Goals of the Program  

The program aims to support collaborative and creative use of resources through the creation of digital content of enduring value to the Cornell community and scholarship at large.  Application process does not require any expertise - all you need is a good idea as the Library's visual resources team will guide you through the application process. The program, funded by the College of Arts of Sciences and coordinated by the Cornell University Library, was developed by the  Arts & Sciences Visual Resources Advisory Group.  Information about the Cornell University Library's visual resources services is available at:  http://images.library.cornell.edu

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Express initial interest by February 17, 2012  by sending an email to dcaps@cornell.edu.  In a paragraph please include the following information - description of collection, document types (photographs, monographs, manuscripts, slides, etc.) and estimated collection size.  

Staff from the Library's Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS) will contact and assist applicants with the full proposal application process - including copyright issues, budgets, technology options. Full proposals due by March 30, 2012.  

Download full proposal application (.doc)

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Peter Enns, Government – Campaign Funding and Political Speech
Digitization and OCR (conversion of images into machine-readable text) of a sample of newspapers will allow the textual analysis of how changes in campaign sources influence candidates' candidates’ political speech. Supporting research and teaching, this project will encourage collaboration with computer scientists at Cornell who are developing content analysis tools. The pilot will also support a grant proposal to the NSF in order to broaden this research to additional political districts.

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Travis Gosa, Africana Studies and Research Center – Obama Visual Iconography
Collaborators: Katherine Reagan, Cornell University Library
In 2008 Cornell Library's Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) began building a collection of political campaign publicity and memorabilia documenting the campaign and election of President Barack Obama. Online access to these materials will provide a unique visual iconography of the election of America's America’s first black President. It will constitute an important teaching and research resource for understanding modern campaign strategies and political mobilization. The resulting digital collection will be of interest to multiple disciplines, including art, art history, history, American studies, Africana studies, media studies, visual studies, political science, and government.

Peter Uwe Hohendahl, German Studies, Comparative Literature – Warburg's "Atlas" Warburg’s “Atlas” Panels
Collaborators: Kizer Walker (Cornell University Library), Peter J. Potter (Cornell University Press), Christopher D. Johnson (Comparative Literature, Harvard University)
The goal of the project is to build an interactive resource for the exploration of the fragmentary "atlas “atlas of images" images” left by German Jewish art historian Aby M. Warburg (1866-1929).  The Atlas involves the assemblage of hundreds of images juxtaposed on wood panels. An interactive, web-based treatment of the Atlas will realize Warburg's Warburg’s ideal, namely, that each viewer makes his or her own connections between the myriad images presented in the Atlas. This website will serve as a multimedia companion to "Signale“Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought" Thought” (http://signale.cornell.edu) and will support exploration of new technologies and new partnerships in creating economically viable channels for disseminating scholarship.

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Steve Pond, Music and Travis Gosa, Africana – Hip Hop Collection/Conzo Archive
Collaborators: Katherine Reagan, Cornell University Library
Founded in 2007, Cornell's Cornell’s hip hop collection is now the largest archive on early hip hop culture in the United States. A key foundational element of the collection is an assemblage of photographic prints by Bronx photographer Joe Conzo, Jr., taken between 1977 and 1984. Conzo is one of the few photographers known to have captured the early years of hip hop on film.  Online access to the collection will be of interest to multiple disciplines, including art, art history, dance, music, American Studies, Africana.  One of the project goals is to provide learning and teaching materials for a new Cornell course on hip hop.

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Deborah Starr – Near Eastern Studies – Waguih Ghali Diaries
Collaborators: Ali Houissa, Middle East & Islamic Studies Bibliographer
The goal is to digitize the only known complete copies of diaries and manuscripts of Waguih Ghali, an Egyptian Coptic Anglophone writer who spent his adult life as a political exile.  There is a dearth of information about Ghali's Ghali’s life and the diary entries will provide insights to his time in exile. Recently fragments of the diaries have been translated and published in the Egyptian press. Scholars around the world will have access to the complete set of diaries and unpublished manuscripts. The online archive will provide an invaluable source in support of teaching and research, especially within the context of Arab Diaspora.

2011 Awards

2011 awards were announced in May 2011 and the projects are in progress.  See the Cornell Chronicle story about the initiative.

Annetta Alexandridis, Classics/Art History - Greek and Roman Coin Collection
Collaborators: Verity Platt, Classics
Cornell's Cornell’s coin collection is listed among the most important numismatic collections in the United States. Online availability of 1,500 coins from the ancient world with detailed descriptions will enable the integration of these coins in teaching and learning at Cornell and elsewhere. Because the coins are too valuable and risky, currently they can be used only for small-group classes. The potential is enormous.

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Katsuya Hirano, History/Asian Studies - Japanese Woodblocks from the William Elliot Griffis Collection
Collaborators: Daniel McKee, Japanese Bibliographer, CUL
These 17th century Japanese woodblock printed books represent Japan's Japan’s initial attempts to understand the west and modernize itself. They are therefore of great importance in understanding the formation of modern Japan. These books, many of which are rare or even unique in US collections, have great appeal to historians, art historians, and scholars of cultural politics.

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Steve Pond, Music - Hip Hop Collection
Collaborators: Katherine Reagan, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts; Bonna Boettcher, Music Library
Founded in 2007, Cornell's Cornell’s hip hop collection is the largest archive on early hip hop culture in the United States. Faculty from the Departments/Programs of History, English, Africana Studies and Music have all incorporated elements of the archive into their research or teaching. This initial project will digitize flyers and preserve original recordings to set the stage for a future larger national grant with other partners aimed and enhancing access to and preserving the early history of hip hop culture.

2010 Awards

2010 awards were announced in May 2010 and the projects are in progress.  See the Cornell Chronicle story about the initiative.  

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