Announcement of additions to American Memory Collections at the Library of Congress

[Danna Bell-Russel]

Attached are the announcements for a new collection and an update to the
George Washington papers from the National Digital Library at the
Library of Congress. Our apologies for any duplication as this messsage
is being sent to a number of lists.

Please send any questions about America Singing or the update to the
George Washington papers to NDLPCOLL at loc.gov

America Singing: 19th Century Song Sheets Collection to be Added to
American Memory historical collections

The latest addition to the American Memory online historical collections
documents one of the earliest forms of mass media in the United States.
Descended from the British musical broadsides of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, song sheets disseminated popular songs before the
invention of recorded music.

Song sheets were especially popular during the Civil War, recording
military movements and reflecting public attitudes about the war.  They
also honored individual regiments and military and political leaders.
The 4,291 song sheets in this new online collection provide a unique
perspective on the social, economic, and political issues of the day.
Some of America's most beloved songs such as the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic" and the "Star Spangled Banner" were printed as song sheets.

Unlike other kinds of sheet music, song sheets were normally single
sheets printed with lyrics but no music.  The lyrics have been set to
the tunes of familiar songs such as "Yankee Doodle" and "The Last Rose
of Summer" or to new songs being sung in music halls.  Though many songs
were serious or dramatic, others were humorous and poked fun at various
people or events.

In addition to documenting public opinion, song sheets also document
changes in the printing industry. Several companies are highlighted
within the collection and users can see how publishing houses relocated
and changed over time. The collection also documents the introduction of
the mechanized printing press and how this new technology helped to meet
the needs of a country that was eager for news and for ways to express
itself.

America Singing: 19th Century Song Sheets can be found at the following
URL: <memory.loc.gov/ammem/amsshtml>

Diaries, Exercise Books and Maps added to George Washington Papers
online collection.

The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program and the
Manuscript Division announce the release of George Washington Papers
Series 1, Exercise Books, Diaries, and Surveys, 1741-1799, and, in
addition, with the Geography and Map Division, the release of a special
presentation "Early Maps and Surveys Drawn or Annotated by George
Washington." Both may be found at the Library of Congress's American
Memory Collections Web site for the George Washington Papers at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml

Series 1a, Exercise Books, 1745-ante 1747, consists of three volumes.
The first of these is "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in
Company and Conversation" (ante 1747) in Washington's hand and preceded
by hand-copied legal forms, such as deeds of conveyance, with which an
eighteenth-century youth aspiring to the status of a landowning
gentleman would need to be familiar. Two more school copybooks from 1745
containing arithmetic, geometry, and surveying exercises complete Series
1a.

Series 1b, Diaries, 1748-1799, consists of thirty-six volumes dating
from 1748 through 1799. Of special note among these are "Journey over
the Mountain," Washington's account of his 1748 surveying trip to the
Shenandoah Valley on behalf of prominent Virginia landowner, Lord Thomas
Fairfax, and Washington's 1787 diary kept while presiding over the
constitutional convention in Philadelphia. Fourteen of Washington's
diaries were kept in the blank pages provided in eighteenth-century
printed almanacs for such purposes. Entries throughout are devoted to
weather observations, work and activities at Mount Vernon, social events
and people, and Washington's public life. Images of Washington's diary
pages have been enhanced in Photoshop, using a sharpening filter to
improve legibility. In June 2000, transcriptions with annotations of
George Washington's diaries will be provided online.

Series 1c, Surveys, 1749-1752, consists of four volumes of field notes,
records of surveys, and land records. At the age of sixteen George
Washington began working as a surveyor for the Fairfax family, the
largest landowners in Virginia. Washington's survey books contain field
notes, retained copies of final surveys, and notations of the fees
received, recorded in Washington's handwriting. The surveys indicate the
high skill attained by Washington at a young age and indicate the
important information on Virginia land that Washington was able to
parlay into valuable acquisitions for himself and his family
connections. Most of the surveys were done in what is now the Winchester
area of the Shenandoah Valley.

Accompanying the fifth release of the Washington Papers are maps and
text from the Geography and Map Division. The National Digital Library
Program and the Geography and Map Division announce a Special
Presentation entitled "Early Maps and Surveys Drawn or Annotated By
Washington," which includes several very important, very rare, and
relatively unknown maps highlighting Washington's public surveying and
land-speculation activities.

Over the course of his life Washington surveyed 80,000 acres of land in
more than 200 professional surveys and drew or annotated more than fifty
additional maps, plans, pen and ink sketches or architectural plans.
Although not all of these maps have survived, the Library of Congress
Manuscript and Geography and Map Divisions' collections constitute
almost one third of extant Washington maps.  The Geography and Map
Division's collections include two finished survey plats (1748 and
1749), two early maps of the city of Alexandria (1748 and 1749), a 1760
map of land Washington purchased from William Clifton adjoining the
Mount Vernon estate and a 1766 map of the same area, and a 1793 printed
map of Mount Vernon based on an original map drawn by Washington.

In addition to his surveying career, Washington was an active land
speculator. Beginning with his first land purchase at the age of
eighteen and continuing throughout the rest of his life Washington
eventually purchased approximately 70,000 acres in Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Kentucky, and present-day West
Virginia.  The Geography and Map Division's collections include several
maps directly relating to Washington's land speculation, including a
unique 1774 manuscript map of western Virginia documenting the location
of more than 20,000 acres patented by Washington and members of the
Virginia Regiment in exchange for their military service in the French
and Indian War.

The online delivery of these very large digital map files is
accomplished using MrSid software, a wavelet compression technology made
available to the Library of Congress by LizardTech of Seattle,
Washington. MrSid software allows immediate access to any part of an
image. While the map may be viewed in its entirety at selected sizes,
MrSid software allows viewing of particular portions of the image
requested by the viewer. Many of Washington's maps are now too fragile
to be used for research in the original. This online presentation, then,
makes available valuable items otherwise inaccessible to users.

The eight series of the Washington Papers have been presented online in
five successive releases from February 1998 through this fifth release
of Series 1, which consists of approximately 4,200 grayscale GIF preview
and JPEG archival or reference images. The fifth release brings the
total number of images online to 87,500. The total size of the
collection is approximately 65,000 documents comprising 147,000 images.
A final update of Series 4, General Correspondence, and release of
transcriptions to accompany Series 1b, Diaries, in 2000 will complete
the online presentation of the George Washington Papers.

The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress at
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml