Now available: over two hundred digitized Illinois newspapers: https://go.library.illinois.edu/npcom. Access currently restricted to computers with a campus IP address, but will soon be freely available through the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) to researchers everywhere. Continue reading “Over 200 Illinois Newspapers Digitized”
Category: HPNL
Call for Applications: 2022-2023 Research Travel Grant
Update: It’s not too late to apply for a Research Travel Grant to visit our Library in Spring 2023! Applications received by December 5, 2022, will be considered for spring funding.
Call for applications: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library 2022-2023 Research Travel Grant
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library and the Department of History are pleased to announce a Research Travel Grant to support scholars conducting research in any of the Library’s collections. Continue reading “Call for Applications: 2022-2023 Research Travel Grant”
Halloween Reading List!
Halloween Reading List!
Looking for some magical reading? Here’s some non-fiction and fiction recommendations for books on witches, witchcraft, and magic in honor of upcoming All Hallow’s Eve!
Colonial Caribbean New Module: Colonial Government and Abolition, 1833-1849
Now available: the second module of the digital collection Colonial Caribbean. Like the first module, Module 2 covers British colonialism in the Caribbean, and comprises documents from the British National Archives, digitized in full color. Continue reading “Colonial Caribbean New Module: Colonial Government and Abolition, 1833-1849”
HPNL Browsings: “In the Presence of Schopenhauer”
I thought this book would be a double poison pill, spiced with anise, like all that unwanted Good & Plenty one used to get on Halloween. Good & Plenty it is not; more like Short & Lovely (haha), a pleasing meditation on how to pursue a good life. Continue reading “HPNL Browsings: “In the Presence of Schopenhauer””
New Digital Collections for Fall, 2022
August Blog: Obon!
Happy August! It’s August which means it’s time for the Bon Festival, called Obon (お盆) in Japan. Obon is a Japanese Buddhist festival to honor one’s ancestors. It’s called the Ghost Festival in China and versions are celebrated all over Asian countries, especially those which have a strong Buddhist presence. Continue reading “August Blog: Obon!”
July Blog Post: Julius Caesar’s Month
Happy July! Did you know July is one of only two months named for a person? (The other month named for a person is August, for Augustus great-nephew/adopted son-heir of Julius Caesar) Continue reading “July Blog Post: Julius Caesar’s Month”
Zion, IL: Utopia on the Prairie
In researching context for newspapers in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection I came across the fascinating history of Zion, IL, formerly Zion City, which was created as a utopian community in 1901 by an evangelical and early Pentecostal faith healer named John Alexander Dowie. In its early years the city did not allow drinking, dancing, smoking, card playing, theater, or even driving more than 10 miles an hour. Zion is a small town south of Kenosha and north of Waukegan in Lake County, Illinois. It is currently home to a nuclear power plant but boasts a rich history in American religious movements and utopian city planning. Continue reading “Zion, IL: Utopia on the Prairie”
What’s Missing from this Digital Collection?
Many of our digital collections were created from microfilm surrogates, which is to say that the original print collection was at some point microfilmed (mostly in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s) for sale to libraries. Our own library bought many of these microfilm collections. Because it’s so much less expensive to digitize from microfilm (than from print originals), and because digitizing from microfilm spares those print originals from unnecessary wear and tear, many of our digital collections were created from these microfilm surrogates. You might be wondering how to determine whether a collection was digitized from microfilm. One good sign is if the documents in the collection are displayed in black-and-white (especially low bit-depth black-and-white) rather than color. Collections digitized directly from original print documents will usually display those documents in color. For example, the following: Continue reading “What’s Missing from this Digital Collection?”