Steven Lubman alerted me to this treasure of the internet. At first glance Osip Mandelʹshtam Papers looks like a million other archival webpages: Dates (mostly 1914-1937), Size (2.4 linear feet, 6 boxes), Location (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections), that sort of thing. But then you notice that on the left is a long list of items… and they’re all clickable! You can actually see every page of a 1928 collection, an undated copy of his first book, drafts of poems, printed articles… it’s an incredible treasure trove, and it comes in very handy, since I’m currently reading Oleg Lekmanov’s biography, which I see by googling is available in English if anybody’s interested. Many thanks, Steven! (There’s an essay about the collection by Pavel Nerler for those who read Russian.)
I’m surprised this sort of thing isn’t yet commonplace. (I post this ignorant comment hoping to irritate some archivist into explaining why it’s not nearly as simple as I think. Copyright? Too few interns?)
hat: I hope to see you keep this thread buzzing for a while with new finds!
mollymooly: Too few interns, and more generally, each such collection needs a budget for digitization, which requires a grant proposal, and then a year or a few to get it all done.
I do wish this were Google’s mission.
I would have agreed with you in the past, but digitizing print books was Google’s mission, and at some point they lost interest in it. The interface to Google Books is getting rustier and less reliable as time goes on.
I have plenty of complaints about Google Books, but saying “they lost interest in it” is unfair. They would doubtless have kept going if it hadn’t been for that messy and unfortunate lawsuit.
By the way, speaking of amazing internet resources, I happened on The Acts and Monuments Online:
Wow!