LC National Digital Library Program releases new collection - Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers

[Tamara Swora-Gober <tswo@xxxxxxx>]

This message is being widely posted

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	The National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress
announces the release of collection number 44, the Alexander Graham Bell
Family Papers at the Library of Congress from the Manuscript Division. 
This online collection will ultimately represent a portion selected from
the original Bell Papers and will comprise approximately 4,700 items,
totalling about 38,000 images.  The first release contains over 1,000
items consisting of correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals,
blueprints, sketches, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of
the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his
family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his
aeronautical and other scientific research.  These manuscripts, dating
from 1862 to 1939, offer a well-rounded portrayal of Alexander Graham
Bell not only as an inventor and scientist but also as a teacher,
humanitarian, husband, and father. 
        Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March
3, 1847.  He and his parents moved to Canada in 1870, and, a year later,
he moved to Boston to teach speech to deaf students.  Teaching notes
used and taken by Bell can be found in the Bell Papers selected to
appear online. 
        Bell's efforts to build a multiple telegraph led instead to the
invention of the telephone in 1876.  Included among Bell's papers are
his first sketch of the telephone and an experimental notebook with an
entry from March 10, 1876, that describes the first successful
experiment with the telephone, during which he spoke through the
instrument to his assistant, Thomas Watson, the famous words, "Mr.
Watson-- Come here -- I want to see you."  Bell, Watson, and Bell's
financial supporters, Gardiner Greene Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, formed
the Bell Telephone Company the following year. 
        After his invention of the telephone, Bell continued to pursue
his interests in deaf education and science.  Bell's scientific pursuits
ranged widely throughout his life and led to various inventions, such as
a vacuum jacket for artificial respiration and the tetrahedral kite.  He
dedicated much of his research to aviation and was a member of the
Aerial Experiment Association, a small group of engineers and mechanics
who brought about the first flight of a heavier-than-air machine in
Canada.  Bell's sketches of the vacuum jacket and tetrahedral kites and
notes and photographs of his aeronautical work are among the items
digitized for the first release.

	Of particular interest in this NDLP collection website are special
presentations including:  a time line, Alexander Graham Bell as inventor
and scientist and a Bell Family tree.  Parts of the collection being
released include original typescript letters and documents,
correspondence with transcripts, and other printed items.  These
typescript materials were converted to machine-readable form and encoded
with Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML).  The text of the
transcripts and original typescripts has been translated to HTML for
indexing and viewing on the World Wide Web.

        The final release of the remainder of images from the Alexander Graham
Bell Family Papers is scheduled for Fall 1999.

Please direct all comments and questions about this collection to ndlpcoll@xxxxxxxx