Three new library books take a critical look at the 60-year history of the CIA: Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (c2007) by New York Times reporter Tim Wiener. Listen to the author discuss his book (Real Player required). In Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (c2006), Chalmers Johnson argues for the disbandment of the CIA: “I believe we will never again know peace, nor in all probability survive very long as a nation, unless we abolish the CIA, restore intelligence collecting to the State Department, and remove all but purely military functions from the Pentagon” (21). Can the American Republic survive “clandestine operations” abroad; the creation of a “private army” answerable only to the president; or the secrecy engendered by “a government within a government”? Nemesis is the third book in a trilogy that also includes Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (c2000) and The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (c2004). David Barrett, a political scientist at Villanova University, is the author of The CIA & Congress: The Untold Story From Truman To Kennedy (c2005). Barrett examined recently declassified CIA documents, the so-called 700-page “family jewels,” linking the agency to the attempted assassination of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and others. Listen to Barrett discuss his findings (Real Player required). The Federation of American Scientists has made available online the CIA’s own Factbook on Intelligence. Two Temple databases offer declassified CIA documents: Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) and Digital National Security Archive. More CIA history? Click United States. Central Intelligence Agency — History, or explore the Force & Diplomacy subject guide. —David C. Murray

We’ve set up a trial to a rather unusual history database called Footnote.com. Originally marketed to genealogists, Footnote.com has only recently come to the attention of research libraries. Institutions supporting serious history research and scholarship are taking an interest in Footnote.com because of a unique partnership with NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration. According to a NARA promotional document created in early February, “The National Archives and Footnote.com are working as partners to bring unprecedented access to selections of the vast holdings of the National Archives.” Highlights include Papers of the Continental Congress (1774-89), the Matthew B. Brady Collection of Civil War Photographs, and the Investigative Case Files of the Bureau of Investigation, 1908-1922. More recently added according to the Footnote.com website are records of the Constitutional Convention. The technology for displaying images is really slick: zoom way in on a document, rotate it, even add your own comments and annotations. The last “feature” is perhaps not ideal for serious scholars as it tends to clutter the screen. At least the annotations can be turned off. One caveat with this database is that the NARA material is interspersed with documents uploaded by genealogists, amateur researchers, and individual subscribers. Granted, individuals often have nice things to share. However, it’s incongruous to give local and family history documents the same weight as primary-source NARA material. Clearly the developers of this database are striving, in a Web 2.0 sort of way, to be as inclusive and interactive as possible. Please have a look at this database and let me know what you think in the comments or via email. —David C. Murray

I’m a night owl. OK, insomniac actually. For the sleep-challenged among us there’s little to watch on the tube after midnight. Yes, TiVos and DVRs have helped, and IPTV is just around the corner. But back in the early 90s, when I was a grad student at the University of New Mexico, those technologies were still a long way off. One show that took my mind off the fact that I couldn’t sleep was The Western Tradition, a 52-part lecture series covering the entire sweep of Western history from 3000 BCE to the current age and beyond. The series was produced by WGBH in Boston (c1989), and is now available for free on the Annenberg Media web site. The appeal here lies primarily in the person of recently deceased UCLA history professor Eugen Weber. The British-educated Weber delivers up engaging lectures in an over-the-top, highly mesmerizing, English accent. My local Albququerque public TV station would insidiously run these lectures back-to-back, thus contributing to my insomnia. After listening to lecture 9 on The Rise of Rome who could possibly resist lecture 10, The Roman Empire? —David C. Murray

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

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

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