"The NHPRC and UVA Press will create a new web site which provides access to the fully annotated published papers of key figures in the nation’s Founding era. The project is designed to include the papers of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin...Through this web resource, users will be able to read, browse, and search tens of thousands of documents from the Founding Era."
I am looking forward to seeing how this little (up to $2mil) project is executed. What I would love to see in an online archival site such as the above is something beyond a simple display of materials, even if they do provide 360 degree viewing and 4000x zoom. I'd love to see more curational context (which can sometimes be kind of sparse in websites) AND links to research, published material, and people who have made use of these documents. In other words, a reverse bibliography. How hard could it be? And how fascinating to follow a document from its simple state as a piece of old paper to a piece of some interesting historical puzzle?
If anything, that sort of approach might more immediately illustrate just how useful these materials have been (or how little has been done on them if you find 0 citations!) It would be a good way to advertise the value of archives while at the same time using the power and flexibility of the web to add value to a product, not just make it available.
That's my futurist archives rant for the day.
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