General Interest
http://www.asifa-hollywood.org/index.html
Founded in 1957 as the Association Internationale Du Film D’Animation (ASIFA), this organization is “devoted to the encouragement and dissemination of film animation as an art and communication form”. Not surprisingly, the ASIFA branch in Hollywood has a particularly keen interest in preserving film animation of all stripes and their website has hosts of compelling information about their work and related activities. Visitors may wish to start their exploration of the site by looking through the Annie Awards section of the site. This area details the past (and current) winners of these film animation awards since their inception in 1972. There is, of course, copious information about upcoming animation releases along with a number of helpful links to like-minded sites. Finally, all visitors should take a look at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive offered here. Organized as a blog, the site contains image galleries of the work of such animators as Ernesto Garcia Cabral and others. [KMG]
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/framingcanada/
Culled from over 22 million images in the holdings of Library and Archives Canada (LAC), the Framing Canada web site "presents a searchable database of digitized photographic images from 1843 to the mid-20th century" that illustrates the history of photography in Canada. Within the Photographic Collections section of this site, the Introduction subsection is the most complete. Included in this section are views of Canadian businesses, such as the ruins of the Molson brewery after a fire in 1858. Also included are newsworthy scenes of domestic life, such as the Dionne Quintuplets photographed in bed with their mother in 1934. Eventually a series of thematic essays will be available, with such topics as Nation Building, The Canadian Mosaic, Portraiture, and Aboriginal Peoples. A glossary of photographic terms is also being built; already including examples of a cyanotype, Carte-de-visite, and hand-colored glass lantern slide. [DS]
http://www.chron.com/news/specials/enron/
The very mention of Enron is enough to make some people rather upset, and in some circles, it is probably best not to bring up the name of this corporation at all. But, with an eye towards informing the public, the Houston Chronicle has taken on this thorny topic by creating this rather comprehensive and intelligent look at the fall of this once-mighty corporation. On the site, visitors can learn about the events leading up to the company’s downfall through a timeline of events and past news stories created by staff members at the newspaper. The site also contains a tremendous amount of material on the current trial of Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling. Coverage includes blogs containing observations from noted attorneys, transcripts of court documents and testimony, as well as photo galleries. [KMG]
http://content.lib.washington.edu/mtnweb/index.html
With an eye towards conservation and documentation, The Mountaineers outdoor club has been in existence since 1906. Since that time, the group has been actively engaged in and around the Pacific Northwest’s many wilderness areas in a variety of capacities. Recently, the University of Washington Libraries’ Digital Collections project saw fit to digitize some of their extensive photographic collections. The result is this fine online archive which contains delightful documentation of some of their early expeditions, such as a 1912 trek to Mount Rainier and a 1951 sojourn to Mount Olympus in the Olympic Mountain range. The site also includes a detailed map of their 1920 outing to Mount Olympus and an introductory essay about the history of the organization. Finally, the site also contains 28 bulletins from the organization’s history that document some of their outings and mountaineering accomplishments. [KMG]
Working in conjunction with a host of other inter-governmental agencies, the European Training Foundation (ETF) is committed to “developing a range of quality of education and training systems” across Europe and into Asia. First-time visitors to the site will want to take a look at their “About the ETF” area to learn more about their mission, and then proceed to the “Themes” area, which contains basic information about their work in such areas as adult learning and online education. As might be expected from such an organization, their publications’ area is a real treasure-trove for policy analysts and others, as it contains works on “best practices” and overviews of educational systems throughout the region. In keeping with the strong emphasis place on vocational education, the site also contains a number of related events and conferences that will be of great interest as well. [KMG]
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wmh/
It is certainly not uncommon for state historical societies to have publications dedicated to promulgating their state’s various historical eras, events, and happenstances. Wisconsin is no exception to this rule, and the Wisconsin Magazine of History (published under the direction of the Wisconsin Historical Society) is quite a joy to examine, both online and in print. First published in 1917, the magazine was significantly redesigned in 2000, and continues to publish a wide variety of articles on the state’s history. On this site, visitors can browse all of the issues since 2000, and also take a look at some favorites from the editors. Some of these articles include “A Winter in Wisconsin” by Francis Hackett and an account of early motoring throughout the state by Dorothy V. Walters titled “Devil-Wagon Days”. [KMG]
