iSchool Capstone

American Cartography in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Project tags:

archives & special collections

content & digital asset management

Project poster

The Digital Public Library of America is a super-aggregator of metadata with over one million digital items available to the public, made possible through a content hub/partnership model. Digitized content from an extensive, nationwide network of small regional institutions and large digital libraries is accessible to end users through a single access point: the DPLA homepage.

Through Omeka -- the online content management and digital exhibition platform -- and in accordance to DPLA guidelines, our team designed an exhibit based on the subject of Cartography composed of four sub-sections, called themes. Each theme uses high-quality images telling stories of struggles for power, scrambles for land, and desires for tangible knowledge of a vast and exciting new world. Through extensive research, rigorous editorial decisions, and meticulous metadata entry, we curated an informative, visually engaging collection highlighting forty incredible images available through the Digital Public Library of America.

Project participants:

Greg Bern

MLIS

Jessica Blanchard

MLIS

Emily Felt

MLIS