World Digital Library

"The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world."

"The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.

Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information.

Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.

The WDL was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations."

Principal Objectives:

• Promote international and intercultural understanding;
• Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
• Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
• Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.

Place

North America

• Osceola of Florida, "a Seminole war chief who led the resistance to the camgaign by U.S. federal troops to forcibly resettle his tribe"
• The Western Part of New France, or Canada, Done by Mr. Bellin, Royal Marine Engineer. 1755.
• St. Augustine: Part. "earliest engraving of any city or territory now part of the United States.
• A New Map of Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton Island... by Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to the King (1710-71).
• "Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park" by Ansel Adams
• Treaty Between the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi Indians. (Treaty of Detroit, 1807)
• The Voyage of Samuel Champlain, from Broage, Made in New France in 1603...

Time

• 8000 BCE - 499 CE
• 500 CE - 1499 CE
• 1500 CE - 1699 CE
• 1700 CE - 1799 CE
• 1800 CE - 1899 CE
• 1900 CE - 1949 CE
• 1950 CE - 2010 CE

Topic

• Computer Science, information, & general works
• Philosophy & psychology
• Religion
• Social Sciences
• Language
• Science
• Technology
• Arts & Recreation
• Literature
• History & Geography

Type of Item

• Books
• Journals
• Manuscripts
• Maps
• Motion Pictures
• Prints, Photographs
• Sound Recordings

Institution

• Austrian National Library
• Bavarian State Library
• Berlin State Library- Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
• Brown University Library
• Center for the Study of the History of Mexico CARSO
• Columbus Memorial Library, Organization of American States
• John Carter Brown Library
• Library of Congress
• Medicea Laurenziana Library, Florence
• etc...