Digital Public Library of America, which launches today aims to provide an alternative to Google for those looking for American cultural information online.
Visitors will be able to view, for example, letters penned by George Washington, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson, and ambrotype and daguerreotype images of Abraham Lincoln.
The Digital Public Library of America site www.dp.la launches with more than two million objects, including digital renderings of photos, books, manuscripts and other items from places such as the Smithsonian Institution, along with museums, libraries and historical institutions around this country
For those in the Boston area, the DPLA staff will be in Cambridge to meet with those who would like to chat about the new DPLA site, which goes live at noon, to give thanks to those who helped make the DPLA possible, and to look to the future.
They’ll be meeting at the Boathouse in Cambridge (49 Mount Auburn Street) from 4:00 – 6:00 PM, along with our friends from the Berkman Center and anyone who’d like to join in.
The world now has access to a multitude of historic photos and documents.The Digital Public Library of America is located at the University of Virginia.