutional partner contributing images to our Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections site. Today we released a collection of images from The Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive. This online collection contains slides taken by Mr. Fairbanks between 1948 to 1987 that document train engines and stations in the western Pennsylvania area. He spent his entire adult life riding, documenting, and collecting material from rail lines all over the world.
Jun 01, 2007
DRL releases beta version of The Darlington Digital Library
After nearing completion of our first year of scanning, the DRL released a beta version of The Darlington Digital Library website. This ongoing, multi- departmental effort to digitize the library will result in new material becoming available every month. The site will be officially released in the fall.
May 01, 2007
ULS featured as PALINET member spotlight
This month's PALINET member spotlight featured digital collections at the University of Pittsburgh and an interview with ULS director Dr. Rush G. Miller.
Feb 01, 2007
DRL projects featured in Pitt Magazine
Pitt Magazine contained a feature article on the "Library of the Future." ULS director Dr. Rush G. Miller describes his ongoing effort to embrace the digital future by embarking on several major digital library initiatives.
Jan 08, 2007
DRL digitizing Pitt's Darlington library
The Pitt Chronicle (pdf) announced today that Pitt's Darlington Memorial Library -- a treasure trove of historically important books, photos, maps, letters, pamphlets, and other materials -- soon will be accessible online. Article on page 3.
Jan 05, 2007
DRL mounts two new Historic Pittsburgh map collections
The DRL released the City of Pittsburgh Geodetic and Topographic Survey Maps (1923-1961) which contain 171 plates that depict contours and spot heights of much of Allegheny County. The DRL also released the Flood Commission of Pittsburgh maps (1912) which contain 14 plates produced as part of the Report of the Flood Commission.
Dec 20, 2006
DRL provides retrospective access to The Cleft Palate Journal
As a service to the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA), the Digital Research Library now provides retrospective access to issues of The Cleft Palate Journal published between 1964 and 1989. Issues from 1990 to the present, published as The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, are available from Allen Press. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal is an international, interdisciplinary journal reporting on clinical and research activities in cleft lip/palate and other craniofacial anomalies, together with research in related laboratory sciences.
Dec 01, 2006
DRL collections available via Bungee View
In conjunction with CMU research scientist Mark Derthick, the DRL now offers an experimental visualization prototype for viewing selected Historic Pittsburgh image collections. Bungee View is a visualization prototype developed at Carnegie Mellon University to support casual users gaining an understanding of an image collection as a whole, and in finding patterns in such collections.
Nov 01, 2006
DRL releases new image collections
The Digital Research Library released two new Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh:
Oct 09, 2006
DRL releases Documenting Pitt website
The Digital Research Library released a new website devoted to University of Pittsburgh history: Documenting Pitt. The site contains material from the University Archives, including yearbooks, commencement programs, course catalogs, athletic media guides, chancellor's reports, and assorted publications and photographic images. With this material online, ULS librarians and archivists can better respond to requests from University personnel and alumni for information about aspects of the history of the University and its students and faculty.
- Read the press release.
Related news articles:
- New online archive documents Pitt history (University Times, 10/12/06).
- Pitt publishing its historical archives online (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/12/06).
- New Web site taps Pitt's archives (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/18/06).
- Plugged In: Search Pitt's Digital Archive (WTAE-TV, 10/18/06).
- Pitt posts its past on Web archive (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 10/26/06).
Sep 01, 2006
DRL adds new Historic Pittsburgh partner
The Digital Research Library welcomed Chatham College Archives as a new institutional partner contributing images to our Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections site. Today we released a small collection of images that begins to chronicle the students, faculty, and college community as academic pursuits, college events, student life and social activities have grown and changed throughout the college's history. More images will be added to the site in the coming months.
Aug 01, 2006
DRL releases new image collection
The Digital Research Library released a new Historic Pittsburgh Image Collection from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh documenting the city of Pittsburgh in the s and s before and after smoke control ordinances were passed regulating the burning of coal: Smoke Control Lantern Slides.
Jul 20, 2006
DRL to scan Darlington Memorial Library
The Digital Research Library embarked on a new project to scan material housed in the University of Pittsburgh's Darlington Library with its new DigiBook A1 scanner.
May 01, 2006
DRL releases new image collection
The Digital Research Library released a new Historic Pittsburgh Image Collection from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh documenting the Union Switch & Signal strike in June 1914.
Feb 06, 2006
DRL to scan material from the University Archives
The Digital Research Library received special funding from the University Provost to digitize historic publications from the University Archives, including yearbooks. This new website should be released later in the year.
Dec 20, 2005
DRL releases American Left Ephemera Collection
The Digital Research Library released the American Left Ephemera Collection, which contains 125 items that reflect the personal collection of Richard J. Oestreicher, Associate Professor (History) at the University of Pittsburgh. Students enrolled in his fall 2005 senior honors research seminar used the primary source material in their study of left-wing organizations in the twentieth century in the U.S. Digitized items include flyers, leaflets, pamphlets, posters, postcards, illustrations, photographs, pins, ribbons, and miscellaneous objects.
Nov 21, 2005
DRL mentioned by Internet Scout Report
The Internet Scout Report's November 18th issue included reviews of our Chartres Cathedral website and Historic Pittsburgh website.
Nov 01, 2005
DRL releases new image collections
The Digital Research Library released two new Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections from the Archives Service Center at the University of Pittsburgh: Photographs of the Darlington Family and the Union Arcade Building.