LISNews: Librarian News

"For half a century, a rare and extensive collection of historical Japanese maps spanning hundreds of years have been stored in the East Asian Library at the University of California, revealing their secrets only to those few who had received permission to handle them. Now, through state-of-the-art imaging technology, anyone can view these fragile maps online, at www.davidrumsey.com/japan. "

"So far, 210 maps - some dating back almost 400 years - from the 2,300-piece collection are online. The collection, which will be available for viewing in its entirety within two years, includes 252 maps of the city of Edo (now Tokyo), 79 maps of Kyoto and 40 maps of Osaka spanning the years 1600 to 1867. Many are woodblock prints on handmade paper. The collection also includes a map from 1710 depicting the center of the world as the source of four great rivers of India, and a 40-foot scroll map of the roads of Japan in 1687." (from The New York Times)

Jen writes "The Watergate papers of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein will be housed and made available for study at the University of Texas at Austin in a $5 million deal Announced Monday.

The school said it is paying Woodward and Bernstein to archive the documents, enough to fill about 75 file boxes, at its Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

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Steve Fesenmaier tells us that:

"West Virginia State College, an unusual land-grant college established for African-American students, has made an archive of Benin materials available. Hopefully students and scholars will use it."

According to the article:

"The West African country of Benin does not produce very many documents, but the ones that are printed will be housed in a small room on the main floor of West Virginia State College’s Drain-Jordan Library.
Besides economic reports, agricultural studies and laws, the Benin Collection includes films, newspapers, photographs and a live computer link to the catalog at the National University of Benin."

Jen Young points us to This NYTimes Story all the archaeological sites in Iraq.
They say 10,000 have been identified, but only a fraction have been explored. Any of them could change what we know about human history, as past excavations have done. Some have already revealed the world's earliest known villages and cities and the first examples of writing.