Nabokov Under Glass

Hosted by the New York Public Library, Nabokov Under Glass, is the digital representation of an NYPL exhibit from 1999 commemorating the centennial of Nabokov's birth. The exhibit displays a sampling of more than fifty years worth of manuscripts, notes, annotated volumes and photographs, all pulled from the library's Berg collection.

1. Selection Decisions
The digital objects were selected from the exhibition at the library which was made up of objects pulled from the Henry W and Albert A Berg collection by the collection's curator Rodney Philips. The Berg collection absorbed the Vladimir Nabokov Archive in 1991 from Nabokov's estate. The pieces selected for digitization represent four periods of his life (Russia, Europe, The United States, and Switzerland), and further represent 'groupings' related to specific works created during those periods.

2. Metadata
The metadata on the items themselves is thin. The creator, title, and date of creation is given, as well as the place of creation where it is known. No formal descriptive entries are given, however, which I find strange since the Berg collection is fully cataloged, and it would have been simple enough to include the library's bibliographic information (and even link to the entry in the OPAC, though I think this exhibit was created before their grand site redesign a few years ago). The supportive context and historical background for each of the groupings and periods of his work are detailed and informative, however.


3. Object Characteristics
This is the real failing of the site. So many of these objects are remarkable and informative, really startling in their ability to map out Nabokov's thought (and map is an appropriate word--Nabokov seems to have been obsessed with the visual, diagrammatic portrayal of abstract ideas), that it is a true shame that the digital portrayal of his notes is so poor. The lists for each period include a thumbnail for each item, which, when clicked through, links to a dedicated page for the object, but both the thumbnail and the main image for each object are small and poorly digitized. There are even instances where, confusingly, the page dedicated to the object has a smaller image than the thumbnail. We are essentially teased with fascinating objects and then kept from being able to explore them in any depth at all.


4. Audience
At first, I thought that the online exhibit was mainly developed to draw visitors to the physical exhibit, but the extent of the digitized material, as well as the detail in the supportive written material does indicate that the online exhibit was meant to stand on its own. Certainly it is aimed at the general public and not Nabokov scholars. Still, the poor quality of the images renders the site somewhat useless as a scholarly resource.