The Libraries are currently running additional history-related database trials. From Gale we have temporary access to: –19th Century U.S. Newspapers –Conditions and Politics in Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1945 –Making of the Modern World –Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 –Testaments to the Holocaust –U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978 –Women, War & Society, 1914-1918 Also of interest are Blackwell’s Compass journals, specifically History Compass. Please provide feedback directly to me on the upsides (and downsides, if any) of these resources. –David C. Murray
Category Archives: History News
Help With Newspaper Research
Newspaper research can be difficult. The goal of our new Newspapers subject guide is to make the process a little easier by answering such questions as: Why can’t I get newspaper articles from last month on Google News? Why can’t I access _____ [insert newspaper title] online for 1950? How do I access a list of Pennsylvania newspapers? Where can I find historical newspapers? How do I get access to newspapers Temple does not own? Temple researchers can of course also use the guide to easily and quickly read thousands of online newspaper articles. Never pay for a New York Times or Wall Street Journal article again! A librarian is always available for research help and follow-up. –David C. Murray
Faculty: Easily Address Information Literacy
In an earlier post I discussed the importance of integrating information literacy into the curriculum. Such integration is already occurring at Temple, not only in the new General Education curriculum but also in the overlap with competencies mandated by various academic departments. Below are listed several competencies developed by the History Department, after which can be found the analogous information literacy outcome(s). History Competency: Critically examines written materials and historical sources Information Literacy Analog (outcome 13): Recognizes social and cultural context in which information was created History Competency: Understands primary sources in their historical context Information Literacy Analog (outcome 6): Differentiates between primary and secondary sources History Competency: Formulates analytical questions about historical events Information Literacy Analogs (outcomes 1, 8, and 14): Identifies key concepts and terms; Identifies keywords, synonyms, and related terms; and particularly Incorporates information into knowledge base / Synthesizes main ideas to form new concepts and questions History Competency: Develops speaking and presentation skills Information Literacy Analog (outcome 19): Communicates product effectively (best medium and format for purpose, range of technology, communicates clearly in appropriate style) History Competency: Gains ability to use library and other technologically appropriate sources for research Information Literacy Analog (outcomes 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11): All five outcomes under Effective Information Access If you are a Temple faculty member, please consider formally addressing one or two information literacy outcomes in at least one course this year. It’s quite simple really; chances are you are addressing several outcomes already! The reference librarians are available to assist and support as desired. –David C. Murray
No Maya Libraries in Apocalypto
Among their many achievements, the ancient Maya of Central America invented, by 250 A.D. at the latest, a fully functional, phonetic writing system. Scribes recorded sophisticated texts containing religious, astronomical, and very likely historical, literary, and even medical content – in other words, an entire system of human thought – in bark-paper books, called codices. Of the many thousands of Maya codices that must once have existed, only four remain. Time, a humid climate, and the zealous, destructive tendencies of one 16th century Spanish friar named Diego de Landa combined to ensure the destruction of the rest. As a librarian and longtime student of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, I’ve often wondered about the nature of ancient Maya libraries. Were scribes, many of whom now appear to have been blood relatives of Maya kings and queens, responsible for safeguarding the codices, as seems likely? Or were a separate group of specialists the librarians? Maya codices were not particularly fragile. If properly cared for they could have lasted for many decades or more. It’s intriguing, then, to think about where codices might have been housed and by what system cataloged and shelved. Of course it would be naive to expect these and other “burning” questions to be addressed in Mel Gibson’s new film Apocalypto. After all, this is Hollywood not PBS. On one level, most Maya archaeologists and art historians will probably be happy the film got made at all. Discounting J. Lee Thompson’s 1963 Kings of the Sun, Apocalypto is the first Hollywood epic to treat any ancient New World civilization. (One wonders why this is so, since the clash of Worlds we call the Conquest makes Russell Crowe’s Colosseum tour look like a walk in the park.) Certainly Apocalypto’s high production values, including especially its exquisite costuming in conjunction with the sheer joy (see Ardren, below) of hearing the very much alive-and-well Yucatec Maya language spoken on the big screen, are a great enticement. But unfortunately, in the end, Apocalypto is an enticement with very little substance. The fundamental disappointment among academics will likely not involve per se the film’s numerous and rather egregious historical inaccuracies, e.g. the conflation of pre-Classic, Classic, and post-Classic imagery; the absurd Yanomamo-like portrayal of the village Maya as hunter gatherers, unaware of the presence of a grand city less than a day’s march away; or even the anachronistic appearance of outsiders at the end of the film (the events depicted clearly reference the Classic, not the post-Classic). Nor will many scholars truly object to the elites’ propensity for extreme violence, although in reality the heart extraction technique used so salaciously by Gibson belongs to a cultural complex that likely originated in the post-Classic Highlands – that is to say, with the progenitors of the Aztec Empire – not with the Lowland Maya. Be that as it may, the Maya were certainly as violent as the next civilization and historical inaccuracies can be written off as artistic license, so neither of these is where the true beef lies. University of Miami anthropologist Traci Ardren, in a review for Archaeology Online, has articulated the real problem with Apocalypto: “Gibson’s efforts at authenticity of location and language might, for some viewers, mask his blatantly colonial message that the Maya needed saving because they were rotten at the core. Using the decline of Classic urbanism as his backdrop, Gibson communicates that there was absolutely nothing redeemable about Maya culture, especially elite culture which is depicted as a disgusting feast of blood and excess.” This is indeed the most disturbing message of the film. As Ardren points out, it is a message that plays directly into a longstanding trope that has been used to subjugate the Maya for centuries. It has also been used to explain away the inestimable loss that resulted from the destruction of New World cultures. One need not fret too much about the passing of a people already decadent and, as depicted in the film, quite literally dying. The historical truth, of course, is much less comforting. For me, the experience of viewing Apocalpyto was like flipping through an art catalog without bothering to read any of the accompanying text. For while images hold inherent meaning and value, it is upon the text that most observers will rely to provide some explanation for the images shown. Apocalypto has no “text” in this sense, no narrative or story that could help viewers accurately contextualize what they’re seeing on the screen. I hope that those who see this film will keep in mind that the Maya did and do have much to offer the world. The ancient Maya civilization was one of the greatest and most accomplished in all human history. The Maya had books and libraries, and so much more. —David C. Murray
