LC/NDLP four new collections released

[Tamara Swora <tswo@xxxxxxx>]

The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program has released
four new collections.

(This message is being widely posted)

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The first release with more to follow -- Railroad Maps, 1828-1900
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html

The maps presented are a selection from the Geography and Map Divisions
holdings, based on the popular cartobibliography, Railroad maps of the
United States: A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Original
19th-century Maps in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of
Congress, Additional railroad maps from this bibliography will be added
throughout 1998. The digital images were created by staff in the
Geography and Map Division by scanning the original map on a
large-format (24 x 34 inches) flatbed scanner using RGB (red-
green-blue) color separation. The TIFF files were compressed, using a
wavelet-based image compressing software called Multi-Resolution
Seamless Image Database, or MrSID. This software integrates multiple
resolutions of an image in a single file which enables Internet users to
zoom in, getting more and more detail.

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The FSA/OWI photo collection -- From the Great
Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html

The images in the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information
Collection are among the most famous documentary photographs ever
produced. Created by a group of U.S. government photographers, the
images show Americans in every part of the nation. In the early years,
the project emphasized rural life and the impact of the Great
Depression, farm mechanization, and the Dust Bowl. In later years, the
photographers turned their attention to the mobilization effort for
World War II. The core of the collection consists of about 164,000
black-and-white photographs. This release provides access to nearly
45,000 of these images; future additions will expand the black-and-white
offering. The FSA-OWI photographers also produced about 1600 color
photographs during the latter days of the project.

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Buckaroos in Paradise: Cattle Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada,
1945-1982
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ncrhtml/crhome.html

The Buckaroos in Paradise collection presents documentation of a Nevada
cattle-ranching community created by the Paradise Valley Folklife
Project, with a focus on the family-run Ninety-Six Ranch. This initial
release includes 42 motion pictures and 28 sound recordings that
document the work and life of the Ninety-Six Ranch and its cowboys,
known in the region as buckaroos. In the next release, an archive of
about 2,400 still photographs will portray the people, sites, and
traditions in the larger community of Paradise Valley, home to persons
of Northern Paiute Indian, Anglo-American,Italian, German, Basque,
Swiss, and Chinese heritage. Most of the collection was created by the
folklife research project,undertaken by the American Folklife Center
from 1978 to 1982

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The first release with video to follow later this year -- An American
Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490- 1920
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/dihome.html

An American Ballroom Companion presents a collection of over two hundred
social dance manuals at the Library of Congress. Along with dance
instruction manuals, this online presentation also includes a
significant number of histories, treatises on etiquette, and items from
other conceptual categories. Many of the manuals also provide historical
information on theatrical dance. All illuminate the manner in which
people have joyfully expressed themselves as they dance for and with one
another.  Library of Congress staff selected this set of materials
relating to ballroom dance from various divisions and collections in the
Library. Selections came from the General Collections, the Music
Division, and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.