Connecticut History Online

Connecticut History Online is a terrific little site about a terrific little state. It contains 14,000 images and is funded by a partnership of state libraries and universities and local historical attractions. Education is central to the mission of the site, so it provides functionality designed to facilitate use by students and teachers, while still providing excellent metadata for use by more serious researchers..

Each image--there are maps, photographs, and prints--is searchable via several paths. The image at left, for example, is of Main Street in my hometown of Hebron circa 1836. The record for this drawing contains 6 subject keywords, as well as a description, sources, and categories, all of which are hyperlinks so that you can immediately pull up a list of other images with stone walls, for example, without returning to the search page. The metadata must have been painstakingly added, and thoroughly researched. For example, an image of Amston (today a region of Hebron) appears under both of these terms as well as the old name of the area, Turnerville. The records contain both data on the object itself and the creation of the digital copy. Furthermore, the user can move around within the image, zooming in and pulling back, but the presence of the thumbnail key means you don't get lost--especially useful for old maps.

The functionality of the digital images adds information to the collections that would not have existed prior to this DL: the fact of the collection (which is assembled from multiple institutions' holdings) is in and of itself increases our knowledge. The details of the partnership are contained on the About Us page, which even includes the minutes of project meetings. Furthermore, the images are also aggregated in themes on the Journeys section, which explores themes such as diversity and rural life. These are clearly designed to help students and teachers, which befits the site's audience. The How to Use page has excellent instructions, and the returning user can even save his or her preferences, further increasing its functionality and flexibility for both the casual and the sophisticated user. This site is terrific across the board. Good job, Connecticut!