New History Database Trials
The Libraries are currently running trials to four history-related databases: British Periodicals; C19: The Nineteenth Century Index; House of Commons Parliamentary Papers; and Periodical Archives Online. I have received lots of positive feedback from faculty on the latter two databases, both of which appear prominently on the history resources “wish list” for 2006-2007. Periodical Archives Online is the full-text, online version of the old Periodicals Contents Index. It would be very helpful to receive feedback on C19: The Nineteenth Century. Can this database take the place of the currently-subscribed-to 19th Century Masterfile? For good or ill, The Masterfile has a relatively simple search interface. Please send your feedback on the usefulness of any of these resources to me at dcm@temple.edu. —David C. Murray
Learn About the Center for Research Libraries
Temple Libraries recently joined the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), an important consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research institutions based in Chicago. Affiliates of CRL member institutions can borrow expensive, rare, and/or otherwise hard-to-find research material, in some cases for up to two calendar years. Imagine access to that formerly unobtainable resource without having to travel halfway across the country! Please join me in the History Department’s “fish bowl” — Gladfelter 913 — for one of two informal sessions designed to introduce faculty and graduate students to CRL. We will discuss the benefits of CRL membership, and will proceed through a search / request from start to finish. The sessions will be held from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. on November 9 and 10. If you cannot attend either session but would like an introduction to CRL, please contact me. —David C. Murray
New Civil War Index – Temple Exclusive!
Background William Still’s Underground Railroad was first published in Philadelphia in 1872, and is considered by many historians to be the most important primary-source document available on the subject. As a consequence of its historical significance, Still’s book today is widely available in print, microfiche, and online (see, for example, the original 1872 illustrated edition from Quinnipiac University Library; or the 1878 revised edition at Project Gutenberg). Portions of the Underground Railroad are also available in two Temple-only Alexander Street Press databases: The American Civil War: Letters & Diaries and North American Women’s Letters & Diaries. For each letter writer in Still’s book, Alexander Street Press indexes the following: name; places of birth and death, if known; gender; nationality; race; ethnicity; religion; occupation; education level; school attended; political allegiance (Union or confederate); state of residence; military status and rank, if applicable; marital and parental status; and cause of death. It is easy to restrict a search to any combination of these fields (e.g. male letter writers from Pennsylvania who were Quakers). Temple Exclusive Temple University Libraries is pleased to make available the McGowan Index – Copyright 2003 by Temple alumnus, James A. McGowan — a new and wholly unique index to William Still’s important work. The focus here is on the runaways. McGowan’s database indexes name and alias (of runaway); day, month, and year of escape; city, county, and state of origin; gender; age; color; number of escapees in the party, including number captured if applicable; children in the party; ability of runaway to read/write; conductor name; party armed or unarmed; violence or no violence involved in escape; mode of escape; owner name; and estimated monetary value of runaway in and out of home state. The McGowan Index opens up new opportunities for research, and it beautifully complements the indexing done by Alexander Street Press. Note that page numbers refer to the 1970 Johnson Publications reprint of the Underground Railroad, not the original 1872 edition. All researchers, Temple and non-Temple alike, are encouraged to download the Index (350 K), which is in Excel spreadsheet format, from the U.S. Civil War Subject Guide. Using Excel filters, users can limit searches to a particular field or combination of fields. The McGowan Index may be used for educational purposes only. —David C. Murray
Civil War Documents Go Missing
It’s been more than 140 years since the guns fell silent, but the U.S. Civil War apparently still has the power to provoke. According to this story in American Libraries Online, a thief recently stole two Civil War Era documents from an exhibition at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The article states that the library estimated the combined value of the two documents at only $400; other, more valuable items were passed over by the thief. Removed from the exhibition case were a confederate soldier’s furlough and the medical examination certificate of a slave. “Retired police captain Walt Hilderman, who loaned the documents to the library, said that the thief could have been motivated by controversy stemming from his split with the group Sons of Confederate Veterans…” “The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” –Henry Miller —David C. Murray
Digital National Security Archive Improved
ProQuest recently announced improvements to the Digital National Security Archive (DNSA). Significant enhancements include: — Faster, simpler searching via a Quick Search box — Easy bookmarking of content via durable URLs for reading lists and course web pages — Quick results review supported by hit-term highlighting in the full record display — Seamless emailing and printing records through a marked list — Easy saving of content and bibliographic records between work sessions through an individual MyArchive feature and citation software support —David C. Murray
Historic Philadelphia Photographs
A partnership between the Philadelphia City Archives and the for-profit Avencia, Inc. has resulted in the creation of Phillyhistory.org, a website that provides users with an extensive online photo archive, historic streets index, and index to print photographs held in the Archives. According to Avencia, the site now provides access to “more than 20,000 scanned historic images” of Philadelphia (Avencia.com). —David C. Murray